Miles travelled: 7519 to 7619 (total of 100 miles / 160 kilometres)
Weather: overcast at times, otherwise clear & sunny. Lowest temperature of the trip, 30 F / –1 C, at Glacier Point!
Highlight of the day: Yosemite Valley & Glacier Point
(Sorry. . .more photos when we upload them to Flickr!)
We both woke up at 7 am, however we spent half an hour in bed talking about silly things (mainly bears). Disa made coffee – using the last of our first can of Primus gas (that lasted well!) – and opening a new packet of coffee. These may seem like small milestones, but unfortunately they begin to remind us that although we are having fun and could keep travelling for weeks and weeks more, this is only a short trip that will soon be over.
We’d had a proposed itinerary for this trip for months, however we’d only realised a few days before our planned arrival that we’d be at Yosemite during a long weekend. This is VERY bad as Yosemite is close enough to the SF Bay Area that it is a mad-house on long weekends, especially this one which, being in late spring, is especially popular as people’s first camping weekend of the summer. So for the last few days we’d been pushing a bit to keep a day or two ahead of our plans, and this morning as we left the Upper Pines campground and drove across the valley to the Visitor’s Centre and Ansel Adams Gallery, we were beginning to appreciate this effort! Yosemite had not felt empty by any means, however the number of cars that were descending upon it was already growing rather alarming! We made some purchases and it snowed on us on the way back to the van, lovely big slow falling flakes. It didn’t last long, less than a minute, and nothing settled on the ground. Drove around the one-way loop to view El Capitan (hmmm. . .despite being in the US for 20 days at this point, Disa still managed to get confused about which side of the road to drive on. . .hmm). Stopped at all the appropriate sites to admire the views, especially liked Bridal Veil Falls viewed from across the river. The mist from this waterfall rose up approximately one third the height of the falls again. Disa took some great photos of this. We wanted to walk the trail to Bridal Veil Falls, however as it was only 10am and already the car park and surrounding roadsides were completely full of other cars, we knew that even if a space could be found the track would be too busy to enjoy so we made our way out of the Valley and up to Glacier Point.
Glacier Point is spectacular. We looked down into Yosemite Valley at the places we had been and across to the waterfalls we had so admired from below. It had the lowest temperature of the trip 30 F and although busy we managed to avoid the peak that was just beginning as we left (ie. traffic was queued up on the road that we had simply driven along without hassle).
1:15 Arrive at Wawona to a sign warning that the Mariposa Grove carpark was full. We decided to park at Wawona and catch the courtesy shuttle bus to Mariposa Grove to see the giant Sequoia trees (a type of redwood). Waiting in the bus we noticed a man with a video camera. He videoed the traffic on the road and then people running to catch the bus. If you know this man and he invites you to come and see his holiday videos I suggest you either invent an illness or prepare yourself for hours (days?) of tedium (unlike this journal which never describes, in detail, daily routines and what we did next, would never mention such mundane matters as fellow bus passengers and has ..er very few photographs).
Anyway, moving right along. The sequoias were magnificent. They have very large bases (one has a tunnel cut into it in 1886 to let horse & buggies through) and no branches until quite near the top. The top, however, isn’t as far from the base as you expect so although tall the impression they leave is of stumpiness. You just expect them to be taller than they are. Nevertheless they are the biggest living thing on the planet by volume. The trail we took started at a grove of sequoias then lead up through rather uninteresting forest (it had recently been part of a ranger prescribed burn) to a museum then to another grove higher up again. You can take an open air bus tour which will stop at all the sights along the way or walk it. We walked it and congratulated ourselves at timing our arrival at the museum just as the bus tour was leaving it. The museum was shut. Locked tight and with all lights off. At mid-afternoon on Saturday of the Memorial Day long weekend. The busiest time Yosemite National Park has all year. Very strange. Even stranger, the bus tours still stopped for it. What exactly did their customers do? Peer through the windows and see nothing as we did? Onwards to see the Fallen Monarch, a sequoia that fell several hundred years ago but is still intact, decay held at bay by the tannins in the tree that suppresses bacteria and fungal growth. We walk back on the Upper Grove and Outer Loop trails and see not another soul until it joins the lower trails. This is a nicer trail than the up one, and it’s downhill. Disa takes some fantastic close up photos of plants along the way (in facts all the incredible close up plant photos on the whole trip were taken by Disa ).
We are cold and tired (well I am) when we reach the shuttle bus as we have walked six kilometres, at least half of it uphill. An extremely annoying extended family of unknown Eastern European origin drives us crazy on the return trip (here he goes again with bus passengers). They stocked up big on junk food at the kiosk to eat on the bus only to be pleasantly told by the bus driver that they could not eat on the bus, but she would wait for them to finish anything they had started so they wouldn’t miss the bus. A recalcitrant 10 year old boy refused to get out of line and blocked the bus door thereby stopping all the cold, tired people (most importantly me) boarding while his parents negotiated with him. Parenting tip: having explained why he can’t get on the bus while eating physically remove him (he’s smaller than you). If his bad behaviour continues after another calm explanation, smack him (open hand on legs or bottom). Really we won’t look on you as being a bad person for this. On the contrary we will approve. Eventually they worked out a plan, half would stay off the bus with the boy and the others board the bus and save seats. They boarded the bus and then, as others (ie. me) were boarding, decided to get off the bus. Against the flow of people boarding. Good plan, not likely to annoy anyone or cause inconvenience. The matriarch of the family sat across from her daughter and grandchildren in a seat she didn’t want to sit on for the trip behind the seats she did want to sit on. Another brilliant plan on a crowded bus that was only unmasked when one rude bugger (ie. me again) insisted on sitting in the free seats. Gesticulations, raised voice, high dudgeon until we swapped seats so we were opposite the children (turns out she knew exactly what she was doing; at this point Disa was just SO pleased she had given said matriarch, who was doing her best impersonation of an exhausted elderly woman, her tree trunk seat to sit on while we were waiting for the bus – NOT). After her clan had finished chowing down and boarded the bus we were finally off. As were the children. Really off. Another parenting tip: make your children behave on buses. They shouldn’t yell, whinge, stand up, swap seats etc. It isn’t necessary on a 25 minute bus ride. You can enforce this behaviour by smacking them (open hand on legs or bottom or closed fist on face should do it). A few days later David asked us what was our worst fight on the 17 nights away by ourselves. We were able to answer truthfully that we didn’t have any fights or disagreements or even exchange harsh words, but that we could have cheerfully strangled 3 generations of one family of total strangers.
5:15 We leave Yosemite. Lots of traffic but also traffic officers to direct it so it doesn’t take long to escape (and by this point it did feel like a welcome escape!). At 6:00 we camp at a view point just outside the town of Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly) and phone Erik & Mary to let them know we will arrive back at their place the next day. Disa rustles up a three course meal using just the food we have in the van. Appetiser of mixed nuts. Mains is roasted garlic & olive oil couscous with hot green salsa and tuna (Chicken of the Sea brand). This is a surprisingly tasty meal. Tinned peaches for dessert. The whole washed down with two bottles of red and much laughter as we take turns reading our trip diary and reliving the past 17 days. We have the place to ourselves as every other car that pulls in immediately leaves again. Fancy that.
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