Day Five - Camp 4

After having a few hairy moments of our own on the Trans-Sierra highways earlier in the week, we couldn't help but rescue a stranded motorist last night on the Tioga Road. We were coming back from the valley pretty late, having cleaned up, and done some laundry and shopping, when we came across a the owner of a stalled Jeep Cherokee spraying it's coolant all over the side of the road.

I think a lot of people don't fully realize how often there isn't any cell coverage for an emergency in the high-country. Luckily for Miles, a San Francisco resident, Amber and I came along to give him a lift to the nearest pay phone. He was on his way to meet some friends for a three-week backpacking trip on the John Muir trail. We did learn one important tip from him, which is to carry a phone card, something we'll surely be doing in the future. He got a hold of AAA and was able to get a tow to Lee Vining that night. We hope he still was able to meet his friends and has a great journey on the trail.

When we woke up this morning we discovered our camping bin had been toppled over and rifled through. Apparently there was a bear making good work of White Wolf campground last night. One of our neighbors had his cooler stolen as they were unpacking and we found paw prints around our car! Luckily we had properly stored our food and the bear neither woke us, or caused any damage to any of our gear. So remember: BEAR SAFETY PAYS OFF!

We spent most of the day today bouldering, a form of rock climbing done on short boulders with a pad underneath instead of a rope. It's a great practice because it allows you to work on technique without the usual constraints of moving gingerly to conserve energy on a long route. We picked up a pad last night, and bouldered this morning all around Curry Village. We worked on only the easiest problems, but they were still pretty tough for us.

We took a break from bouldering to walk across the valley floor, grab some lunch, talk to the rangers about hiking in the high country, and got to check out a great rock climbing exhibit at the Yosemite Museum. After our break the technique really started to set in. We did sever easy problems at Camp 4 and Swan Slabs, and were much more sucessfull. Amber said she had the most fun so far at Camp 4 and Swan Slabs. The climbs were challenging in that you really have to read the rock for the best place to put your hands and feet. Hopefully this will turn into gains in our roped route climbing too!

So now we're chilling out in this posh lounge, doing some recon. for hiking in the high country tomorrow, and writing this post. Time for us to head out of the valley, back up to White Wolf, and grub!