Love bears. They are like giant 3 year olds who feel no remorse for killing. You should see people at National Parks. They seem to think its a zoo. People will crowd around dangerous wildlife taking flash photos and jamming the tiny 2 lane roads.
I got a good Yosemite story....
Out visiting my friend who was working at Yosemite last July cuz I get in free if I'm friends with an employee. At some point during the visit she says she wants to take a hike to Vernal Falls. Problem is, it's Independence Day weekend so the place is clogged with fat tourists and their fat kids who feed potato chips to the fat squirrels.
Anyway, it was about 3 miles and at least a thousand feet up to the top of the falls up a narrow granite staircase carved into the rocks.
View from before the stairs
Needless to say there was a fatty jam 100 people long because some fat old lady with ski poles (no, not hiking poles, SKI POLES) was dragging her fat ass up at one step a minute. All the time the mist from the falls is soaking me as I get more and more angry. Finally get to a photo op with the falls behind me to take this photo.
Cassie then says "come on! lets go to the top of the falls". I wasn't having any of that, I knew from the foot traffic that there would be at least a thousand fatties at the top taking stupid pictures of the same thing a million other people have seen. I told them that I had had enough and was going back. Went back to the staff tent area and hung out til I met some random park employees who seemed pretty cool and were about to go on a hike to a place I had never heard of: "Hidden Falls". I jumped at the chance for a genuine adventure, even though it would be a 10 mile round trip.
We a trail that had been closed due to a rock slide off Half Dome. So epic, granite rocks the size of houses pinning pine trees that were 5 feet in diameter to the ground like toys. Absolute destruction and fresh granite everywhere...
After an exhausting hike that I failed to bring water for, we made it to the falls. Then time to relax and gaze back at they Yosemite Valley....
Drank lots of water from the stream, tasted better than even the finest bottled water...
Not a single person was there other than the people I had gone with. We bathed in the pools of crisp, fresh water and drank cheap beer and smoked stale bud. Perfect afternoon. They decided to go back a different rout than the way we had come, mostly for fresh scenery. It had it's share of adventure...
The next day was the 4th of July, so I decided to rest my weary feet after 16 miles of hiking, and enjoy my freedom from those oppressive Brits (SUCK IT, KING GEORGE III!!!)