I will be pacing my friend Faye at the Leadville 100 in five weeks. In preparation for the race, we traveled to Yosemite National Park for a training run at Tuolumne Meadows. We started at the trail head at the Tuolumne Meadows ranger station and proceeded down Lyell Canyon, along the famous John Muir Trail. After six flat miles through the canyon, we passed Evelyn Lake and headed toward the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. At the 12 mile point, we reached Vogelsang. I’m recovering from a knee injury, so the plan was for me to take it easy and hike the remaining seven miles back to the trail head. Faye headed off in the opposite direction to extend her run by an additional two hours. While she ran, I took a leisurely walk back to Tuolumne, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful views.
While hiking back to the trail head, I had the pleasure of meeting Stefano. I saw Stefano carrying a fishing rod and asked if caught any fish. He caught one fish, which I thought was great because just relaxing at the river is a wonderful thing and catching anything is a bonus. Besides, a “bad” day of fishing is much better than a good day at work!
Stefano is visiting from Switzerland and will be spending a total of four days in the San Francisco Bay Area. Besides hiking and fishing in Tuolumne Meadows, he planned on climbing a granite hill (not too big), swimming in Tenaya Lake, and visiting Yosemite Valley (on Monday, when it wasn’t as crowded). Stefano seems like my type of person, one who would travel thousands of kilometers to California to enjoy the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains, fishing in the cool, flowing rivers, and experiencing the beautiful National Park. He even had a nice Canon G10 camera, which I’m sure he used to capture the beauty around him.
Stefano, it was a pleasure meeting you yesterday. I hope you had an enjoyable holiday in California and a safe return trip home.
14 July 2013
Tuolumne Meadows
Yosemite National Park, CA
Here are additional photos from our trail run.
Start of the trail.
Faye leading the way down the trail.
Faye taking a mandatory photo break on the bridge (with a wonderful view in the background).
Handsome young chap modeling the Ultimate Direction SJ ultra running vest.
Monday, July 15, 2013
002 - Stefano
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Stefano sounds like an intriguing guy. Love that he traveled all the way from Switzerland and enjoyed his time fishing instead of visiting Disneyland. :) Great portrait of him and wonderful portraits of you and Faye. 5 more weeks and a knee injury??? That's not good. :( Praying your knee heals quickly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandy. I love the outdoors and thought it was awesome that Stefano would spend his limited time in California enjoying the wonderful Sierra Nevada. I believe I have an "overuse" injury. It was a bit sore after running 18 miles on the trails a few weeks back and then it felt worse when I ran 20 miles the following weekend. I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow...but one way or another, I'm going to be running at Leadville!
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