In the morning (lesse, this is Wednesday morning) we packed up and headed up to Yosemite. We stopped in Oakhurst for gas and the attendant inside laughed at me trying to get in and out of the sticky bathroom door. Then we headed into the park. We drove straight for Yosemite Valley and we were awarded with a beautiful afternoon view from one of the park’s most famous viewpoints, Tunnel View.
Once in the valley we drove to North Pines Campground. We found an empty campsite and set up camp. Then we drove to the campground entrance to pay, and ooooops! We saw a sign that said someone had reserved our campsite! So we packed up, I think in record time, and headed over to Camp 4 or Sunnyside Campground which is a walk-in campground favored by climbers. There we found a site, only $5/per person/per night, and we ended up staying there 3 nights.
On Thursday we went to the Visitor Center and the Ansel Adams Gallery. We then set out for Happy Isles and from there we hiked up to Vernal Falls. The Mist Falls portion of the trail is closed right now due to the ice but there were people disregarding the signs and going up it anyway. We chose not to and to respect the Park Service’s closure sign. We did get many good pictures from alongside the open part of the trail, however. After eating lunch and poking around a little, we headed back. I started feeling a little sick to my stomach so I took my time on the trip down. When we reached the Trailhead I was feeling better so we decided to walk the 2 miles or so out to Mirror Lake. I enjoyed the views of the granite rock faces reflected in the lake immensely.
On Friday we walked to the base of Yosemite Falls and there we got a refreshing blast of spray. The falls are all running extremely high right now! Then we drove to the southern part of the park. Next to the southern entrance is the road going up to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The road is closed this time of year but you can walk up it and only encounter a few well-stomped down snowy spots. PanamaRob was struck with the beauty and size of the sequoias as I knew he would be. These were the first he had ever seen. I was struck with the quietness of the grove as the last time I was there was in August and it was a zoo! It’s definitely worth the jaunt in the wintertime but I would avoid it in the summer unless you favor the Disney-land like quality of the grove then.
We returned to the truck and headed back to the Valley. We reached Tunnel View just as the sun was setting fire to the granite of El Capitan and Half Dome. Then we returned to camp and made dinner and settled in for the night.
Camped next to us the 2nd and 3rd nights we were in Camp 4 were “The Banshees.” Or so I titled them. The Banshees consisted of 3 girls and their very loud mother. The three girls were sweet enough and they had with them a sweet little puppy named Osa, which is Spanish for bear. The puppy was certainly bear-like, she was very fluffy and sturdy looking. We laughed at them many times as there were frequent commotions within their tent. PanamaRob heard the mother say that all of us in the campground were “too quiet,” lol The 3rd night at camp one of the girls asked if we would dog sit while they went “to town” or to Yosemite Village. We gladly abliged. Osa was a very good little dog.
I enjoyed the stay in Camp 4, though. Most of the campground was populated with climbers and hikers and there was a view of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls from the campground. There definitely was a lot of good karma there.
On Saturday we walked to the base of Bridalveil Falls and across the Swinging Bridge which has an awesome view of Yosemite Falls. Then we packed up and headed home, stopping once where some others were stopped to watch a coyote in the valley. Then it was on to my house once again where we took showers and did laundry.
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