Slowing Down in Yosemite

I injured my left knee in a climbing gym a little while ago by doing a heel-hook with poor technique. It's only a little sore, enough to slow me down on hikes and climbs, though it doesn't seem to affect my biking. I thought that this slowness might ruin Ari and I's Yosemite trip, but it didn't! Instead of going on long hikes, we explored smaller trips, visiting multiple landmarks each day we were there.

On the first day, we drove into the valley, stopping at many pull-offs, including Bridalveil Falls.

Eventually we made it to our campsite, setup, and wandered off into the woods in search of chill boulders to play on. After bouldering around for a bit, we scrambled up some scree underneath Glacier Point, and had a great view of the Valley.

After some (vegan) cheesy mac and a night of sleep, we got in the car and wandered out of the Valley. First, we made a stop at El Cap Meadow, and walked up to the base of the wall. I learned that El Cap is made of particularly strong granite. There is little rockfall at the base, which helps contribute to it's climbing reputation.

We eventually made it to Hetch Hetchy, where a hydrodam makes electricity and clean drinking water for San Francisco.

On the way back out from our Hetch Hetchy hike, we saw a chill bobcat laying around in the sun.

We drove back to camp in the Valley, ate dinner, and then went for a short hike to Mirror Lake before it got dark.

The final day we had a rainy Merced Grove all to ourselves on our way out.

It was refreshing to visit Yosemite for the first time, and I'm glad that we spent 3 days there in the off season. Going slow for my knee also allowed us to focus on photography, which was wicked fun!