Advertisement
Published: November 18th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Up early again to finish off the last few hotels and then drive to Yosemite. We head to a supermarket at around midday for some supplies then set off. The sat nav says 10 hours which is a lot longer than Googled maps had told us of under 7 hours, so we panic slightly at the long-ass drive ahead. We keep stopping off along the way to ask if the Tioga Pass is closed because the sat nav is taing us all the way north and around rather than through Yosemite Valley. No-one seems to know, but a stop-off in Beatty – a tiny town where nobody seems to have any teeth, and Hannah and I decide to keep our gaze down and catch no-ones eye – sets us on the right path. Thankfully the lovely lady in the Beer and Chilli shack – the Happy Burro - helps us with a route and even checks the internet on her phone and calls the National parls Authority to check that we can go through Tioga Pass, and we set back off.
As we near closer we argue about whether to bother putting our few bits of
food and toiletries in the 'bear box' – a metal box to ensure bears don't come in your tent or car at night and eat your food/you – it's nearing 2am and I think we needn't bother, and as we arrive at Evergreen Lodge the car park seems full so I figure we'd really not bother. As we step out of the car we heard the loudest bear growl/roar and stare at each other and simultaneously say “let's use the bear box”. We go grab our lantern and welcome package that the staff have left and finally crawl in to our beautiful little tent complete with airbeds, sleeping bags and blankets all set up.
A great (albeit not long enough) sleep leads into morning and we get up and get ready for a hike. Some more bagels with pumpkin butter for breakfast (which started out so nice and now I am so bored of them), and we drive to Yosemite Valley. We decided to hike to Vernal Fall as this is one of the only places with water what with it being the start of autumn and one of the worst droughts that
California has seen in decades. It's later than we wanted to start, around 2pm, and we are advised it's a 3-4 hour hike and that sun sets at 6, so we absolutely blitz the start of it, making it to the waterfall in about 45 minutes. I felt like I was a waterfall in my own right with the amount of sweat pouring off of me. A few photos and we walk to the top of the fall and rest a little. It's only a 3 mile trip but with 1000ft of elevation in just a few miles, with the end being a rudiemtal set of carved stone steps, it's safe to say my legs were burning. I descended the steps with as much grace and elegance of a newborn giraffe learning to walk, and we made it back to our car in time to catch the sun set on the way back to the tent.
A few cups of noodles for dinner and many free s'mores sat by the open fire and I can happily say it's been a great day. As the darkness engulfs us, I become even happier. I completely
geek-out at the stars from time to time, and as we lay in the hammock by our tent we can see nothing but a blanket of stars – more than I ever thought possible are visible. I lay there thinking how amazing it is and that I don't want to leave.
The next day we do the same, but decide to hike Mirror Lake as we were told there was a little water there. It turns out the park ranger was wrong; it's drier than 90 year old hooker. It was still very cool to see Half Dome, and be able to actually walk across the lake bed though. We get back to our campsite in time for a dip in the pool and to watch the sunset. Once the sun goes down the temperature markedly drops and it gets pretty nippy, as which point we make the most of the hottub. I manage to sit with one of the jets pulsating at my lower back which has been causing me grief the last few days, and keep swapping between the cold pool and warm hottub to soothe my muscles. More noodles and
s'mores and we lay in the hammock for a few more hours staring up in awe. We've struggled to find accommodation in San Fran to suit a car – the one place we did find doesn't have availability for the next night so we decide to stay in Yosemite for another night; sadly there aren't any small tents so we get a family one.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0423s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb