Go to Yosemite

So you're from Massachusetts, grew up "vacationing" in Vermont, and went to some small, overpriced liberal arts college in the Northeast. Late in your senior year at said institution, you realized that the soft drone in your ear wasn't a consequence of that drunken tumble down the basement stairs one night at a house party that you self-consciously laughed off at the time but that secretly really did hurt, but was instead the quiet, insufficiently enunciated age-old call of "Go West, young man". Upon graduating, you heeded that call and loaded up your Subaru, bought a tape adapter for your iPod, packed a generous eighth into your glovebox, and "took the northern route" to California.

Fast forward three years.

You've got five weeks left on your lease in Russian Hill, a silver BMW parked in the garage, a letter of acceptance to grad/business/law school at some large, overpriced private university in the Northeast, and the sinking feeling that you should have spent more time in nature and less time in terrible Marina bars, surrounded by vapid, terrible girls and your terrible steaky friends, during your time in California.

What to do?

Do what I'm doing this weekend: go to Yosemite.



Hike Half Dome, do a multi-day backpacking trip starting from Tuolumne Meadows, swim across Tanaya Lake, check out the wonders of the Valley floor...lots of stuff to do.


Yosemite is about 4 hours east of the City. If you don't own a car, rent one, hit up a friend with wheels to come along or consult the craigslist rideshare board. For more information on camping or other, fancier lodging, as well as all the necessary logistical info--directions, trails, points of interest, and so on--check here.