Day 3 --> Tourist Time
Day 3 was our family tourist day. That is, Andy and Violet had to leave that morning, and Roger wasn't coming in til later that evening. (Yes, Roger, the 5th member of our family, was able to rearrange his schedule to also come out and join us!)
It had been raining through the previous night, the grounds were wet, and it was still continuing to rain on and off. So tourist time. We took the kids to Yosemite Village to buy souvenirs at the store, browse the Ansel Adams gallery, learn about Yosemite at the Visitors Center, and did an easy, kid-friendly hike to see lower Yosemite Falls.
Tree just outside of the Village store.
The previous day's rains lead us to discover that the kids rain jackets were not so waterproof anymore. They were okay for water-resistance, but not for being out in pouring rains. After all, they have worn those jackets on all our adventures the past 1-2 years, as well as on rainy days to and from school. Luckily the store had kid-sized, bright yellow rain ponchos.
Gotta say... I think the kids look so cute with their bubbly cheeks sticking out of this bright yellow fluff...
Photo of lower Yosemite falls.
It was a meandering kind of day, and fun to do touristy things. Though we were looking forward for the rains to clear, Roger to arrive, and scoping around for some climbing.
Day 4 --> Camp 4
The rains finally cleared and the sun came out on Day 4. Roger arrived in time for dinner the previous day and set up his new pop-up tent, in the rain, in a jiffy. See tent below. It held up pretty well too.
This morning it was still quite chilly, but starting to warm up from the past few days. I was scrambling the week before our trip to make sure we had to right gear to keep the kids warm. Temperatures dropped down to the upper 30s with the winds and rains. A breathable layer system is the way to go to ensure they can still be active and sweat, but retain body heat and keep out winds and rains. REI had sale on winter gear, so I was able to dress up the kids in Patagonia Thermal-weight Capilenes, Patagonia down jackets, and waterproof pant shells. The rain jackets were the only unexpected malfunction.
Today we went to scope out some of the problems around Camp 4. Yosemite has a long and rich history for rock climbing, esp well-known for the multi-pitch wall climbs such as the Dawn Wall on El Capitan or Half Dome. Bouldering became popular too, esp around Camp 4 where many climbers would situation themselves, warm-up, or wait for weather conditions to clear prior to their big wall climbs. So Camp 4 has a lot of established bouldering routes.
As the afternoon progressed, the sun came out and it even started getting hot. With the heat also came the infamous Yosemite mosquitoes!! Anyhow, here's Ryan on some crimpy, slabby V3.
Ryan working some crimpy, slabby ?? V3 problem @ Camp 4
The kids found these cool looking leaves with artsy details etched onto them. They decided to name whatever bug that ate and created these cool looking leaves as "artist bugs".
Like I said before, Yosemite has a long history in climbing. This time of year there were lots of famous, well-established pro climbers in the area. In Bishop we met Bobbi Bensman. At Camp 4, we encountered Nina Williams. Not much interaction, but we did see her partner working on this V4 which caught our attention as well. Ryan bumped into someone he knew from his climbing gym and our two groups hung out to work on Tendon's Give, which has a V4 route and a V7 variation.
Ryan on Tendons Give, not-the-real-V4 @ Camp 4
Roger on Tendons Give, not-the-real-V4 @ Camp 4
So the guide book is not descriptive enough and the interpretation of how the route actually goes was not quite known. What we thought was the V4 route was what we did in the video above. But it really did feel a tad on the easier side to be V4, and Yosemite is known to have hard ratings, not easy ones.
Roger on 2nd upper, half of what we thought was the V7 of Tendons Give.
We think that the lower portion of the 2nd half of the climb, up to the peak completes the V4. (Roger climbed the upper portion) So all in all, we can only say that we did 1/2 of this climb.
To be continued... Yosemite : Part III
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