Yosemite trip

After poor Jian Yuan last-min pull-out (with his knee "completely" self-destroyed after his typical all-out sliding tackle in a football match), me, Zhuohao and Jiawei journey on for a 2-day trip to Yosemite. We went on weekdays and since it's towards the end of summer, the national park is much less crowded than it could have been if we were 1 month earlier. In any case, it was a fascinating experience, with the day hike to Half-Dome making a memoral footprint in my 4-yr stay in the States.

Zuohao with this GPS "toy"...throughout the journey he attempted to phycho me and JW (and possibly himself too) about the value-add by using this high-tech gadget...I suppose he's trying to justify to himself why a financially-strugglin grad student like him (and like me) could dish out that $200+...haha...but it is kinda cool!

One thing on our mind during our 4 hour drive to Yosemite is "In & Out Burger". For those who don't know, In&Out is a popular fast-food chain in California....it is famous for its super fresh french fries...you really have to try it to believe the kind of quality that you can get from a fast food chain! hence, the jovial expression on Zuohao here...

Shortly after we crossed the entrance, we saw a bear!!! Look closely in the middle of the pic...now we know we're in Bear Territory...

Notice how "buff" Zuohao looks beside me! man..i need to start following him to the gym...seriously, i thought i was hanging over a rock while taking this picture! hee

El Capitan..."the world's largest graphite monolith"..wait, wat's a monolith? doesn't tat mean "some large thing"..."largest graphite large thing"?

What remains of the Mirror Lake is just a small pond in this time of the year...still manage to snap this pic thou...

Look at the sky against the landscape man! to die for!

Another nice shot of the valley taken from the Tunnel View...

This is taken from the Glacier Point...the red cross points at the top of Half Dome, of which we'd scale from way down below (below the bottom of this pic) to the very top!!

A close-up of Half Dome...

Looking down on the 2 falls that we'd eventually pass by during our second day hike up to Half Dome.

Fire!!!

Me and Half Dome.

Man!! The sky! Just pure magic!

Animal dung...from bears?

Taft Point trail was a surprise. It's one of those 1-2 hr trail rated as "moderate" in terms of difficulty and so we didn't expect much of the view that we'd see along the way. Boy were we wrong man! Taft Point is literally cliffs without fences! Awesome!

Jiawei and Zuohao's legs feeling shaky as they approach the cliff...haha..it's really damn scary!

See...i told you it's pretty scary...

This is probablt my favorite shot of the entire trip, closely edging out my Top of Half Dome pic...this one waas actuallly taken from a higher perspective..which give it alot more depth..

Evidently, the bears here are kinda aggressive, so we weren't allowed to even have any food in our tent, let alone eat in the tent. As a result, there's actually a mass canteen where everybody congregates to dine....I wonder why is an open canteen safer than our tent...in any case, the bears didn't come, instead we saw some racoons here...

The next morning, we set out to take on the "Half Dome" trail...one that's been labeled "extremely strenuous"...I have no idea exactly what we're getting ourselves into except that I keep telling myself we all ran a marathon 4 months ago...this should be nothing (wishful thinking there)...anyway, these deer bid us farewell as we left the campsite.

"The road is long...."

"...with many a winding stream..."

lone tree.

A 2D picture just don't give enough perspective/depth to the enormous space in this place.

The start of the trail is really easy on the legs...something tat's to change really soon.

toilet break! nature calls!

walking up to the first fall...

if we were at this spot 2 months ago we'd be totally drenched...eveidently what's known as the "misty trail" has given way to a much subdued self as most of the snow had already melted by this time of the year...

me, zuohao and the fall.

i wish i can climb this....

...like this guy did...he's a spiderman, in every sense of the word.

this cowboy-wannabe (notice the iPod ear phones) with his herd of horses going down the trail...judging from the smell, i'm guessing the bags they were carrying contain what was earlier in my digestive system which was discarded in one of those restrooms stationed along the trail...how these horses can go down the trail (which at some section requires all four to climb on) baffles me...ladies and gentlemen, the shit-carring horses...