Bucket List Time- Yosemite!

May 12 and 13, 2014

Monday morning, after a quiet Sunday at New Hogan Reservoir, we drove south and then east on Route 120 towards Yosemite. We climbed continuously and entered the Stanislaus National Forest. Along the road was evidence of a previous forest fire. Reaching the Rim of the World viewpoint we stopped to survey the damage. Recent signage told us that last August 17^th the Rim fire burned over 400 square miles in the national forest and Yosemite National Park. It was the largest fire in their history and its cause was human.

Greater metropolitan Angel's Camp, California. Laundry hanging across main street to commemorate Gold Rush days. Also home of the annual Jumping Frog contest in Calaveras County.

We followed evidence of the fire all along the many miles into Yosemite Valley. It stopped before the descent onto the valley floor, sparing the iconic views made famous by so many artists and photographers, Ansel Adams being the best known. After finding a jammed parking lot, we walked 10 minutes to the visitor center, gathered our information and watched a new Ken Burns film on Yosemite. Excellent film, and the ranger we had just talked with at the desk was featured in it. Fun! Then we made our way back to the rig and found Upper Pines Campground and our lucky campsite.

Welcome

John Muir

Hoover family camping in the 50's

The Ahwanee Hotel

Yosemite was crowded! I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like when the summer rush starts. We were both a bit in shock after our Eastern Sierra solitude. But, we were here to experience Yosemite, so we made plans to see the few things most interesting to us and move on.

Our site in the huge, completely full campground.

Tuesday morning we got up and walked to the free shuttle bus that stopped just outside the campground. We rode it to Yosemite Lodge and managed to get two seats on the tram for the Valley View tour. Another lucky break. They are usually all reserved. We spent two hours in the open topped tram being regaled with information and stories by Ranger Andy. Driving below El Capitan we were able, with the help of binoculars, to see climbers on the sheer rock face. It takes three to five days to climb to the top, and the climbers sleep attached to the wall. The tour gave us a good orientation to the entire valley without fighting the crowds and cars.

Ranger Andy

El Capitain

Bridal Veil Falls

Our limousine

Looking up the valley from Tunnel View

Upper Yosemite Falls

North Dome and Royal Arches

Merced River near the campground

After the tour we hiked to the lower part of Yosemite Falls, the longest waterfall in North America. Surprisingly, it dries up completely in the summer, after the snow melt finishes. From there we took the trail along the lower slope on the back side of the village area, and back to our campground.

Lower Yosemite Falls

After a late lunch we walked from the campground to the Mirror Lake trail head. The lake lies below Half Dome, and one of Ansel Adams' most iconic Yosemite photos features a reflection of Half Dome in the lake. I wanted to experience it, and photograph it. We started up the broad paved trail and shortly into the walk found a mother brown bear and two cubs to the side. One of the cubs had very light, almost blonde fur. We were not very close to them, but it was fun to see since we had been warned that our campground had a bear problem, but we never saw any. Each campsite has a bear proof box for tenters to store their food and toiletries. Bears will even break into cars, but haven't figured out how to crash into an RV.

Half Dome

Mama with 2 cubs nearby

Rocks on the trail to Mirror Lake

We found a nice trail through the woods along the river to the lake and decided to take that instead of the busy paved route. Winding through the woods we realized that this was a popular horse trail. Pee-you! Lost of stuff to walk around. Then we came to a trail ride stopped in the trail. It was mostly mules. One rider was on the ground with her head in her hands. We bushwhacked up the hill around them, since the trail was too narrow to pass horses.

Actually, another set of riderless mules we passed on the trail behind the Village.

Eventually we came to a field and a sort of pond. Was this Mirror Lake? And how did we wind up below Half Dome instead of across from it? The lake dries up in the summer, but seems to be well on its way already in mid-May, due to the low snow pack. We stopped to talk to a few people who seemed as perplexed as we were. There was no way to cross the river without walking many miles upstream, and we decided it was too deep to wade across, so we returned back down the trail. No iconic shot, and really, no lake to have one of anyway! We did get a closer look at Half Dome than we had before, and got to imagine the cables we were told were being installed today. Half Dome requires a permit to climb, because so many people want to climb it. It is a 12 mile round trip hike that climbs over 4,800 feet up and for the last 900 feet , you have to hold on to cables installed seasonally, over the rock.

Greg leaning on granite, way below Half Dome

Mirror Lake, much reduced by drought

Instead of imagining climbing Half Dome, we took the easy route back to the campground. This morning we checked out and headed for the Hetch Hetchy part of the park. It is an hour there from the valley and only open for day use. We wanted to hike part way around the reservoir to the falls. Our guidebook said is was much less crowded and we were ready for that. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir supplies the water for San Francisco, and was finished in 1934, after many protests from early environmentalists, including John Muir. The valley was one of his favorite areas, and he fought hard to keep it from being flooded. Thankfully, Yosemite Valley was spared that fate.


The long winding drive took us out of the national park and back in, where we encountered the entry station, 9 miles from the reservoir. The road farther down is narrow, and built on an old railroad bed. Signs said that RV's could no longer than 25' long and 8' wide. The ranger told us we couldn't go down it. Greg said that we were 24' long and 7.5' wide. They got our their tape measure and said that they would allow us to be longer with the bikes on the back, but, our rear view mirrors made us too wide. They might allow us to fold one closed, but we haven't found a way to do that, so we were denied access.

They did suggest that we park there and hike the 1.5 mile Lookout View trail that would give us a view of the lake. We had come to see Hetch Hetchy, so we decided to do the hike. It took us through wildflowers and then smack into the middle of an area that had been badly burned in the Rim fire. The charred trunks were sobering, but the evidence of new life springing up in the ruins was fascinating. There were a dozen varieties of wildflowers, grasses, and ferns. We scrambled up the rocks to the overlook and were rewarded with a distant view of the reservoir and one waterfall. There was fire damage on all sides of Hetch Hetchy to mar the view, but we sat on a rock, in the shade and enjoyed the breeze on a very warm Spring day.

Hetch Hetchy Dam and Reservoir

Old Man's Beard on a cedar tree

Many wildflowers in the recovering burn zone

Burned zone with new ferns coming up

On the way back down the trail, just as I stepped next to a fire blackened hollow log, something came rushing out and my screech filled the valley. It was a momma bird sitting on her nest. We saw four white eggs, and then moved on so she wouldn't feel threatened. I don't think this trail gets used much. We saw deer hoof prints, but not much evidence of humans. A little farther down the trail, I almost stepped on a long snake with its head lying in the pathway. We didn't see a rattle on the end of its tail, but gingerly walked way around it. (We later identified the beast as a Pacific Gopher Snake.) The rest of the hike was uneventful, and we returned to the rig and headed back to Route 120 to find a campground before we ran out of national forest. After checking out a few other campgrounds on the way down, that were surrounded by singed trees, we settled on The Pines, near the forest boundary. Small, almost empty, and should allow us a quiet night after the busyness of Yosemite. Glad we went and saw the iconic sights there, now we move on to a brief visit to San Francisco!

Pacific Gopher Snake was completely unconcerned about us passing by