Yosemite

Ok, I think I’m finally ready to admit I’m getting a little “parked-out.” I realized this first when I looked at all the granite when we reached Yosemite Valley and was like, “meh,” and secondly when I couldn’t come up with a clever title for this post. Also, we’re already on our way to Channel Islands so I’m 4 parks behind in my blogging.

I will get my complaining with over in the beginning so you can skip these next couple of paragraphs if you don’t want to hear about it. There are sooooooo many people here even though school already started in California. Yosemite Valley has probably the worst layout to deal with the congestion of any park I’ve been to (including Glacier and Yellowstone). Also, it takes FOREVER to get anywhere in the park as each location is so remote and the roads are very curvy with 25 mph speed limits. I overheard one family on the shuttle bus say that they already reserved rooms for a week at “Housekeeping Camp” in the Valley 2 years in advance! Why would you want to subject yourself to this repeatedly? It’s very hard to feel connected to nature when 100 other people are clamoring over you and crowding out the views.

And another thing! For 3 days I applied for the daily permit to climb the cables at Half Dome and 3 days I was denied – $30 later. I was really hoping to get to do this so maybe that subconsciously tainted my view of the park. Apparently there is a lottery in April where you can apply to be one of 300 people allowed to climb per day during the summer (before 2014, upwards of 1200 people were climbing daily and it got to be dangerous). If you don’t sign up by then, you have a chance to apply for the daily lottery 48-hours in advance of the day you plan to climb as there are 50 spots available given the no-show rate. Chances of getting selected are cited at 20-40% depending on the day.

Ok, despite all that, we did see some beautiful things and I’m glad we went. You may even convince me to return if I get the permit to climb Half Dome in the preseason. I hope my attitude turns very quickly because if the Grand Canyon next week disappoints, I’m going to be very sad.

We stayed 3 nights at the Yosemite Ridge RV resort in Buck Meadows which had a pool which was nice to cool off in at the end of the day. Yosemite was the hottest park that we’ve been to in awhile with temps above 100 F as we experienced more mild weather the last 3 or so weeks since we left Utah. On the first morning we drove the scooters into the park to Yosemite Valley and mine was having a bit of a hard time accelerating up the hills so it took us 2 hours to drive 40 miles.

We finally found a place to park our scooters which was more difficult than usual as we had to pull them up behind a fence underneath a pine tree. After we dismounted my husband commented on the large bird perched on a branch high above us that was probably planning to make a drop on our scooters. We talked through our plans and that same darn crow decided to drop his doo-doo on my shirt instead. I had hugged my husband so inadvertently transferred the poo before realizing it was on my shirt (I promise it was an accident). Our first stop was to the nearest bathroom to clean it off.

We eventually found the visitor center and bathroom (signage was a little confusing). Our shirts got scrubbed clean and we sat down for lunch before the “Spirit of Yosemite” began to play at the theater. We watched the film and then took the trail to Lower Yosemite Falls which, combined with the Upper Falls at 2,425 feet, is the tallest falls in North America. We skirted around the fence from the viewing area to get a little closer look. It is supposed to be more impressive in early spring with the snowmelt but I was happy it was at least still flowing/trickling.

We walked across the street and found the nearest shuttle bus to take us to Mirror Lake which was also a bit dried up since it is late August so unfortunately we did not see the reflection of Half Dome as is usually visible when the pool is more full. But it was a decent little hike and the watering hole was cool to wade in during the hot dusty day.

We made it back to where our scooters were parked and since the scootering was such a long trip and Rocky was back at the camper we decided to head back, stopping a couple times to get a better view of El Capitan and Bridal Veil Falls before exiting Yosemite Valley, saving the hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls for if/when I return to hike Half Dome.

That evening we dined at a restaurant near our park and to toast to 4 hours of scooter-driving on winding roads and heavy traffic (with a few near-misses) we enjoyed a can of Half Dome from the Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company.

The following day we slept in and decided to travel to Glacier Point and the Mariposa Grove, (with the RV instead of the scooters), 2 places where John Muir took Teddy Roosevelt on a camping trip to show him the grandeur of Yosemite and convince him it needed protecting.

Glacier Point had a gorgeous view when we finally got there and afforded us a view of Vernal and Nevada Falls so I didn’t feel as bad not hiking to them. The towering granite just seemed to go on forever with a great view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background.

The drive down to Mariposa Grove was long and we were able to park the RV with the generator going to provide air conditioning for Rocky before taking a short shuttle to the trailhead. The sequoias are really gorgeous with their bark a cinnamon hue. However, with the recent rim fire in 2013, the undergrowth was sparse and the large pretty trees were spread out among the fairly non-scenic route (I think going to the Redwoods first spoiled us as they were set amidst a lush forest). We took the Grizzly Giant Loop Trail that took us past the trees titled “Bachelor and 3 Graces,” “Grizzly Giant” and “California Tunnel Tree.”

Our dish soap spilled all over one of my sandals and, even after rinsing it multiple times, I still battled a slippery, sudsy walk around the grove. I called it my rabid foot.

On the way back north we stopped at “Tunnel View” to get the sweeping view of the valley which is probably the most photographed area of any park

Before we left the park, we decided to check out the Hetch Hetchy (meaning abundant grassland) which John Muir described as being comparable to the Yosemite Valley. It was filled in however as a reservoir to supply water to the San Francisco area. After driving the terribly rough road through the Stanislaus National Forrest and avoiding the eye-contact of hitchhikers, we finally made it to the entrance station just outside the reservoir around 7 pm which was still manned by a ranger.

Unfortunately, Ranger “Craig” pulled out his tape measure, stuck it through our windows and informed us that we were too wide with our mirrors (cutoff was 8 feet). He then started accusing us of wanting to push a small car off a 1,000-foot cliff if we made the short trip to the reservoir. I think he was being a little overly dramatic as there were no other cars that followed us down this road and it was later in the day. He informed us that we could not pull in one of the mirrors to make the drive and turned us away at the gate. One minute we are just tourists at a national park, the next, cold-hearted killers. Despite this, we were still able to enjoy a pretty sunset as we took a more favorable road out of the forest.

Before leaving the park the next day, we were hoping the park could redeem itself with a 50-mile drive east through Yosemite on the Tioga Road. We passed through the Tuolumne Meadows all the way to Tioga Pass, where we turned around and drove the road back as there was no good way to drive south and toward Sequoia NP on the east side of the park. The drive was OK, not my favorite, but I’m glad we did it to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We stopped to first check out Olmsted Point and a guy had a high-powered scope set up so we could creep on the climbers at Half Dome. We drove a bit further to dip our feet in beautiful Tenaya Lake and watch Rocky splash around. Lastly, we stopped briefly at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor’s Center to use the restroom and get a couple shots of the meadows and hear a ranger chat about some of the wildlife in the area.

Alright, so I did sprinkle some negativity throughout the post and I’m starting to sound like a park snob. This is not my goal so I will definitely shape up as I really did enjoy the next 3 parks much more and, “Hello!”, I get to go to Disneyland tomorrow which is one of the happiest places on earth! So don’t give up on me just yet. As you can see from the pics, Yosemite is gorgeous.

Basket update: Coming along

Thumb update: arthritic

Rocky update: Cute and fluffy as ever!

Scooter Update: 1700 miles and counting

Husband update: sore back (prayers appreciated)

Happy Trails!