Yosemite Park - the longest road trip...

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After leaving Flagstaff, we decided to head up to Colorado - why, we didn't know it just sounded like a good idea at the time. En route, we stopped at a small town called Tuba City and decided to put our camping gear to use. However, to camp out, we decided we might need a couple of beers so we headed off to the nearest 7-11. We couldn't see any in the fridge so we asked the checkout girl who happened to be an Native American Indian, and she replied, ''You won't find any here - you are on a Native American Reservation area. The nearest place to buy beer is Flagstaff...''. How were we to know know? Anyway, the next day we continued on to Colorado, and we finally reached a campsite where we spent the coldest night of our lives! The snow-capped mountains should have been a give away. We decided to trip off the next day and headed across the border to Utah, where after a good day of driving, we found an even more stunning and slightly warmer site next to a lake. After such a long drive, we agreed to plot up and we spent two days just chilling out and bbq-ing. It was a well-deserved break for Gaz who has been the nominated driver!

So onwards and upwards, we cruised over Nevada and on to California as Yosemite Park was our final destination. We reached a town called Benton and we were just 60 miles from the park, which was a great relief since we had been driving for 9 hours. However, the road into the park from the east was closed due to the heavy snow fall and we discovered there was no other way in...apart from the southern entrance which was another 6 hour drive.....So we bought a Beach Boys CD from the nearest gas station and cracked on.

We went to the park the following day. Our campsite was amazing! We were based at the bottom of the valley, next to a river, in the wilderness! It is a bit disconcerting when you have to store your food in a bear box though! We made our way up the valley and it was absolutely breathtaking. We have never seen trees so tall, lakes so clear and waterfalls so high in our lives! The first afternoon, we took a short hike of an hour and a half to the Vernal Falls where we were greeted with the most vibrant rainbows - and we saw both ends (although we left the pot of gold).

After a night spent at our camp under the stars, we went back to the park and decided to embark on another hike - this time to the Upper Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in the USA and the fifth tallest in the world. After 3 gruelling hours of steep, uphill hiking through wilderness, crossing creeks and wondering if we were ever going to make it, we finally reached the very top of the waterfall. I don't mind admitting that at 2,425 mts, I (Nic) felt a touch of vertigo but I continued to the very edge where we had our picture taken....it was a nerve-racking moment but well worth it. It took us just 2 hours to skip down, the adreneline was rushing and it felt like a walk in the park after the muscle-sapping hike up. That night, we got back to our camp and cranked up a few Milwakee Best beers as a well-deserved treat for having conquered America's tallest fall.

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Photos

Somewhere under a rainbow....
The rainbows were amazing at the Vernal Falls - Yosemite Park

Upper Yosemite Falls
How much further??? This was not even half way up!

Upper Yosemite Falls
We made it to the very top!

Comments

[Carl and Ruth]

Yosemite
Fantastic journal, takes us back to our trip; we loved Yosemite, just watch out for the bears!! If you can try and get to the Red Woods. Love Ruth and Carl xxxx