Emily Sighting in Yosemite near Sunrise Lakes

“I was out in Yosebug National Park hiking from Yosemite Valley to Tuollomne Meadows and ran into Emily (aka Embear). Was so cool to randomly run into a familiar face!!! My girlfriend, Carol Ann, and I were so tickled about that! Had a fantastic time - and Emily, was so good seeing you again - especially in the high sierra!”

“hiked up the Mist Trail through Grand Staircase to Little Yosebug Valley. Camped with many people.

Next day, stashed packs at junction of JMT and 1/2 Dome trail. Hiked up Half Dome. Got the wits scared outta me on the cables. Had no idea what that was all about, but somehow I made it back down to my pack and took in 360 views in between! After 1/2 Dome, we took JMT up to Clouds Rest to summit. Wooo! The sun set on us just as we were able to get below 9600 feet. We threw down camp.

Next morning, we hiked down to creek (Sunrise?) and made breakfast and coffee. We goofed around and began hiking passing a beautiful pond and eventually lower and middle Sunrise Lakes. Ran into Emily (crazy!) and then took a nice long break at Upper Sunrise lake. We took a dip too!
That night we camped at Sunrise High Sierra Camp - the lodge part was closed and we had a beautiful spot overlooking Long Meadow and Mathes Crest.

Morning found us and we pushed on through Cathedral Pass to Cathedral Lakes. We bushwhacked up from the main Cathedral Lake to intersect with the JMT again and descended into Tuollumne Meadows for our last night of Yosemite frolicking. We took the very last shuttle for the season out of the Meadows back to our car in the valley.

Wow! Just.... Wow!”

“Awesome!!”

“Sounds like you had a great trip : ) I do the Clouds rest trip each year....I love it.

Had you ever met Emily before? Either way, how uncanny.

Pics?????”

“Yay!!!! I cant believe we ran into each other! Who knew??? I'm glad you had a good time- we had a great hike too. Unfortunately, after I saw you, I fell when my pack caught on a tree and injured my knee. I climbed cloud's rest with a bum knee, but made it down to the base of half dome for camp. We were planning on climbing the dome the next day, but it just hurt too bad. :( Probably a good thing though, cause there were hundreds of people going up the trail to climb it, and an hour wait at the cables. Someone also got hurt and had to be taken down on horseback.

The trail back down to the Valley was stunning! I was surprised that the falls were still going, though small.

You have pics yet? I'm still working on mine. It was sooooo good to see you, and we should definately plan something with Carol Ann! Get Gem out here too!”

“You lucky ladies.”

“Huh! Normally when I randomly meet a TT on the trail they not only deny knowing me but deny their own identity.”

“Cool to run into someone like that. Not really the same thing but working at John Deere I now run into people I know all over the City where before it felt like didn't know a sole.”

“Hang on - I'll post a pic or two here, but I will be updating me website in a few days with them!

That stinks that you fell on your knee. Yuck - what a trooper though on going all the way up and over Clouds Rest! Yeah - we got up early the morning we did the 1/2 dome so we could beat the crowds. I can't get over Yosemite Valley and Tenaya Canyon. I can see why it is so crowded - how unique!

After the first of the year, me, you, Carol Ann, and Gabi should all brew up a good trip! Woooohooo!”

“flip - I met Emily in Damascus, VA during Trail Days one year...”

“Actually I think Smokey was the closest I've come to a close encounter of the TT kind when I found out she was camped on the next ridge from us in the SMNP.”

“Hey Nigal - I get around! LOL! I bet I have passed people on the trail that I haven't met face to face before! I think I passed MDS in Mount Rogers without realizing it was him?!”

“Any man that doesn't 'notice' smokygirl has something wrong with him.
Look up 'cute' in the dictionary, and there's her picture. ;-)
Dang strong hiker and kayaker too!”

“Awwww - SS, me cheeks just blushed... If anyone needs honey, SS is the man!”

“coughbrownnosercough!

LOL!”

“Hey smoky.....did yall see any bears? They are so strict there about keeping everything in the bear cans, but we didnt even see any poop! I was dissapointed....in my 29 years I have never seen one, even with all the smokies hiking i have done!

Yeah, the hike up to clouds rest was fine, it was the downhill part that killed me.

I thought it was funny how I felt like a minority in the Valley....almost everyone I passed was speaking a different language.”

“smokygirl and embear make me wish I was twenty years younger. ;-)
What a couple of cuties!”

“hahaha

Hey embear!

did you see we have snow on the mountains here?

I can see Indian Peaks out my window and they are WHITE!

you miss us all yet?”

“Of course I miss you roam! I was just thinking about how awesome this time of year is there in CO with the aspen and snow and all. I heard you got a couple inches over the weekend?

Just think.....one year ago, we were fighting for our lives on the side of a cliff...hahahaha”

“"I heard you got a couple inches over the weekend?"”

“SNOW.

SHE"S TALKING ABOUT SNOW!!!

and yes, we did. I was out playin in the snow on Sunday. We climbed Mt. Audubon. We went off trail on the way down adn I thought about the misadventure in the Bells.”

“I saw one measly pile of bear evidence. Everyone kept saying we would see bears, but we didn't see anything but one marmot, lizards, squirrels, and birds. In my Smoky hikes, I saw one bear on the trail. I don't count the ones in Cades Cove. Gabi and I hiked Citico a month or so ago and I saw a bear on Rocky Flats - then, saw one on the Foothills parkway on the way home. That's the extent of my bear sightings though...

Yeah - alot of French people were there. French and German. One woman in Little Yosemite wouldn't let us share her bear locker. She kept saying, "You haf meeny sings?" We kept saying, "What?"

Oh foo - I think it was Roam that I might have passed in Mt. Rogers?”

“Hey smokeygal, yep, that was me a few years back - with my kids!

We didn't know who each other were yet then - not even via tt yet really.

You have a knack for finding people don't you!”

“Hey Smokygirl...a section from my AT journal:

******************

Date: 4/12/03
Starting Point: Deep Gap
Destination: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles Hiked: 8.5

I stopped at Deep Gap to take a break and eat some beef jerky. A few thru-hikers passed by and asked me what kind of jerky I was eating. I told them it was homemade and gave them a taste. They said it was excellent and I rewarded them with a handful each. I suspect that they had that planned! As I started heading up Standing Indian Mountain the air became a bit cooler and I began seeing white stuff on the ground. It was Snow! The trail itself was wet with mud but the rest of the mountain was covered with a thin layer of snow. It was a beautiful sight to see. I stopped in a clearing and spotted a large flat rock. I decided to take a break. I stretched out on the rock and let the bright sun keep me warm. After taking a break and crossing the summit of the mountain I stopped to chat with a lady hiker. It was my friend “Smokygirl” that I had met once before on another hiking trip. We chatted for a while and she let me know that some other people I knew were on the trail behind her. She was right! Not long after I passed Smokygirl I ran into some other friends that included Towndawg, Jerbear, and John. It was great to see faces on the trail that I knew.”

“Us TT'ers get around !”

“Hhahah! That's great! I remember Standing Indian - we sure do!”

“Omg!! I want to go so very bad!!
I can not wait for the pictures.”

“That's freakin' insane. This is the year of Yosemite or something, Troy and I were just out there last week. Check out my pics: Flickr

”

“BTW, we did the exact same trail except we walked down from Toullamen, however the heck you spell it.”

“NO WAY! We were out there last Wednesday through Sunday!”

“Yeah, it seems like the place to be this summer...

btw, i couldnt believe they let us have fires with everything being so dry and forest fires all across the state. We actually saw a fire right next to the park, although it may have been controlled. I just thought that was a little strange.”

“I know - our fire at Sunrise was instantaneous. I am so used to struggling with damp wood in the Smokes. I was tickled, but then we had to take a log off because we were nervous wanting to keep it small. The one fire I saw from across the Merced on 1/2 Dome was controlled I think. But we saw a fire alongside Highway 99 on the way in before we got to Fresno.”

“Go to Footpounder and click on California! link - I've got two from Cleveland Nat'l Forest and three from Yosemite there... Looking into posting my album soon! I forget how to post a pic in the threads... lemme refresh and will post one.”

“Your surprise meeting reminds me of the time Gem and I randomly ran into Snow Dude and Snow Nymph in the middle of the night at a gas station in a desert in California.”

“Yes - Gabi told me about that and I was thinking of that too and even mentioned y'all running into the Snow People!”

“Nice site Tina! I'll have my pics up later today.”

“I'm checkin' your pics now.”

“Argh! I am trying to finish up the album here, but it won't upload any more pics? Will try to finish up when it works. Got a few on there now...
Album”

“OK, finally got my pics up. I was a little disappointed in them, as they didnt really capture the beauty of the area.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554521872GQPkWB”

“Great pics of a world class hike....thanks!

embear - I always used to come home disappointed with my pics but I have since realized that a person cannot capture the grandeur of Yosemite in pictures....it's the memories that make it great!”

“My favorite pic is the Beautiful Sunset one... I find that I take way better pictures when I hike alone because I don't worry about catching up, etc.

The downfall is that I can't get any group shots... ahhaha!”

“you're right flip....I've def got the memories!

Smoky - I agree. My bfriend gets impatient with me cause I take so many pics....but I'm usually the only one taking them too!”

“That forest fire was burning when I was out there a few weeks before you guys, must be a controlled burn. Nice pics btw and I had no idea you moved to Cali. CO too cold for ya? ;-)”