#13 The Many Faces of Yosemite National Park

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August 27-29: The initial overwhelming impression of Yosemite Valley is that it is like a cathedral in stone. The awesome rocky peaks are all arround and as the sun swings west, every view changes.
Yosemite is one of the most famous of the national parks in the USA, and it was, in fact, the first land set aside, in order to protect the giant sequoia trees in the Mariposa Grove at its southern end. Although Yellowstone was the first declared national park, as with the Sydney/Melbourne rivalry, Yosemite wants to be known as the first.
Yosemite has a terrific set of ranger-led programs for all ages. We were immediately drawn to the talk based on the recent Ken Burns TV series on the National Parks. It was led by none other than Shelton Johnson, an African American park ranger who featured in the Ken Burns series. Shelton was earnest in his hopes that ALL American children would get to national parks. He said that for him, growing up in Detroit, no one ever talked about them, they weren't on the radar of anyone he knew. He gave a fascinating presentation, including about how after the Civil War, several units of black American soldiers were assigned the duty of protecting Yosemite from the encroaching sheep herders. Another unknown chapter in US history. He has written a novel about this, called "Gloryland". See http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/09/gloryland-brings-yosemite-national-park-ranger-shelton-johnson-full-circle4649
The Miwok were the original people of Yosemite, and near the Visitor Center there's a model Miwok Village with a self-guided trail of signs, diaramas and audio. One of the very impressive things about the park system across the board in the USA is the signage -- which is clear and informative on a whole range of topics, including geology, history, wildlife and culture.
Of course, we spent some time visiting the giant sequoias. These trees aren't as tall as the redwoods, but their trunks are much heftier and they live longer. Lots more “board feet” in them, if you're into cutting them down. Of course now they're protected.
A really great thing about Yosemite is that there are free shuttle buses running all around the park. They're very frequent. So once you're there, you needn't use your car at all. This is a help for the air quality in the park, congestion on the roads and at the scenic vista and trailhead parking lots, and your gas budget.
Of course, I couldn't not mention the bears! As Joe Reilly mentioned to me last year, “bears” seemed to be a theme in my blog. Well at Yosemite, attention to bear concerns has reached the highest point we ever came across. It's illegal to leave any food at all in your vehicle (TO SAY NOTHING OF YOUR TENT!), even “crumbs on the baby carseat”. Bears have highly sensitive noses and can smell food from afar. The aim is to make the camps bear proof by keeping all food out of reach. (Yet I'm sure those bears can smell people cooking their hamburgers.) So every campsite and every trailhead has steel lockers into which you must put all food, cosmetics, soaps, baby wipes. If you don't, you can be fined and your car can be towed away.
There's a video at the visitor center showing about 100 cars which had been broken into by bears, the metal actually ripped aside. And so far this year the tally is 14 bears hit by cars in Yosemite. There are red bear signs at the roadside where each bear was killed.
For all this, we never saw a bear in the campground, though we did see deer wandering through, and lots of chipmunks and squirrels. However, as we were driving along, we saw a large mother bear and her mid-sized cub strolling across a rocky clearing—glad we didn't meet them on one of our hikes!
For Michaela Rock, Stone Dresser and their families, I would highly recommend a visit to Yosemite, where rock is the vision. And it would be a good idea for any of the rest of you.
For you Aussies, the US national parks are awash with people from overseas. We camped next to a lovely Czech couple, and everywhere you hear German, French, Spanish, Japanese and many other languages spoken. I listened quietly as an Australian father tempted his twin sons to walk across the shallow river at our campground.
Now, I have so many pictures from Yosemite, be sure to go to “next” or page two of this blog entry. And also remember that if you click or double click on a photo, it should get big on your screen—landscapes are weak in small versions.

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