Pacifica

I woke up at 0500, and I noticed that I had a lot of messages on my phone but I just ignored them and managed to drift back to sleep...but not for too long, I woke again at 0630 so listened to some stuff on my mobile. I had bought a data bolt on for the USA but was glad to have the Wi-Fi at Meg's!

The plan for today was to get the food packed and other stuff organised for Yosemite. Meg used a website that provided menus for campers that were nutritious, replaced lost calories etc. but that were very easy to prepare and could be eaten hot or cold (it turned out they were also delicious). We spent some time putting ingredients into zip-lock bags - putting them in the bags minimised the packaging and reduced the weight in our packs which I think were going to be heavy enough. The meals were quite varied, from couscous with dried tomatoes to upside down strawberry cheesecake.

Meg was, of course great, she explained what hiking and camping in Yosemite would be like, plus a seminar on the correct way to poop in the great outdoors of Yosemite. Who knew there could be so much to learn?

Chris showed me some YouTube videos of people hiking up to Half Dome, it was really interesting, some of them were quite funny. There was one of a very bubbly, perky young woman who never stopped talking about how excited she was and giving a blow by blow account of the hike. when she turned to her boyfriend and asked for his opinion and he made a sort of grunting noise that might have been a couple of words. The strong silent type obviously. I did note that they had run out of water - hiking 101, water and snacks. Watching the videos was calming actually, when I saw how many people went up half dome, including a man in his 90's and a 10 year old boy, I thought maybe I could do it after all.

I got most of my bag packed for tomorrow, by the time I add on my chair, bear canister and water it is going to be heavier than my camino pack which had been several kilos too heavy than it should have been. I was glad to be able to borrow a backpack from my friend JP, Meg had said it needed to be 55-60L, and my camino pack was only 33L so I would have had to have bought one. The only problem was that it was an older pack and therefore a little bit heavier than modern ones, in fact it didn't have side pockets for water bottles. Still, despite the weight of the pack, I am very excited about going to Yosemite tomorrow.

Meg's friend Laura arrived from Portland, first impression is that she seems very nice. It was agreed that she would travel in Meg's car and I would travel with Chris as with all our gear we would need two cars. Bed beckoned, though I was so excited I wasn't sure if I would be able to get to sleep.Read more