Yosemite National Park, CA

No rock climbing road trip could be complete without a stop in Yosemite National Park. In fact, a week long trip to this awe inspiring park 1 year earlier had sealed in our minds that we needed to take this trip of a lifetime. We knew very early in our planning that we would go back. Two friends decided to celebrate their marriage by inviting their family and friends out to Yosemite for a week in October, how awesome! Thank you for having us Maryne and Rich! We had a great time hanging out with the Boston/Oregon climber crew, climbing beautiful granite walls, and biking around the valley.

Looking into the Valley from Taft Point.

Steve takes off on Pitch 2 of The Grack (5.6).

Selfies from the top of Harry Daley (5.8) on the Glacier Point Apron.

Joanna post Commitment (5.9) crux.

Middle cathedral catches the last sunshine of the day. In this picture 3 routes that we did are visible; Higher Cathedral Spire, The East Buttress of Middle Cathedral, and Central Pillar of Frenzy.

Steve enjoys one of the best summits in Yosemite, Higher Cathedral Spire. Two spires can be seen on the left side of the picture above. Higher Cathedral Spire is the one on the right.

Joanna takes in the view of El Cap from the summit of Higher Cathedral Spire.

While climbing Higher Cathedral Spire, we noticed a climber moving very quickly solo on the Northeast Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock. We suspect this lanky fellow with dark hair was Alex Honnold. We topped out shortly before he did and got a nice show while he finished the last pitches.

Higher Cathedral Spire selfie.

Joanna follows Pitch #4 of Central Pillar of Frenzy (5.9).

After the sun sets the headlights begin to turn on, marking the location of the climbers on El Cap. This is a beautiful and inspirational sight viewed from the meadows below.

Noon time on our last day in the park we stopped at a rest area along the Merced River to eat lunch and decide where to climb for the day. While there, Rich and Marcia pulled up in their sprinter van and asked if we were interested in climbing Cathedral Peak in Tuolumne Meadows. This climb consists of a 2 hr approach and 700 feet of 5.fun climbing leading to a stunning summit. Sounded great, so we all took off on the hour long drive to The Meadows. The timing was perfect for this adventure. The climbing went fast so we traveled from car to summit in under 4 hours. This allowed us to hang out on this spectacular summit for a bit before watching the sun set into the valley below.