Big Truck Across America - day 6

Day 6 started out fairly early - we're still unsure of what time zone we are in, so I woke up at either 6am, 8am or 9am and found a nice spot at the picnic table before the rest of the campsite was awake. About 10 feet away an 8pt blacktail walked through camp, foraging for anything that wasn't locked up in a bear box.

For the record, the staff at Tuolumne Meadows campground are very, very, very concerned about generating paranoia about bears sneaking up on you, stealing your hamburgers (credit to Sug's friend Brian for that visual), and/or eating your porridge. They also appear very concerned about maintaining a steady supply of cannabis in the campground entrance booth.

Speaking of cannabis, once we got to the trailhead with our group of 10 hikers, the first hikers we encounters looked like a cross between Sonny and Cher, the post-running Forrest Gump, and the Dude.  There's not a lot of stress going on with a dude wearing a sarong while hiking.

After about a mile of hiking through some beautiful Sierra country,

we got to the good stuff.  Roughly 950ft of vertical gain in about a half of a mile. The trail provided a well-placed kick to the nether regions, while rewarding you with views like this when you could put your lungs back on the inside.

The rest of the hike was through incredible scenery, with boulders and foliage that looked like they came straight from an episode of "Land of the Lost", or as Laura put it, "all jungly".

When we reached the top, this is what we saw remaining to be conquered.

The best way I can describe what happens once you reach the top of that pile of rocks is that you are essentially doing a tightrope walk across the top of the world.  Have a look.

To say that this is pucker-inducing does not do it justice. You need equal parts stupidity, focus, and Flying Wallenda (not the terrible Chris O'Donnell version either) to make it across to the slightly larger end goal.  Once there, you get a panoramic view of Yosemite that I won't even attempt to explain.  Here's a view looking down at Half Dome and the valley. Unbelievable.

While all this was going on, Kimberly and Jordan were having an all-estrogen day in back at the Meadow, and they enjoyed themselves immensely.

Jordan busted out the serious boots for this adventure, then struck a "What that? Something else to fulfil my 7 second attention span?" pose while crashing the party of a family of Japanese tourists.

She is also developing an affinity for walking on rocks - here she decided to get a bird's eye view of the trail, and was able to locate it from her new vantage point.

When we all met back up at the campsite, the reality of getting back on the road was starting to set in. The group was collectively sharing war stories from the hike, and Jordan was once again excited to have company. Oldness was creeping into nearly every joint in my body, so we decided on a destination and packed up the Big Truck for another leg of the trip.
Huge thanks to Laura & Sug for coordinating the hike & the campsites, and it was great to hike with them, Tom, Chad, Brian, Stacy, Joreen, Mike, Lisa, and also thanks to Unruh for enduring the infinite levels of "why?" from an inquisitive 3 year old.

On our way out of Yosemite on Tioga pass, we got one final sendoff - this scene over Mono Lake.

Also, thanks to some of you for your concern, but we assure you that we were not the cause of this.  And here is footage of what started it all.

Day 7 will begin at a roadside RV park in Lone Pine, CA on our way to Kimberly's sister's house in Yucaipa.