the View from up there

Hello friends and slackers. Welcome to this December 1 recap of our fall Yosemite excursion. As always, just getting to the Valley was half the battle. In typical bonehead fashion Bobbie-Joe nearly ruined everything by failing to secure a full week away from work. Luckily, the Tao is strong in Jeffertiti and the truncated schedule was accepted as the only way forward.

Jeffertiti arrived in California in the belly of a silver winged bird with a sack of gear and a new hair do. After high fiving in the airport parking lot for five minutes we piled into the car and retreated to the Mission to plan moves. Back at the Warehouse gear was sorted and everything was arranged for an am departure.

The second day of our trip began with a notable blessing from Phil himself of Philz Coffee. Fully caffeinated and with lots of metal bits in our possession we began the journey...

And then the traffic. The highway was on total lockdown. Smoke is rising from our hood. What the hell is going on? My stomach is sinking fast when all of the sudden we are rescued by the driver of a green minivan. Thanks for the secret beta around the traffic jam lady!

We do the drive in good style with no falls and enter the Valley with a cool rain falling. By early evening the rain has quit and we are positioned in our super secret bivy spot in the boulders above camp four. High above the valley floor we are happy monkeys. The Sentinel rises skyward from the other side of the valley as the fog drifts in and out of the tree tops like the ocean tide. The rhythmic melodies of a group of musicians jamming in camp four reach us in our magic spot.

The following morning we shoulder our loads and begin the approach. The Death Slabs are passed without incident and we position our selves at the base of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. Holy shit. What a bivy site.