Yosemite - Badger Pass - Glacier point

One day, browsing Facebook I saw on Honza's page photos from his cross country skiing trip from Badger pass to Glacier point and that day I decided that I need to do the same trip! Jeff and I left on Saturday early morning - 3 am for Yosemite, around 9 am we were starting our 10.5 mile trip to Glacier point. Jeff hadn't been on cross country skies before, so it took him a while to get the rhythm and also his skies didn't have much wax on them so it was really hard work for him. We made it to the Glacier point around 4 pm, found a place for camping with a beautiful view and after dinner and melting snow we went to bed - I think around 8 pm! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day. After breakfast and necessary photo taking we left around 10 pm for our way back. The journey back felt much more easier and we arrived back to Badger pass around 2 pm.
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Jeden den jsem si prohlizela Facebook a na Honzove strance jsem nasla fotky z jeho vyletu na bezkach z Badger pass na Glacier point a ten den jsem se rozhodla, ze musim podniknout stejny vylet! Jeff a ja jsme vyjeli v sobotu brzy rano - 3 do Yosemit, kolem 9 rano jsme zacinali nas 17 kim vyjezd na Glacier point. Jeff predtim nikdy na bezkach nebyl a tak mu chvili trvalo ze se dostal do rytmu a take jeho lyze nebyly poradne navoskovane, a tak cesta pro nej byla docela namahava. Kolem 4 odpoledne jsme dojeli na Glacier point, nasli jsme misto na stanovani s nadhernym vyhledem a po veceri a rozpousteni snehu jsme sli spat - myslim kolem 8 vecer! Nasledujici rano jsme se probudili do nadherneho dne! Po snidani a nezbytnem foceni jsme vyrazili kolem 10 zpet. Cesta zpet nebyla az tak namahava a zpet jsme prijeli na Badge pass kolem 2 hodiny odpoledni.
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Africa - Tanzania 19. 12. 09 - 5.1.10

I always wanted to go to Africa to see animals in Safari and for a while I also wished to hike up Kilimanjaro, so the choice for my last holiday was quite easy - Tanzania!
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Vzdy jsem se chtela podivat do Afriky na zvirata v safari a uz nejakou chvili jsme si take prala vyjit Kilimanjaro, tak ze vyber me posledni dovolene byl lehky - Tanzanie!
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Saturday Dec 19th - Wednesday Dec 23rd
The travel to Tanzania was our first adventure. Even the original itinerary was crazy: San Francisco - Charlotte - Washington DC - Addis Abbaba - Kilimanjaro, but it got even crazier. The day we left there was big snowstorm on the east coast, so we got stucked over night in Charlotte. The next day we managed to fly to Washington DC and spent one night on the airport there. The next morning we should be rebooked on flight to Ethiopia, but we were told we are not in the system! We got stand by ticket, but luckily got on the plane. This plane was about 6 hours late so we also missed plane to Kilimanjaro! Since there is only one flight per day, we had to stay over night in Addis Abbaba too. After 5 days of travel we arrived finaly to Tanzania on Wednesday! The Zara agency took us to our hotel, where we got ready for our next day Kilimanjaro trip.


Sobota 19. Prosince - Streda 23. ProsinceCesta do Tanzanie bylo nase prvni dobrodruzstvi. I puvodni plan byl sileny: San Francisco - Charlotte - Washington DC - Addis Abeba - Kilimanjaro, ale nakonec to dopadlo jeste sileneji. V den, kdy jsem odletali byla velka snehova bourka na vychodnim pobrezi, tak ze jsme zustali uviznuti v Charlotte. Dalsi den se nam podarilo odleted do Washington DC, kde jsme stravili noc na letisti. Nasledujici rano jsme meli mit presunutou letenku na let do Etiopie, ale bylo nam receno, ze nejsme v systemu! Cekali jsme tak, jestli bude v letadle misto a nastesti jsme se do nej nakonec dostali. Letadlo melo ale asi 6 hodin zpozdeni a tak nam uletelo letadlo do Kilimanjara. Protoze z Addis Abeba leti jen jedno letadlo denne do Kilimanjara, museli jsme zustat pres noc taky v Addis Abeba. Po peti dnech cestovni jsme nakonec ve stredu doleteli do Kilimanjara. Zara cestovni agentura, nas vzala do hotelu, kde jsme se pripravili na nas vystup na Kilimanjaro, ktery mel zacit druhy den.

Thursday Dec 24th - Wednesday Dec 30thWe started our 7-day Kilimanjaro hike on Christmas Eve. We decided for the longer version to be able to aclimatize to high altitude. Despite this I still had a problem with the elevation and had to take altitude sickness pill before summit day. In our group were two more people - Matthias from Germany/Dubai and Jonathan from Chicago. Jonathan was underprepared, Mathias had extra equipment, so they formed nice couple in the end :) We chose this time for hiking up Kili because it was supposed to be beginning of dry season - we had rain every single day.... starting from about 10 -11 am, so we learned to get up early, so we walk as little as we have to in the rain. The temperature wasn't too cold, just wet, only the summit day was pretty chilly and we had to move not to get too cold. We had with us (4 people) 1 guide, 2 assistant guides, 1 cook, 1 assistant cook and 12 porters - little bit excesive, but we didn't have choice. They were carrying our tents, equipment, food, dining tent, special toilet, and who know what else :)


Ctvrtek 24. Prosince - Streda 30. Prosince
Zacali jsme nas 7 denni vystup na Kilimanjaro na Stedry den. Rozhodli jsme se pro delsi verzi vystupu, abychom meli cas se aklimatizovat. I tak jsem ale mela problem s vysokou nadmorskou vyskou a musela jsem si vzit specialni prasek pred vystupem na uplny vrchol. V nasi skupine byli dva dalsi lide - Mathias z Nemecka/Dubai a Jonathan z Chicaga. Jonatan prijel nepripraveny, Mathias mel zase extra vybaveni a tak nakonec vytvorili dokonaly par :) Vybrali jsme si toto obdobi na vystup Kilimanjara, protoze ted mel byt zacatek sucheho obdobi - prselo nam ale kazdy den..... zacalo kolem 10 -11 rano, a tak jsme se brzo poucili a vstavali brzo, abychom sli co nejmene za deste. Zima velka nebyla, jen vlhko a jen v den dobyvani vrcholu bylo chladno a tak jsem se museli pohybovat, abychom moc neprochladli. Meli jsme sebou (4 lide) 1 pruvodce, 2 pomocne pruvodce, 1 kuchare, 1 pomocneho kuchare a 12 nosicu - trochu prehnane, ale nemeli jsme na vyber. Ti nesli nase stany, vybaveni, jidlo, stan na jezeni, specialni zacho, a kdo vi co jeste :)


Dec 24: Machame gate (1490 m/4890 ft) - Machame camp (2980 m/9780 ft) - 18 km/11 m
Dec 25: Machame camp (2980 m/9780 ft) - Shira camp (3840m/12 600 ft) - 9 km/5.6 m
Dec 26: Shira camp (3840m/12 600 ft) - Lava Tower (4630m/15 190 ft)-Barranco camp (3950 m/12 960 ft) - 15 km/9.3 m
Dec 27: Barranco camp (3950m)- Kanga Camp (4200 m/13780 ft) - 7 km/4.3m
Dec 28: Karanga Camp (4200 m/13780 ft) - Barafu camp (4550m/14930 m) - 13 km/8.1 m
Dec 29: Barafu camp (4550m/14930 ft)-Uhuru Peak (5895m/19340 ft)-Mweka (3100m/10170 ft) - 7 km/4.3 m up and 23 km/14.3 m down
Dec 30: Mweka (3100m/10170 ft) - Mweka Gate (1980 m/6500 ft) - 15 km/9.3 m


Thursday Dec 31th - Sunday Jan 3rd
Since we arrived two days later than we supposed to, we didn't have time to drive to Serengeti NP. As we were told it wasn't famous big migration time anyway, so what we saw in the other parks was pretty much the same as we would there. We visited Tarangire NP, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara NP. All the places were amazing and we were quite lucky to see many animals very close - elephants, giraffs, zebras, lions, hyenas, etc. We travelled just two of us in a car with opened roof and one driver who was also our guide and he stopped whenewer we wanted to take any photos. The last day we went for little walk around the area, which was nice to get feel for the place not only from the car.

Ctvrtek 31. Prosince - Nedele 3. Ledna
Jelikoz jsme prijeli o dva dny pozdeji nez jsme meli, nemeli jsme cas zajet do Serengeti NP. Ale bylo nam receno, ze ted neni doba prosluleho velkeho pohybu zvere, a tak co jsme videli v ostatnich parcich bychom videli i tam. Navstivili jsme Tarangire NP, Ngorongor Crater a Lake Manyara NP. Vsechny mista byly uzasne a my jsme meli taky velke stesti, ze jsme videli hodne zvirat z velke blizkosti - slony, zirafy, zebry, lvi, hyeny, atd. Cestovali jsme jen my dva v aute s oteviraci strechou a jednim ridicem, ktery byl zaroven nas pruvodce a zastavil nam kdykoliv jsme chteli neco vyfotit. Posledni den jsme sli na kratkou prochazku po okoli, coz nam pomohlo pocitit atmosferu okoli ne jen z auta.


Sunday Jan 3rd - Monday Jan 4th
One of our biggest adventures was our flights back. When somebody rebooked our tickets on the way to Africa he or she managed to "exchanged" our tickets for the flights back. Nobody was able to figure out for what.....! Thanks to long pressing dialogs and nice people in Ethiopian Airlines we flew from Kili to Addis Abbaba and to Washington practically without any ticket (have to be said that from Addis to Washington in business class, so not so bad for such a long flight!). In Wasthington US airways managed to find our lost tickets and since our reservation for the last flight actually didn't disappeared, we could finish our flight as planned!

Nedele 3. Ledna - Pondeli 4. Ledna
Jeden z nasich nevetsich dobrodruzstvi byl let zpet. Kdyz nam nekdo prebukoval nasee listky na ceste do Afriky, podarilo se "vymenit" nase listky na cestu zpet. Ale nikdo nebyl schopen zjistit za co...! Diky dlouhemu presvedcovani a hodnym lidem v Ethiopskych aerolinkach jsme leteli z Kilimanjara do Addis Ababa a do Washintonu prakticky bez listku (z Addis do Washingtonu v prvni tride, a to nebylo vubec spatne na takovy dlouhy let!). Ve Washintonu se US Ariways podarilo najit nase listky a nastesti i kdyz jsme ztratili listky na nas posledni let, tak reservace na mista zustaly a tak jsme mohli dokoncit cestu domu podle planu!

Vanocni vecere - Christmas dinner 13. 12. 2009

This year I am going to be in Africa at Christmas, so I had my early Christmas dinner with friends a little bit earlier. We had traditional Czech fried carp, potato salad, Christmas cookies, gift exchange, and watched Czech Cindarella and Russian "Mrazik" :) I had great time!
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Tento rok budu v Africe pres Vanoce a tak jsem usporadala Ceskou vanocni veceri s kamarady o neco drive. Meli jsme tradicniho smazeneho kapra, bramborovy salat, vanocni cukrovi, vymenu darku a divali jsme se na Tri orisky pro popelku a Mrazika! :) Byl to super vecer!
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Metallica 12.12.09

Just a couple of days before Christmas Metallica ended their tour in San Jose! It was great and LOUD concert!
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Jen par dni pred vanoci Metallica ukoncila turne v San Jose. Byl to skvely a HLUCNY koncert!
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Emigrant Wilderness - Relief Valley 24.-25.10. 09

The weather in California has been very warm this year so we - Jeff, Eric and I took advantage of it and went backpacking to Emigrant Wilderness. I was there about two weeks ago with Petra and Miro, but in this two weeks the fall made beautiful changes! The tree colors were amazing! Eric had in mind to reach Granite Dome, but Jeff and I expected more relaxed backpacking. And we won :) By 4 pm we found nice campsite, made fire and enjoyed evening with conversation and wine. On Sunday we hiked a little bit on rocks above us, but we were far away from reaching Granite Dome - at least we have excuse to come back. After lunch with great views we went back to the campsite, hiked to the car and around 4 pm were leaving wilderness.
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Pocasi v Kalifornii je neuveritelne teple tento rok a tak Jeff, Eric a ja jsme toho vyuzili a jeli do Emigrant Wilderness. Ja jsem tam byla asi pred dvema tydny s Petrou a Mirem, ale za ty dva tydny podzim udelal nadherne zmeny! Zbarveni listi na stromech bylo uzasne! Eric chlel zvladnout vylezt na Granite Dome, ale Jeff a ja jsem chteli vice odpocinkovy vylet. A taky jsme vyhrali! Kolem 4 odpoledne jsme nasli pekne misto na stanovani, udelali ohen a uzili si vecer konversace u vina. V nedeli jsme si vyslapli na skaly nad nami, ale byli jsme daleko od dosazeni Granite Dome - alespon mame vymluvu proc se vratit zpet. Po obede s krasnymi vyhledy jsem sli zpet ke stanum, pak zpet k autu a kolem 4 odpoledne jsme odjizdeli domu.
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Vancouver 14. - 18. 10. 09

My trip to Vancouver had two main reasons – visa and friend visit. I had to go to US consulate to get my working H1 visa in my passport, but it could have been in many different places, since my very good friend Iva lives in Vancouver, the choice was easy. I arrived to Vancouver Tuesday around 11 pm. It was small adventure since that day was in Bay area such a storm and heavy rain, and I was really surprised that the flight had only about 45 minutes delay. Wednesday morning I had 9.30 am appointment for my visa interview. The whole procedure was so difficult that it took couple of hours to get to talk to somebody, but I got my visa without any problems so all the wait was worth it! I had to come back again on Friday to pick up my passport, but till then I could enjoy Vancouver. Afternoon I spent mainly in Stanley Park, which is nice big park near Iva’s place. Unfortunately on Wednesday and Thursday Iva had school after her work, so we didn’t have much time to spend together. On Thursday I went to hike up Grouse Mountain, which is peak close to Vancouver, it should have nice views, but it was quite cloudy. Friday was raining quite a lot, so I stayed at the apartment in the morning and helped Iva with some school work, then picked up my passport and did some souvenir shopping. In the evening we went for a drink with Petr, one of her friend. On Saturday Iva had again school and it was raining a lot, so I spent the morning working on my computer and then later I came to meet her at one shopping center. In the afternoon we went for hike with Petr and some other friends, where we managed to get soaking wet. We ended up the day in swimming pool and then Petr invited us for nice Slovakian dinner and movie at his place. It was great! Sunday was my departure day, and we only managed to go for short walk in Stanley Park. Then I went to airport to catch my afternoon flight.
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Muj vylet do Vancouveru mel dva hlavni duvody – visa a navsteva kamaradky. Musela jsem jet na Americky konzulat, abych dostala me pracovni visa H1 do pasu, ale to mohlo byt na spouste ruznych mist. Protoze ale moje jedna z nejlepsich kamaradek bydli ve Vancouveru, vyber byl jednoduchy. Do Vancouveru jsem prijela kolem 11 vecer. Bylo to male dobrodruzstvi, protoze ten den v San Jose a okoli byla velka bourka se silnym destem a ja jsem byla skutecne mila prekvapena, kdyz let mel jen 45 minut zpozdeni. Ve stredu v 9.30 jsem mela byt na americkem konzulatu abych si pozadala o visa. Cely proces zabral par hodin ale nastesti, kdyz jsem se dostala naradu, tak vse probehlo bez problemu a tak cele cekani stalo zato!. Musela jsem si zpet pro pas prijit v Patek, ale do te doby jsem si mohla uzivat Vancouveru. Odpoledne jsem stravila v Stanley Parku, coz je pekny velky park blizko mista, kde Iva bydli. Nanestesti ve stredu a ctvrtek Iva mela po praci skolu, a tak jsem nemeli moc prilezitosti neco spolu podniknout. Ve ctvrtek jsem se vydala na hour Grouse, coz je kopec kousek od Vancouveru, je z nej pekny vyhled, ale bylo docela zamraceno. V patek docela prselo a tak jsem zustala rano v byte a pomohla jsem Ive s nejakou skolni praci, pak jsem si vyzvedla pas a koupila nejake suvenyry. Vecer jsme sli na sklenicku s Petrem, jednim Ivinim kamaradem. V sobotu mela Iva zase skolu a zase hodne prselo, tak jsem stravila rano pracovanim na pocitaci a pak jsem se potkala s Ivou v jednom nakupnim stredisku. Odpoledne jsme vyrazili na prochazku s Petrem a dalsimi dvema kamarady, a tam se nam taky podarilo se dokonale promocit. Skoncili jsme v bazenu a pak nas Petr pozval na velice dobrou slovenskou veceri a film u nej doma. Byl to skvely vecer! V nedeli jsem odjizdela a tak se nam jen podarilo vyjit si na kratkou prochazku ve Stanley parku a pak jsem jela na letiste na muj odpoledni odlet do San Francisca.
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Kennedy Lake - Emigrant Wilderness 10. - 11.10. 09

This weekend I planned long time ago, I was supposed to go backpacking with Eric as part of our “getting ready for Kilimanjaro”, but he managed to hurt his back a week before so it looked that I will stay at home. Luckily Petra and Miro were planning to go backpacking too and they suggested that I can go with them. We went to Emigrant wilderness, which is between Yosemite NP and Lake Tahoe. I haven’t been here yet, so I was glad to visit new place. We decided to go on Saturday early morning (I got up about 4.30 am) and we managed to be by trailhead around 10 am. Actually earlier than our usual start if we drive on Friday. The hike wasn’t very challenging, about 8 miles, some up, but mostly leveled. It had some nice views and we met quite a few people on horses. When we got to our destination – Kennedy Lake, we also saw a couple of cows. We found nice place for camping, built tents, made a fire and enjoyed great evening by nice hot flames. In the morning we didn’t want to go straight back to the car, but since we slept little bit longer then we supposed to, we didn’t have much time for extra hiking. Our ideas where to go were different, so Petra and Miro tried to climb up to the slope above our campsite, I went to rocks further pass the lake. We decided to be back by 12.30 so we leave the lake by 1 pm. The hike back took us longer than we expected and we arrived at our car around 6 pm.
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Tento vikend jsem mela naplanovany uz hodne davno, mela jsem jit na turu s Erikem jako cast nasi pripravy na Kilimanjaro, ale Erikovi se podarilo si vyhodit zada tyden predtim a tak to skoro vypadalo, ze zustanu doma. Nastesti Petra a Miro planovali jit do hor taky a tak me navrhli, abych se k nim pridala. Sli jsme do Emigrant wilderness, coz je mezi Yosemitama a Lake Tahoe. Jeste jsem tam nebla a tak jsem byla rada, ze uvidim neco noveho. Rozhodli jsem se vyjet v sobotu brzo rano (vstavala jsem asi v 4.30) a zvladli jsme byt na zacatku tury kolem 10. Bylo to vlastne drive nez nas obvykly start, kdyz vyjizdime v patek. Cesta nabyla moc narocna, asi 13 km, trochu do kopce, ale vetsinu po rovine, krasne vyhledy do krajiny a potkali jsme i nekolik lidi na konich. Kdyz jsme dorazili k cili – Kennedy lake, videli jsme take nekolik krav. Nasli jsme pekne misto na kempovani, postavili stany, udelali ohen a uzivali si krasneho vecera u teplych plamenu. Rano jsme nechteli primo vyrazit k autu, ale protoze jsem spali trochu dele nez jsme meli, nemeli jsme moc casu na turu navic. Nase napady kam jit byly odlisne, a tak Petra a Miro se pokusili vyskrabat na kopec nad mistem kde jsme stanovali, ja jsem sla na skaly za jezerem. Dohodli jsme se ze budeme zpatky do 12.30 abychom pred 13 hodinou odesli od jezera. Cesta zpatky nam trvala dele, nez jsem predpokladali a tak jsme prisli k nasemu autu kolem 18 hodiny.
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