Yosemite Nat'l Park, Calif.

Last September (2011), Kristen and I took a short trip up to Yosemite. It's about a 6 hour drive from here in Long Beach, but was well worth it. We stayed a little outside the park in a hotel, but next time I'd like to do some camping up there, or at least get into one of the lodges. 

The beauty of this place was indescribable and the photos just don't do it justice. The view from Glacier Point was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in my life. Rivaled the Grand Canyon and Zion in my opinion. I can't wait to get back up there! I want to go this fall/winter when all the crowds are gone, and there's a chill to the air - In a couple months I'll see what my budget is and hopefully get planning!

Prelude

I'm intending this blog to be a sort of personal record of days spent hiking, camping and traveling. I don't keep journals as religiously as I once did, and I don't want to flood facebook with endless photos and words that document my times spent in the great outdoors - it's mostly just for me anyway. 

I plan to update this with newer trips, as well as revisit hikes and camping trips from the past, that aren't recorded very well anywhere else, and that I would hate to see fall victim to my fading memory. And if I know there is now a place for all these memories to go, I'll be more motivated to get outside. 

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." - John Muir, The Yosemite, 1912.

(Photo is me at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, July 1, 2012)