We left the Bay Area around eight on Friday morning and reached the Big Oak Flat Entrance a little after 11 AM. We stopped for gas at the last station before the park and paid the price for my procrastination... $3.09 per gallon. The tank wasn't empty, but to be safe, I reluctantly bought three gallons. Note to self: Buy gas in Oakdale.

We were too early to check in, so we headed up to Glacier Point, making numerous stops along the way to take photos. One particular vista point was packed. The lot was full of motorcycles, antique cars and charter buses. With a little persistence, I found a place to park and tried to see what was so special about this spot. Bikers, senior citizens and Japanese tourists lined the edge of the lot and had their cameras trained on something. I followed their gaze and saw beautiful Bridalveil Fall. I quickly joined them and snapped a few shots.

Our first hike was to the top of Sentinel Dome first. The wind was quite strong, but the 360-degree view was spectacular. We had our first glimpse of Half Dome, which rose another 700 feet above our vantage point. I sat on one of the large flat stones huddled around the toppled Jeffrey Pine at the center of the dome and its warmth surprised me. I took a moment to enjoy the sun-heated seating.

We then hiked to Taft Point. The trail was damp and large patches of icy snow (photo) remained. It hailed lightly for a minute or two before we came out of the wooded area and to the fissures, deep vertical slices through the granite. We were rewarded with a dramatic view of El Capitan and Yosemite Valley some 3,500 feet below.

We continued on to Glacier Point, a very popular spot in the park. From where we stood, it was easy to frame Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall and Half Dome in the camera viewfinder. They looked small enough to require only a hop, skip and jump to reach the top. "Just think," somebody said. "You'll be climbing that tomorrow." I nodded solemnly, peered across the seemingly painted landscape and thought, "This will be the hardest trail I ever hiked."

We then drove down to Curry Village and waited in a long line at the reservation desk. At first, I was taken aback by the number of people and cars, but reminded myself that escaping from civilization wasn't the purpose of this trip. The only real way to do that in Yosemite was to avoid the valley and backpack through the lesser-known parts of the park, far from any road and creature comfort.

We ate a buffet dinner in the dining hall, showered and loitered a little while in the lounge before retiring early to our tent cabin. On any other Friday, I would have stayed up late and slept in even later, but Saturday promised to be a long day and would require an early start.