A scant few days before I was scheduled to head off to the land down under, I traveled to Yosemite National Park to get in my share of backpacking and hiking. I spent one night on the trail, then my brother joined me as we stayed in an entirely civilized cabin/tent/shack, followed by a day of hiking.
I did the North Rim trail on my own, taking the bus/train/bus to the park from San Francisco, then hitch hiking to the trail head (this took much longer than expected, and was my first attempt at hitch hiking. I will be much more likely to pick up hitchers in the future. At least, in national parks when they're dressed as hikers with full backpacks supporting their story...). I started at Oak Flat Road Trail, at the entrance to the valley, at 4pm. 
I got as many miles as I could before full dark (and then a few more, by headlamp) before making my camp on a shoulder in the midst of a grueling three-mile climb. 
I had myself a camp fire, and enjoyed myself immensely. The full moon was incredibly bright, but it didn't rise until I was settled in my tent, ready to sleep. Then it shown in my eyes. Brightly. But it was pretty cool to see how stark the shadows were, just from the moonlight.
The next day saw the completion of the grueling climb, then flat going through meadows and across granite domes. 
I had lunch on the famous climber's mecca, El Capitan. With a commanding view of the entire valley, it was a great spot to absorb the grandeur of Yosemite. 
Man, the valley is spectacular. Each rock formation by itself would be breathtaking. Them all together is just incredible...
The rest of the day saw me cursing at every incline in the trail (the map says this meadow is FLAT!) and heading to Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall on the continent.
I climbed down the Yosemite Falls trail, said to be the most strenuous trail in the park (ok, going up is the most strenuous. Down was just taxing). 
I met a spaniard on the way down, and we got to talking. He was a bit jealous when he found out what I did ("I'm off to New Zealand and Vanuatu next week. Have a good rest of your visit to good ol' America"), but our conversation made short work of the hour-plus, 4-mile-downhill trail.
That night brought a blissful shower and a relaxing pizza dinner. My brother drove in and joined me much too late for my tastes, but I had a nice nap before he got there. We retired to our signature tent cabin shack, and I fell into an exhausted sleep.
Day 3 started with an excellent breakfast at the Curry Village buffet (that came with our rooms, very worth it!), then we hopped on the tour up to Glacier Point. An hour and a half of bad jokes and beautiful scenery later, we arrived at the top of the valley (south side this time) and admired the view. Half Dome dominated the landscape. Unfortunately the cables were down for the season, but that was probably a good thing, since I wasn't up to a 16-mile round trip hike with almost a vertical mile of elevation gain. So we took the Panorama Trail down to the valley floor.
It was a beautiful trail, in very diverse ecosystems. I hadn't seen the low mountain brush clinging to the hillside anywhere else in the park. It took us through forests, across rivers, past waterfalls, up steep granite hills (grumble grumble incline) and opposite Half Dome. 
Even when hiking Half Dome, I didn't get those views of the granite monolith. The Panorama Trail gave great perspectives.
The Panorama Trail led into the Mist Trail, leading past Nevada and Vernal Falls. A grueling 4-plus-mile descent into the valley left our legs shaking and our knees aching. But we made excellent time, and we hit the valley floor just in time to leave with rush hour traffic.
An uneventful drive, punctuated by a dinner and gas stop, brought us back to San Francisco, where I dropped into an exhausted stuppor. 26 miles in a weekend will do that, I suppose. Kudos to marathoners.
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