The Village At Mammoth Lodging Mammoth Lakes

... cut in 1881, but it fell down in 1969. Many photos of this tree encouraged visitors to the park.<br><br>Once we were exhausted from our hike we hopped back in the RV to make the trip down into the valley. We stopped at the Tunnel View as we came out of the tunnel and took in the most famous view of Yosemite. It is still amazing to take it in the second time around. The sheer grandeur of the massive granite walls is just breathtaking. The ...

... propane and the heating stopped, man does this place get cold at night. By this time we had injected quite a lot of cash into the tourist clothing industry with our extreme purchasing of thick hoodies, gloves and balaclavas, all of which we didn't bother wearing to bed that night - as soon as our joints freed up we left the delightful Joy Land and headed back to Las Vegas.<br><br>See ya'all soon.<br><br>J&amp;K<br>

... It kind of reminds me of Switzerland.... lake, mountains, snow! It's an area for relaxing and it seems like most people come here for fishing!<br><br>We quickly set up our tent and sorted out our stuff, then got in the car again to do some walking. We visited the Panum Crater, which is one of the youngest "mountains" in the US. Basically, there are a bunch of craters here, which are active volcanos. Therefore, the &#8220;mountains&#8221; get ...

... some ice freezing on the tent or the tops of our sleeping bags at times.<br><br>Although snow can fall anytime of year at the elevations that we were traveling, we didn't have to cross any snow fields (unless off trail). The trail was pretty well taken care of, the biggest obstacle was mule poop. The mule train was an intricate part of the constructing of the trail and continues to be the ...

Today I went and checked out Yosemite NP. The drive up into Yosemite was quite nice and took a couple of hours from Napa. In Yosemite there are a number of hiking trails ranging in distance from short to a couple of hours long. Alternatively, if your game enough, you can try and climb up El Capitan. There were heaps of people in Yosemite so I mainly just did a drive around tour stopping occassionally for some of the shorter hikes and to check out Yosemite Falls. Unfortunately due ...

... in the 30s, are maintained. We then drove to Bridgeport to seek out the Travetine natural hot springs. We found these, but unfortunately there were some old men bathing naked - needless to say we didn't stay for a dip!!!! Tonight will be a home cooked dinner again - steaks and salad - some TV viewing and an early night. It's an early start in the morning as we drive over the Tioga Pass to Yosemite.

... Io & Tegz had to wait nearly 4 hour sin the waiting room. We were ages being seen, as there had been a major incident. Ci was so brave, as Nurse Jim cleaned his wound, and eventually Dr Swisher sewed him up! We even had fun as Cian tried to pee in a bottle, and sprayed his dads shorts! Hi is now the proud owner of 3 stitches, and a bright green bandage! We have to go back to the hospital on Friday to check for infection, and then back to hospital in 8-10 days to ...

... was still frozen over, but that in and of itself was very cool to me. I hadn't seen a frozen-over lake in ages, and Michael hadn't ever seen one in person. Then up to Ellery Lake, which just looked cold (maybe the ice floating in it in places kinda helped add to that impression...) and finally down the Lee Vining Canyon to the Mobile station. We had a late lunch (4pm-ish) at Woah Nellie, both getting the BBQ pizza, then it was on to Mono Lake.

... the most amazing views and vistas at our door and deer and squirrels running around everywhere. It is truly the exact experience you need in Yosemite (just saying that because I can't afford the $400 a night lodge!!) No seriously this is just amazing and you could imagine an incredible family holiday here. The trick though is to be prepared. We did get food, washing liquid, cutlery etc etc but we had not realised you needed to bring in ...

... evidence of past forest fires throughout the groves. In 1881 a tunnel was cut through one of these beautiful trees millions of people drove through this tree first in horse carriages and then in cars. In 1969 the Wawona Tunnel Tree collapsed under a record snow pack probably weakened by the hole in the base. We passed this fallen tree on our hike. We passed a tree that was completely hollow all the way up caused by fire but the tree was still alive ...