Yosemite National Park -- Two Days

 Thursday, May 13 for Tuesday, May 11 and Wednesday, May 12

(I cheated and made this picture a little bigger than most we've used, because it is a view many have seen and used to symbolize Yosemite.)

This is truly a story of two days -- one not so good, the second exceptional. We started out on Tuesday the 11th (Randy's birthday, by the way) leaving Three Rivers, CA to travel to Oakhurst, CA. Our reason for going to Oakhurst was because it was close by Yosemite -- a relative term, because it was still about 20 miles south of the Park. We checked early into a smaller, non-chain motel, then headed into Yosemite.

As an aside, I believe I have mentioned that when we were eligible, we purchased the "lifetime senior" pass to all the National Parks. At the time it was just $10, and we both purchased them at different times during our business travels. (I have not located mine since we moved to NC, but that is another story!) It is amazing to drive up to the park and show the pass and get waved on in, and we don't feel bad if we are in the park just a short time, or go in multiple days. I believe for any person who pays the full price (e.g., $35/car) is able to use that entrance fee for a whole week.

Anyway -- on Tuesday, we drove in and went to what we thought was the first and nearest area to visit, which was an area of sequoias, as if we hadn't seen enough from the previous two days! This was the bad part. This particular area is best reached by car or shuttle bus, and then walked or hiked to in a relatively easy 1.5 miles or so to see all the trees. Right now, NO shuttle buses will run in 2021, so that method is out. Then the road to the area is closed to vehicle traffic (other than handicapped-approved), so in order to reach the area, one has to walk either the road or a trail, 2 miles in, walk the 1.5 mile trail, and walk/hike back to your car, another 2 miles. At that point, the answer was, NO. All four of the Visitor Centers and Museums were closed, and will be for the foreseeable future. Most amenities were also closed. The regular entrance fee was certainly not discounted!

We did as much research as we could using the official map and the National Park Service (NPS) iPhone app, and found a road that was open and had what we thought would be some worthwhile sights.

We were shocked by all the damage to trees throughout this section especially of the park. We found out a couple things about that. One of the events was a fire that was recent -- but fires are a regular occurrence, so some of the damage we saw was from earlier fires. The other event was a severe windstorm which occurred in January 2021.

Obviously, there are still healthy trees, too. At a gift shop that was open (hey, they gotta make money, even if most other services were absent), Randy talked to a very informative clerk, who gave her a lot of the information above. Also at that shop was a window with the decal and statements below, about 91,000 sequoia seeds weights one pound.

We left the Park pretty dissatisfied, but had a nice dinner to celebrate Randy's birthday, and then got some ice cream later, which solves many problems.

We checked out of our motel early and got into the Park by 8 AM. We were glad we did, because the road was blocked, limited for a time to one lane, and stopped all together for a time. Why?

There were crews loading onto lumber trucks logs which had previously been cut down in the damaged areas -- which we saw again throughout the day.

As I hope has been evident, I have tried through all these travels to have a positive attitude and represent that mood in this blog. I did not start this entry that way, but Wednesday proved as positive as Tuesday's visit to the Park was negative. We had done some research, studied the maps we had, and came up with a plan for this day's visit. (OK, Randy had the plan, I just drove where she told me!)

We followed a route that took us through a long tunnel, and at the end was what is referred to as the Tunnel View, because the opening picture is what greets you when you come out of the tunnel and park.

I thought this picture Randy took in the tunnel came out exceptionally well.

The main features to see in that first picture above and this one are: El Capitan on the left; -- just above my hat between us -- the Three Brothers, the mountain formation to the right of the picture above Randy's head; and Bridal Veil Falls, which you can barely see in this picture, but just below the Three Brothers.

El Capitan was the one thing I specifically remembered about Yosemite

This photo, taken later in the day, is of the mountain formations from the other side

Bridal Veil Falls, taken from fairly far away.

I had heard about El Capitan most of my life. Never one to be a mountain climber, I could appreciate others who did. El Capitan isn't particularly high, but it is a sheer granite face, so hard to climb. We followed a "loop" through that part of Yosemite, and took pictures of El Capitan from a couple different angles.

From the Internet: "At a height of more than 2,425 ft Yosemite Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls in North America. ... Yosemite Falls is actually made up of three separate falls: Upper Yosemite Fall (1,430 feet), the middle cascades (675 feet), and Lower Yosemite Fall (320 feet)." We read elsewhere that Yosemite Falls is considered the tallest waterfall in North America, and the fifth tallest in the world. Below are a few pictures, again with different views.

The guy on the left with the red shirt and black cowboy hat is your humble correspondent!

The selfie below was taken on the walk back to the observation area. I hope you can see the grandeur of the falls. This seems the best of our pictures that shows all the falls. We did get close enough to it to feel the spray from the lower falls.

I can't glorify what we do by calling it hiking, because most is on paved trails, but we did some exploring a bit off-trail, too.

The rock formation in the center of the picture below is called the Half-Dome. From this position, you can see why. But the four following pictures are from a brass model we found on our way out of the Park. It shows the Half-Dome from each of four directions, and you can see ow different it looks from each perspective.

On our way towards Truckee, CA where we were to spend the night, we stopped in a little place called Angel Camp, CA. If you are familiar with Mark Twain, Angel Camp is the town where "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" took place -- an 1865 short story by Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. Plaques like the one below were all over the town.

Finally, Randy was driving on the Interstate towards Truckee, and was amazed at the amount of snow that was still around the hills, mountains, and even near the road. I snapped a LOT of snow pictures, but liked this one the best. The outside temperature on the road was about 69 degrees.