Yosemite National Park, Curry Village, Ca.
Trip Start
Nov 19, 2007
1
60
171
Trip End
Ongoing
Yosemite National Park,
California,
United States
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
We drove over to Yosemite National Park on Route J-132, then to Route 120 which takes you into the park from the north west. I highly recommend Rte. 120 for anyone in an RV or towing a trailer as an alternative to the more curvey and difficult Rte 41.
Our good luck for little traffic and great weather held as we breezed through the entrance gate of Yosemite Park! A great carved sign welcomed us and over 3 and 1/2 million visitors a year! The grandeur began with exeptional views and breathtaking beauty in every direction. Andy had to keep his mind on the road as we wound our way up and then down into the Valley of this 1,200 square mile national treasure!
The valley is flat with two emerald rivers winding their way from the northern end to the southern end
One of three entrances
. Springs feed these rivers as well as snow melt. The water will take your breath away it is so cold at any time of the year! Kayaking and rafting are welcome, but highly regulated as the rivers get quite rough in many places. The snow melt dries up by mid July taking away a few of the waterfalls and dropping the raging rivers down to gentle streams.We checked in and then went for a hike up to Mirror Lake. Along the way we saw what looked like a big, wet, brown dog running along the river that flows from the lake. After doing a double take we realized it was a small brown colored black bear cub without its mother. By the time I got my camera out it was too late, the bear was out of sight. Then I started thinking about how stupid I was trying to get a photo of a nervous bear cub. What about the mother? Where's the anxious mother that lost her cub? I'm very glad we didn't run into that mom.
June 3rd.
We both slept very poorly last night and decided to sleep in late. Got up late and then rode our bikes into the village to see about taking a tram tour of Yosemite Valley. The tram ride was good and lots of history and sightseeing kept our attention for the 2 hr
Driving into the park
. ride. We then rode the bikes around the park for a couple of hours before going back to the RV for a big fire and relaxation.June 4th.
Both of us had another poor night of sleep last night and again, decided to sleep in. Took a charter bus ride up to Glacier Point which is 7,200 feet up. The cool part of the charter is that they drop you off at the top so you can hike down the 4 1/2 mile trail. On the way down we encountered snow, exhausted hikers, a family of 6 that had been told that it was a good idea to do the hike....by their paid guide. Man, was the 70 year old woman pissed off at the guide, she said they had been on the path for hours and they were only about half way down when we passed them. What was the guide thinking sending grandparents, their children and their grandchildren on that journey? The real problem with the trail is that it used to be covered in blacktop and now it is mostly rock and blacktop with slippery sand on top of it. We slipped many times, but neither of us fell. By the time we got down to the bottom we were both pretty beat.
June 5th.
Once again, we slept badly and slept late. Spent most of the day recovering from our walk down the Glacier Point path, then took off to do some bike riding
Our first pull over intoYosemite National Park
.June 6th.
Again, we had little sleep last night. Went for showers as this entire park is without any hookups. We had to conserve our water and battery power for our stay and by this time, we found a place in Curry Village to pay for showers.....ah, that was sweet.
Packed up and drove out towards Mariposa Grove to check out the Giant Sequoia Grove. The grove has about 500 giant trees and this is the largest concentration of giants in the park. We had to park at a shuttle (hybrid bus) stop and get a lift into the grove since they wont let vehicles of our length into the parking area. Again, we took a tram and got the tour...ranger style.
There were many giants that had been given names over the centurys. Grizzly giant, the Sisters, The Fallen Monarch and the Cloths Pin were some of the names they gave, but nowadays, they are trying not to name them since the "entire grove" needs as much care and attention as any one tree that man has happened to take an interest in. The feeling of walking around the grove was one of stepping back in time and the smell of the air was so clean that I kept having to take in deep breaths to try to hold onto it.
A note about the insomnia:
My sister Betsy did a Google search on "Yosemite and insomnia" and came up with the altitude as the reason we had sleeping problems. If we had had another few days we would have adjusted to the higher altitude.
