I can't remember who's pics I looked at, but those kebabs looked incredible!

Oh, GC ... I wish you had come along on our Paradise Valley hike. It was beautiful and amazing. Next time I hope.

Our misfire hike up the Don Cheadle trail was a comparatively lame hike, but an ULTRA-FUN ADVENTURE ... thanks, in large part, to you. But also to the rest of the great company and the hysterical situations we found ourselves in.


Hahaha, we now call it a "Brad" whenever we lose the trail. You are immortalized in hiking nomenclature!



* * *

In light of cancelled pie-in-the-sky plans, I admit to a tinge of jealousy when I see the pictures of you and Thurston in Yosemite. But it's still such a fun bit of irony that I can't help but take delight in it. Not Afraid's the best person to visit the Ahwanee with ... but I hope you will come with me someday to see the more hidden wonders of the Valley that take a little trekking to - - - while I can still trek (which, judging by how my feet feel today, won't be too long).

Okay, starting with wildlife.

I did NOT get a picture of the bear. We were about 1/3 of the way back from Paradise Valley (a ~14 mile hike all tolled), I was exhausted, it was getting dark. I heard a snap off the trail, looked over, and not 10 feet away was a small black bear staring right at me. I decided not to hang around and take a photo, especially since it likely would not have come out without a flash, which was the last thing I wanted to use. However, I did get pictures of the deer (the ones in camp, and the one we saw on the trail a few minutes before the bear), some birds, and a snake. Didn't get shot of the millipede.

Click for larger version, contact me for ginormous version.

Awesome pics, everyone! I knew every aspect of the trip would be covered by someone.

Hence why I didn't much care that I had no camera of my own.


Thanks, everyone, for the pics!!

Hmph. Stupid campers and their stupid camp.

Who needs stupid camping anyway. Hmph.

I had a MUCH better time cleaning my bedroom.

Bah, humbug.

On the Don Cheadle Trail (damnit, never going to remember the actual name), I set up my tripod and timer so we could take a group shot. We scrambled up the rocks a bit to pose so it was a mad dash for me to get from the camera into the shot in time.

Here's the final shot:



You'll notice how great everyone's smile is. That's because they aren't smiling, they're laughing. Why? Because 1) They got to watch me nearly kill myself about 6 times running across those rocks and 2) this was the attempt immediately prior to that last one:

Oh, here's a link to the full album, while I pick and choose my favorites to post here:

http://flickr.com/photos/66141390@N0...7605538251452/

What did you not see my Lash/Stoat tribute a few posts back? Plenty of bacon shots in there!

Alex uses a visual aid to describe how to hide a dead body: