Day 65: Yosemite Valley

Miles: 0
Camping: A friends dorm in Curry Village (Yosemite Valley)

We all had breakfast at the store/grill this morning, some intending to hike out, some to relax in Tuolumne, and a few of us were headed to the Valley. We were all coordinating our plans when Tink showed up! She was like a missing puzzle piece for our group, and it was great to see her. She's been nursing some leg injuries, and has been off trail since we were all in Bishop. Sadly, she's not feeling much better, but she is coming to the valley with us today.

I decided to hitch with CrackerJack, as we wanted to resupply at the larger grocer, and he wanted a quick tour of the valley. Hugs, Pockets, Karaoke, Tink and a few others teamed up to also hitch down separately. The others just wanted to watch the World Cup game, so we decided we could met them after. CrackerJack and I had sandwiches at the deli, bought our food at the grocery store and took a bus to Curry Village where we would visit the mountain shop and rejoin our friends. I showed him the abbreviated sights on our travels, and we had a great time.

I have never seen the Curry Village cafeteria so crowded with people. Everyone was watching the World Cup on 2 small televisions, some even with binoculars. Sadly, it is the only photo I took today. Here is where we ran into my old friend Dennis who lives in the valley. He offered up a place to stay in his dorm for those of us interested. This offer included showers, laundry and a DVD collection.

Pockets, Hugs, CrackerJack, Tink and I had all left our packs in the Tuolumne campground, but Karaoke had hers in the valley. We pondered the option as a group...we would have to leave our stuff overnight in camp unattended, but most of us wanted to stay. Tink decided she wanted to head back, but the rest of us went with the cool offer and stayed. We had a great night watching movies, drinking champagne, eating gelato, doing laundry, taking showers and generally having fun together. We all slept on the floor, huddled up in borrowed sleeping bags. Dennis has been a great trail angel to our team, and a big thanks and shout out to him! You rock Dennis! Thanks for the trail magic!