Big Cliff and Big Trees

The next morning, we got up early and jumped into the sporadic traffic headed into Yosemite. Yosemite requires reservations to enter the park during the summer, but I had not anticipated that we would get to the park so soon, so I had not gotten vehicle reservations for the 30th. Fortunately, we had a campground for the evening which could count as our pass. The lady manning the entrance station asked us, “Are you staying at the campground tonight?”

Me: “Yes..?”
Ranger: “Oh, some people just reserve campsites so they can get in but don’t actually stay there.”

I found this extremely strange, as campsites go for about $36 on average, whereas the vehicle registrations go for exactly $2. I wasn’t particularly early to the registration processes when I got our vehicle passes for Yosemite, and I still saw hundreds of passes available, so whomever was doing what the ranger mentioned really messed up.

We entered in the southern entrance and immediately pulled off at the bathrooms to freshen up. We began to form a plan as to what we were going to do with the day. It was still early and cool, but the forecast had a lot of heat during the afternoon. We didn’t want to wait around for the Mariposa grove shuttle to start, so we headed down the road past the town of Wawona and onto the Glacier Point road to get our first views of the valley. We didn’t drive to the famed point right away, we did a short hike up to Sentinel Dome which provides an amazing view of the valley and surrounding mountains. Only after that did we descend down to Glacier Point to get some more views of the area’s grandeur. I’ve seen a lot of pictures and heard a lot about Yosemite, and I can see why it is so popular: the valley, cliffs, forest, and mountain scenery are incredible. Similar to the Four Corners area, it’s hard to get a sense of scale for just how big El Capitan and Half Dome are. They look imposing from Glacier Point, but it isn’t until you get to the valley floor that you really see them towering thousands of feet above you. It’s pretty wild to be up at the viewpoints looking just past your feet at the valley floor three thousand feet down, or to be at the bottom looking up through your car’s sunroof to catch a glimpse of the tops of the glacier-carved cliffs. Needless to say, it’s absolutely worth a visit, even in spite of the hordes of like-minded people.

After the viewpoint and hike, we headed down into the valley and poked around the visitor centers, art galleries, and museums in and near the Yosemite Village. Faith spied a pack of brats that were half-off since they were about to expire. We happily purchased them before driving back towards our campsite at the Wawona Campground near the southern entrance. We made our brats and enjoyed the evening: I by getting some hours of work in and Faith by reading. We went to sleep in our tent for the first time in a long while as the campground rules specifically forbade sleeping “in or on” one’s vehicle. We noticed that we had almost no direct neighbors as there were several empty sites despite the campground clearly saying that it was full. Apparently, the entrance station ranger was correct as there were people that had campground reservations but did not use them for their intended purpose. Faith slept very well, I not so much, which helped me to get up early and get some more work done before Faith arose.

The next day was our only day on the southern side of the park, so we were going to do the Mariposa Grove. The required shuttle didn’t start until 8, so we took the time to make some hashbrowns for breakfast before heading to the shuttle stop. We boarded, rode up the mountain, then unloaded and got our first views of Giant Sequoias. They are incredible. After hiking through the grove and seeing many of the giant trees, including the great Grizzly Giant, we agreed that they are much cooler than their coastal cousins. They are not quite as tall but much have much more girth and are seemingly sturdier than Redwoods. Additionally, most of the mature trees have fire scars on their bases which only add to their rugged appearances. I hate to say it, but giant sequioas are a strong contender against the Ponderosa Pine for the place of my favorite tree, which may come as a shock to those of you who have heard me laud the Ponderosa’s beauty and scent.

We hiked up to the Wawona point and got a view of some of the mountains around Yosemite Valley though we couldn’t quite see into it. We stopped for a snack before descending back through the grove, to the shuttle, then started looking for a place to work. We drove into the aforementioned town of Wawona and to the historic Wawona Hotel. Fortunately, despite being an old building, it had power plugs, seating, and wifi that we were able to use while waiting out the sun’s scorching rays. As evening approached, we checked out what the rest of the town had to offer before heading north to our campsite for the evening at the Dimond O Campground. We both liked Dimond O much better, as our site was much nicer and allowed us to stay in our van. Additionally, the campground had a stream running through it that we took a dip in to wash away some of the day’s sweat and dust. Refreshed, we went to sleep ready for another day of hiking and hiding from the intense sun.

Animals Seen

• Countless Squirrels
• Deer
• Stellar’s Jay
• Red Tailed Hawk
• Turkey Vultures

Stats

• ~150 miles of driving
• 8 miles of hiking
• 1 stream swim
• Numerous awestruck moments