Tourism overload

Some of you may know by now that Yosemite is pretty crazy, often times a little too crazy for my own good, or any ones for that matter. The visitor levels right now feel as though they have multiplied by 100 over the last week or so. Perhaps because it's memorial day weekend, beautiful out right now with all the waterfalls, or the economic crisis has forced folks to travel to closer locations. I don't know, what I do know is that it can be intense. This last week a women fell off a cliff into this very raging river that is pictured, a certain kind of mood swept over everyone here.
It all happened during a very crazy time; there were two days this week that seemed exceptionally off. Not only did this women end her short lived life in a long standing river, but to top it all off I had two injuries on my tram tours where both people needed medical attention. Fortunately the first injury was pretty minor and we hadn’t even left yet to where someone else could help her out and take her to the medical center. The second injury was all up to me at first. A woman fell off the tram while trying to get off and she fell flat on her back hitting her head pretty hard. Fortunately I have had medical training and I knew exactly what to do. I kept her attention and got all the pertinent information needed so when the EMT showed up I could tell them everything they needed. Yay wilderness first responder, it's already paying for itself! Now this was just all with in the first 40 minuets of the tour, I dealt with two accidents and still trying to make sure the rest of the group was enjoying themselves. After the second accident I was ready to throw in the towel, but we kept going, I started back where I left off before the accident and I hope everyone enjoyed them selves as best they could considering the situation. What a whirl wind of a tour, good thing it was my last for the day.

I head up to Glacier Point this weekend, it will be a slower, a less intense lifestyle; something I can work with for a longer period of time. (Picture by my friend Karen K.)