We didn't let the rain didn't stop us!

(Yosemite Part 1)

"Life isn't about waiting
for the storm to pass...
it's learning to DANCE in the rain"!

(This is one of my favorite all time quotes...
I am SO glad I finally had the perfect photos to use with this quote)

Tracy and Kimmie...
at the base of Vernal Fall
Yosemite 2009

WOW! As I think about the 3 amazing days we spent on our trip in Yosemite and I have over 1,000 photos from our trip, I am overwhelmed as to how to post and share our wonderful trip memories to do them justice.
So, I think I am going to break up our trip into 3 or 4 different posts.

As it has RAINED almost every day for the past 3 weeks, I decided I would celebrate the rain we have been getting and share
Tracy's and my hike up to Nevada Fall in the rain!

And then over the next month
I will do 1 post a week to show and capture the rest of our trip

(WARNING...
Photo Overload...Very Detailed Post Showing Awesome Hike)

So, Tracy primed us that on our trip
to Yosemite we would be seeing the famous "El Capitan", "Half Dome", "Water Falls" and Sequoia trees. In our minds, we thought that we would be seeing these sites and our main purpose for the trip was "Surprising" Tracy's brother for his 30th birthday and spending time with family and camping a bit. So, needless to say I came dressed to CAMP and be comfy and do some site-seeing.
***************
Since, cotton is the WORST thing to wear in the rain and all I had were blue jeans, I bought myself a pair of hiking pants at one of the Mountaineering Stores in Curry Village so I could be comfortable on our hike and even though it was pouring rain, we weren't going to let RAIN stop us from enjoying our afternoon!!

Tracy and I learned two very important lessons on this hike...
First: don't let the rain stop you
and second don't give up when you feel like stopping and you can't go one more step, because you are usually just a little ways away from seeing something FAR more Amazing and Spectacular than what you are seeing at the moment!!

I have to give my Saucony sneakers credit...Not too shabby.
Had I known that we would be doing some hiking
I would have brought my Garmont Hiking Shoes
for the trip.

Tracy and I
were feeling SO excited
that we were on an adventure together with no kids.
This is us on the shuttle, heading
to "Happy Isles" hiking trail-head.

Tracy and I at the bridge
where you can first see Vernal Fall.
As you can see it's absolutely gorgeous!

A very sweet lady
noticed us taking photos of each other
and asked if she could take our photo together..
her words when she handed us our camera:
"Perfect photo for
this years Christmas card".

This is what Vernal Falls
looked like the day before when we hiked up to this point with our kids and Tracy's family. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the Falls were absolutely amazing to see!
BTW...Vernal Fall is 317 feet from the Brink to the bottom

By this point of the hike
the rain was coming down quite a bit
and Tracy and I were the
ONLY ones hiking UP the trail.
We past MANY people trying to hike out of there as fast as they could.

As you can tell we are
SOAKED from the "Mist" of the Water Fall as well as the rain.
They don't call it the "Mist Trail" for nothing.

WOO HOO,
we made it to the top of Vernal Fall
1.5 miles of climbing up hill in a record time of 40 minutes.

It is amazing to get to the top
of the Falls and to have such an outstanding view!
These photos are the river that feeds the Falls and the brink of the Falls.

The gorgeous river at the top
of the mountain we just climbed!

Tracy and I in front of the "Emerald Pool"!
It looks like an island and beach!

Our first glimpse of "Liberty Cap'"!

More hiking and a closer view of Liberty Cap
and our first view of Nevada Fall.

The gorgeous rugged high country
and Merced River.

More spectacular scenery!

Some really interesting textures
and sites we enjoyed in the woods.

This was a really unique spot...
there were trees all lined up on both sides
making a pathway to walk through between them.

The side view of Nevada Fall

The trail system was amazing
and all of the stairs and rock walls
that were built were unbelievable!!

Some great photos of the Falls
and more great scenery.

A nice guy saw Tracy and I taking photos
and offered to take our photo together.

The last REALLY steep climb of the trail
before we made it to the top...up, Up and UP some more!
(actually at this point I almost gave up and quit and said "we had gone far enough"...my blood sugar was low, I was grumpy and I was out of energy).

Since I get really low blood sugar when I hike,
I have to constantly be eating.
COMBOS crackers and FIG NEWTONS
gave me the energy to make it to the top.

YEA...we are finally at the top
(with a 2,000 foot elevation gain since we hiked from the bottom)
where we can see the most awesome view
of the valley, river, falls and
and another great view of Liberty Cap.

I loved this spot...
the mossy trees and the way they have grown
made a perfect photo-op to take a photo of Tracy.

The river that feeds Nevada Fall.

This is a pretty ominous photo...
Tracy took a photo of me with his "iPhone" taking photos of the next series of photos.
It was amazing!
(one wrong move and
that would be the end of Kimmie...
good thing I took it very slow and very careful and wasn't in a hurry at all).

NEVADA FALL....
is a 594 foot drop!!
...from the BRINK down to the ground!
At the top of Nevada Fall,
there were no handrailings
like there were at the top of Vernal Fall!!

The gorgeous country
we enjoyed at the top of Nevada Fall
before we started heading out!

Our hike back down...
the sun is finally starting to come out down in the valley!
(Too bad so many people called it quits so early in the afternoon because they missed out on an amazing thing. But, it meant we got to enjoy it all to ourselves, along with a handful of other people who braved the trail and weather as well).

More interesting textures and things
we saw along the way.

One last photo
before we hiked out as fast as we could...
at this point it was starting to get dark.

The stairs we hiked down from Vernal Fall.

We made it back down to the main spot
of Vernal Fall
and as you can see we were finally DRY!

YEA!
We made it back to the car
(after missing the shuttle by 10 minutes it meant we got to enjoy another 1 mile walk along the road enjoying the night air together
until we finally made it to Curry Village where our car was parked).

LUCKILY, the Pizza Shop was still open
and being famished we very much enjoyed a large pizza!!
All I can say is...what an amazing and awesome day!

Yes, life is truly an amazing Journey
and sometimes we miss seeing the most amazing things
because we gave up just a little ways from the top of the mountain!

I Loved every moment of our hike,
with it's breathtaking scenery,
and I'm so grateful we kept on hiking
until we made it to the top!!
(rain, the wrong shoes & clothes, low blood sugar and all)
"It's All Good"!!