Hobo Travels

My buddy Jim finished his Peace Corps service about a year ago and ever since he's been traveling around the world. Just recently, he came back to the States to crash with his sister for a month in Los Angeles, CA. Since he was nearby San Diego and his birthday was coming up, we decided to meetup and go surfing at the San Onofre beach. We spent the day eating burritos, surfing, and chilling at a night bonfire.

I suggested that we take a trip over to Yosemite National Park. It sounded like a great idea so in October, I took a week off work, picked Jim up from LA, and we drove to Yosemite to do some hiking/camping 'on the cheap'.

Now let me say that I respect everyone's need to plan to different degrees; some people need to have an itinerary for every hour with reservations already setup and on the other hand, some people only need to know where they're going. Jim and I thought the same, we were the latter of the two trains of though and the only planning we needed was that we'd start driving on the 5 freeway to Yosemite.

Since I was going with Jim, a cheap ass almost to the extent that I was (and maybe even moreso), we knew that we weren't going to spend more than $10 a day. Since $10 a day for food and shelter wasn't a large amount, we knew we had to prioritize our needs; we needed to cover food, shelter, and fun with our $10 a day budget.

Shelter:
I had been to Yosemite National Park before and had stayed at one of the cheapest 'rooms', which was pretty much a canvas tent priced at $89/night in Curry Village. On my last trip, I was with some of my family (including some younger cousins) so I didn't hesitate on spending the money. Now, it was different.

For this trip, a friend from work let us borrow a tent for free (Thanks Sara). The problem was, where do we pitch the tent without park rangers coming over to give us tickets? We thought about pitching our tent out in a random trail, but knew that my truck would get a ticket (vehicles could only park in certain locations unless they had a wilderness permit).

The solution? We drove outside the park, parked on the side of the road, and slept in the back of the truck (although it was freezing outside). Despite the harsh conditions, we slept pretty well that first night. After that night, we got up early and registered a spot at Camp 4 (a well known spot for dirtbag rock climbers) where we were able to pitch our tent inside the park for about $7 a day.

Shelter - Check!

Food:
Being the bums that we are, we decided not to spend much on food. Instead we brought our own supplies. I had my camping gear (camping stove, pots, and fuel) and lots of food lying around the house; some clif bars, oatmeal, mac & cheese, and packets of instant noodles (the good kind - I spare no expenses when it comes to instant noodle!). Jim snagged a lot of smoked pork and chicken at his sister's party just before we left LA.

For meals, we would sit in the truck bed making our food while watching people walk by their cars. Instead of buying our food at Camp Curry, we shifted our food money and instead used it on what any other sane individual would've done; buy a beer everynight.

Food - Check!

Fun:
Our first full day in Yosemite, we decided to hike Half Dome... in flip flops. People advised us to start no later than 9 am. We started closer to noon and knew we had to hurry if we were to make it up and down that same day. We made it to the top (where its necessary to 'climb' up), rested a bit, and shared some of our spare water with others. The view was amazing. On top we met Godzilla, the park ranger lady who went around kicking people's stone shrines down.

On the way down, we passed by people who were already on the way down when we were still hiking up. We made it back to camp for our well deserved beer just as it got dark.

For the rest of the trip, we did a little bouldering, saw a bear cub close up on a trail, helped some German hitchhikers get to a far off trail (they laid on the truck bed hiding under our sleeping bags), met a hilarious French husband/wife, shared stories with an Irish rock climber over a campfire, never once took a shower, had farting competitions inside the tent, raced across trails, and incessantly made fun of 'punters' (tourists who spend a lot of money needlessly - for example, taking the bus tour through a trail)

Fun - Check!

After a week up in Yosemite while sleeping in a tent and hiking everyday, we weren't the cleanest of individuals (not to mention the farting competitions didn't help our cause). So on the way back to LA, we stopped by my first home, good ole Reedley! Even though Jim and I had our fair share of traveling the world, it was always nice to return home for a hot shower, a comfortable bed, and some home cooked food.