We left Sequoia NP and drove down the mountain through
Fresno. Stopped at a Raley’s grocery
store (similar to a Family Fare) and
restocked on a few things. Went on to El
Portal via Hwy 140. Part of the road was
restricted to vehicles no longer than 45 ft.
We were just over that with the bike rack on the back but we went through. There was a narrow one lane bridge with a
traffic light on either end to regulate cars going over. Fairly sharp turns to get on and off bridge,
but we didn’t have any real problems.
Got to Indian Flat CG in El Portal and set up. We were able to go in as a pull through since
no one was behind us at the time. There
was a tree branch that was touching the kitchen slide and we asked the manager
if we could trim it back a little. She called the maintenance man and he came
and broke off the whole branch – it fell, barely missing the roof and side of
the trailer. That was a close call.
Friday we drove into the Yosemite Valley. Just inside the gate there was a rock tunnel
that we had to go through that said 13’6” clearance. No problem with truck only, but a little
disconcerting to know that we would have to pull the trailer through when we
left the Valley.
There also was an overhanging rock near the edge of the road we used daily to exit the park. It was plenty tall, just interesting to go under.
Once in the Valley we took the free shuttle around to get an
overview of the Valley, about an hour
ride. We saw Half Dome, Yosemite Falls,
etc. After lunch we walked back to
Yosemite Falls Overlook. We met people
from Jamestown who knew people we knew,
small world. That evening we went
to a Theater program at the Park – The Tramp and the Rough Rider. It was about John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt’s
meeting re: making the Yosemite Valley a National Park. 2014 is the 150th anniversary of
the land grant to set aside the land as a park.
 |
| Yosemite Falls (Upper & Lower) |
 |
| Upper Yosemite Falls |
On Saturday we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls first thing when
we got into the Park. It is a very high
falls, but will probably dry up in the next 2-3 weeks because of the drought
and lack of snowfall this year.
 |
| Bridal Veil Falls |
We hiked up to Mirror Lake later that morning and had our
lunch there. Again due to the drought
there wasn’t much of a lake.
Sunday – Wed. we took our bikes on the truck into the Park.
It was much easier to get around by bike than having to wait for the shuttle to
get anywhere. There are bike paths that
go to most areas of the Park, although there are a few small sections that you
have to ride on the edge of the road.
We rode up to the Mist Falls Trailhead and then hiked up to
Vernal Falls. The section to the
footbridge and the lower falls was
mostly a paved trail. We went on from there to the upper falls, where the last
section involved some walking/climbing over rocks. The total hike was 3.4 miles
round trip with a 1,000 ft. elevation gain.
Dale went to the very top section, I didn’t make it the last little
way. Heights aren’t really my
thing. But he got some great pictures of
the Falls.
 |
| Vernal Falls |
We also took the shuttle to El Capitan, a sheer granite
cliff in the Park that is popular with climbers. A Ranger had a telescope sited in on a
climber and we could watch his progress. The climb to the top takes 3-4
days. Climbers rope themselves into the
side of the mountain, or attach little bivvy sacks that they sleep in, all the
while hanging on the mountain overnight.
They have to pack in and pack out everything, including waste. Not for me!
 |
| El Capitan |
When we got back to the Campground that night there was a
huge red trailer parked there that looked like a train car. They were serving dinner from the side of it
to their passengers, Germans on a
holiday tour across the US. We talked to
the driver and he told us it has sleeping berths like a train. They were on a 30 day trip from New York to
San Fransisco visiting lots of National Parks in the West. It was an amazing site – like nothing we had
ever seen before.
The Red Touring RV
On Monday we drove to a part of the Park called Wawona. We had a nice breakfast at the Lodge
there. It reminded us of Mackinac
Island. We took at shuttle from there to
Mariposa Grove, an area of Sequoia trees in Yosemite. They were big, but not near as impressive as
the ones we had seen in Sequoia Natl Park.
We then drove over to Glacier Point.
It is an amazing view from there,
3200 ft high. You can see the
whole Valley – Yosemite, Vernal, and Nevada Falls, Half Dome,
and lots of other areas we had seen at ground level.
 |
| Half Dome |
 |
| View from Glacier Point |
 |
| Rock at Glacier Point over the Valley |
Tuesday we biked through the Park again. We saw a Park Service helicopter lower a
couple rangers and a stretcher down on Sentinel Point and leave. That is a section where people can do a hike called
Four Mile Trail that goes from the Valley up to Glacier Point. Later that day we saw the helicopter landing
in a meadow. We rode over and they were
unloading a hiker from the helicopter into an ambulance. He was sitting up and drinking water and
seemed OK. He had his lower leg and foot
in a cast.
 |
| Park Service Helicopter |
We took a Valley Floor Tour.
It is a flat bed truck with seats on it, open air, with a Ranger that
tells about the Park and what you are seeing.
We stopped at a couple places to take pictures and walk around a
little. It was an enjoyable ride, but
since we took it so late in our trip we had already been to and seen most of
the places we toured.
We drove out of the Park a little way on Hwy 120 to see what
the tunnels were like for when we leave the Valley to go up to the north side
of the Park to the Tuolomne Meadows area.
There are 3 tunnels that we have to go through. On the entrance side of the first two the
height at the curb is listed as 13’6” on a sign before you enter. The sign at the 3rd entrance lists
10’4” at the curb as the height. Our
trailer is 12’6”. When we came back
through the one tunnel showed 13’6” and the other 2 showed 10’4” as the
heights. Apparently the side that has a
little walkway is a little higher since the curve of the top of the tunnel is
farther out from the side. Our dilemma
was whether or not to attempt to drive through the tunnels (the most direct
route) or to go way around back through the length restricted section and other
mountain roads).
Wednesday in the Park Dale talked to a driver of a Pepsi
delivery truck. He routinely goes
through the tunnels on his route and his truck is 13’ high. He said if we stayed to the center we should
be fine. The decision was made to go on
Hwy 120 through the tunnels.
The trip through the tunnels was fine. We left early hoping that there wouldn’t be
many oncoming cars. There wasn’t much
oncoming traffic, only one RV with big mirrors like ours and we squeaked by
each other.
We arrived at Yosemite Lakes Campground and found a site and
set up. Then we went into the town of
Groveland about 18 miles away to get groceries and use internet at the
library. That’s when the situation with
Dale’s Dad’s health began. We ended up
flying home on the red eye out of Sacramento Friday night and made it back in time to be there
when his dad passed away Saturday afternoon. We plan to pick up the trip at some point in
the future. Katy had planned to meet us in San Fransisco and be with us for a couple weeks, but we had to skip the second part of Yosemite and San Fransisco. We all flew back into Sacramento on July 4.
We returned to Yosemite Lakes and moved trailer to a regular campsite for the night. We then went up to Olmstead Point and Tuolomne Meadows. It was a totally different area from the Valley. Grand vistas.
Olmstead Point views
 |
| Tuolomne Meadows |
 |
| Tuolomne Meadows |
 |
| Tuolomne Meadows |
Tomorrow we leave for the coast and the Monterey area. It will be very different to be in a city rather than in the National Parks like we have been in the last few weeks.
