Family & Friends,
Annual She-Wolf Pack trip! I had a blast spending a long weekend with my lesbro and femmebro (honorary queer) in Yosemite! They flew out here from the East Coast and we took my trusty 10-year-old Chevy sedan out into the wild (we like living dangerously). As it was a somewhat last-minute plan, we stayed at an Airbnb in Groveland instead of camping. Luckily, we didn't hit too much traffic on a Thursday night and made it there from the East Bay in an easy 3 hours. I got to have a sleepover party with my lesbro while our jetlagged femmebro was still on Norway time.
DAY 1:
When we walked out of the Airbnb the first day, we were met by a mama deer in the driveway who just stared at us for a good while until I started the car and politely asked her to move out of the way. We spent the first day at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, about a one-hour drive from Groveland. That one-hour drive was spent getting pumped to our anthem of the trip, "One Kiss" by Dua Lipa. After we crossed through the Hetch Hetchy entrance, we spotted a baby bear crossing the road in front of us! At least, it looked like a baby, but I suppose it could've just been far away.
We hiked along the reservoir, starting at O'Shaughnessy Dam, to Rancheria Falls, passing Tueeulala Falls and Wapama Falls on the way (although, they didn't have much water). It's about a 12-mile hike there and back, and mostly in the sun, so I was astonished that I didn't get sunburned. The only reason is because I remembered to re-apply my "special" sunscreen like seven times. Nowadays, whenever I'm in direct sunlight, I can hear a familiar voice in the back of my head advising me to put sunscreen on. Anyway, after beautiful views of the water and getting stung by some mysterious bug (I think I would know by now if it was deadly), we made it to Rancheria Falls, which is more of a cascade of water flowing over rock faces than a "falls." We ate lunch next to a cool pool of water, in which I obviously decided to splash around.
The way back was rough, with a close call, but we survived. I jokingly suggested we take a shortcut; an homage to the Netflix movie, The Ritual (typical, that something reminds me of a horror movie). All in all, it came out to be a 6.5-hour hike total. We were pooped. That evening, we (I) grilled some burgers, relaxed, and reflected (the California way).
DAY 2:
This time, we drove to the Big Oak Flat entrance of Yosemite. Sure enough, we missed a turn and ended up doing a scenic drive through Yosemite Valley and taking lots of photos of El Capitan. Eventually, we got to the trailhead at Porcupine Creek to hike the North Dome trail. It was about 4.5 miles up to North Dome, but we did some off-trail detours for the views. This trail is pretty easy and well-shaded in the forest. We ate lunch on a rock face before continuing to the jut of North Dome. Atop North Dome, there is a gorgeous panorama view of Half Dome and the surrounding mountains and valleys. Not to mention, it was windy and cool, so we didn't want to leave. Just chillin' on a mountaintop with my buddies... that's what life is all about.
We probably did a total of about 10 miles that day. Then, we drove about 1.5 hours to downtown Groveland for dinner. We decided to try out the Hungry Bear Cafe. I couldn't help myself and got a chocolate milkshake reward. Afterward, we drove by the oldest bar in the state of California: Iron Door Saloon. I topped off the night with a cold beer in a warm shower. Mm, beer in the shower.
DAY 3:
In the morning of our final day, my lesbro and I relaxed in a hammock and talked about life. We decided to spend part of the day chilling on a small beach at Pine Mountain Lake, which is the gated community of which our Airbnb was a part. This "gated community" is a trip. It's huge and totally confusing. But anyway, we got to kick it by the water before heading back to the Bay. It reminded me of Friday the 13th (my apologies to those who never saw the ending, but there's no excuse for that). We finished off our excursion by being treated to dinner by Dr. Lesbro's mom in San Jose. It happened to be San Jose Pride that day, so we got to witness that a bit too.
In conclusion, despite almost running over deer multiple times and getting a big blister on my foot, it was an awesome trip! I'm so happy I got to see my wolf pack! Check out the photos below, and I will hopefully have a video cut together eventually.
Onward,
Chris
P.S. - Big trip coming up! Stay tuned!
Annual She-Wolf Pack trip! I had a blast spending a long weekend with my lesbro and femmebro (honorary queer) in Yosemite! They flew out here from the East Coast and we took my trusty 10-year-old Chevy sedan out into the wild (we like living dangerously). As it was a somewhat last-minute plan, we stayed at an Airbnb in Groveland instead of camping. Luckily, we didn't hit too much traffic on a Thursday night and made it there from the East Bay in an easy 3 hours. I got to have a sleepover party with my lesbro while our jetlagged femmebro was still on Norway time.
DAY 1:
When we walked out of the Airbnb the first day, we were met by a mama deer in the driveway who just stared at us for a good while until I started the car and politely asked her to move out of the way. We spent the first day at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, about a one-hour drive from Groveland. That one-hour drive was spent getting pumped to our anthem of the trip, "One Kiss" by Dua Lipa. After we crossed through the Hetch Hetchy entrance, we spotted a baby bear crossing the road in front of us! At least, it looked like a baby, but I suppose it could've just been far away.
We hiked along the reservoir, starting at O'Shaughnessy Dam, to Rancheria Falls, passing Tueeulala Falls and Wapama Falls on the way (although, they didn't have much water). It's about a 12-mile hike there and back, and mostly in the sun, so I was astonished that I didn't get sunburned. The only reason is because I remembered to re-apply my "special" sunscreen like seven times. Nowadays, whenever I'm in direct sunlight, I can hear a familiar voice in the back of my head advising me to put sunscreen on. Anyway, after beautiful views of the water and getting stung by some mysterious bug (I think I would know by now if it was deadly), we made it to Rancheria Falls, which is more of a cascade of water flowing over rock faces than a "falls." We ate lunch next to a cool pool of water, in which I obviously decided to splash around.
The way back was rough, with a close call, but we survived. I jokingly suggested we take a shortcut; an homage to the Netflix movie, The Ritual (typical, that something reminds me of a horror movie). All in all, it came out to be a 6.5-hour hike total. We were pooped. That evening, we (I) grilled some burgers, relaxed, and reflected (the California way).
DAY 2:
This time, we drove to the Big Oak Flat entrance of Yosemite. Sure enough, we missed a turn and ended up doing a scenic drive through Yosemite Valley and taking lots of photos of El Capitan. Eventually, we got to the trailhead at Porcupine Creek to hike the North Dome trail. It was about 4.5 miles up to North Dome, but we did some off-trail detours for the views. This trail is pretty easy and well-shaded in the forest. We ate lunch on a rock face before continuing to the jut of North Dome. Atop North Dome, there is a gorgeous panorama view of Half Dome and the surrounding mountains and valleys. Not to mention, it was windy and cool, so we didn't want to leave. Just chillin' on a mountaintop with my buddies... that's what life is all about.
We probably did a total of about 10 miles that day. Then, we drove about 1.5 hours to downtown Groveland for dinner. We decided to try out the Hungry Bear Cafe. I couldn't help myself and got a chocolate milkshake reward. Afterward, we drove by the oldest bar in the state of California: Iron Door Saloon. I topped off the night with a cold beer in a warm shower. Mm, beer in the shower.
DAY 3:
In the morning of our final day, my lesbro and I relaxed in a hammock and talked about life. We decided to spend part of the day chilling on a small beach at Pine Mountain Lake, which is the gated community of which our Airbnb was a part. This "gated community" is a trip. It's huge and totally confusing. But anyway, we got to kick it by the water before heading back to the Bay. It reminded me of Friday the 13th (my apologies to those who never saw the ending, but there's no excuse for that). We finished off our excursion by being treated to dinner by Dr. Lesbro's mom in San Jose. It happened to be San Jose Pride that day, so we got to witness that a bit too.
In conclusion, despite almost running over deer multiple times and getting a big blister on my foot, it was an awesome trip! I'm so happy I got to see my wolf pack! Check out the photos below, and I will hopefully have a video cut together eventually.
Onward,
Chris
P.S. - Big trip coming up! Stay tuned!