Don't feed the bears!!
Anyone who has attempted the Half Dome at Yosemite either loves pain or is clueless.
Trudging back to the base camp [actually our car, parked near the camping gorunds] after almost 15 hours - I stopped keeping track after 3 - I realized that I fell squarely in the 2nd category. Having seen all my delusions of physical fitness crushed by little kids racing past me on the hiking trails, I experienced an epiphany. Its not about the pain, or the sweat, or the blisters on your feet, or the mind numbing exhaustion or even the glazed look in your eyes at the end. Its about the sweet pleasure of falling to the ground at Nevada Falls and experiencing the beauty that is nature. It is about marveling at the power of the glaciers that carved the valley..Its about...stop..who am I kidding here..
Give me a bottle, make that a couple, of fermented barley on a nice cool day on Pier 17 in New York..
I'm having nightmares about the Mt. Rainier hike this Sunday :)...is there a Pier 17 in Seattle?
