The Great Western Tour: Part 5

 Yosemite National Park

   Yosemite deserves an installment all of its own.  The park is located in the Central California Sierra Nevada Mountains east of San Francisco/Oakland and southeast of Sacramento, The hordes of tourists are joined by enthusiastic visitors from these cities totaling about four million a years. That's a lot of people squeezed mostly in the valley that measures 7.5 miles by one mile. The park is about the size of Rhode Island but the majority of visitors are concentrated in the valley because they have seen and heard about El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Fall and Bridalveil Fall. 

   Like the trees in nearby Sequoia NP, size matters. The cracked block of granite called Half Dome rises 4,733 feet above the valley. El Capitan is 3,593 ft., Yosemite Fall is the tallest in North America at 2,425 ft.--when it is running. Yosemite Creek dries up in August. Bridalveil is 620 ft., Nevada Fall 594 ft. and Vernal Fall is 317 ft. For perspective, Niagara Falls is truly impressive but at 177 ft. can not compete in the height category. 

   Shirley and I enjoyed our stay up in the much quieter Tuolumne Meadows. "Much quieter" is a relative term but the meadow area really does offer opportunities to get far from the madding crowd by taking one of the hiking trails to see wildlife, wildflowers, and a different perspective on the mountains. From up there, for example, you get to see the back side of Half Dome. We entered via Tioga Pass on the east side of the park because we were coming from Lake Tahoe just north of there. Stayed at Tuolumne Meadows Campground and also had reservations at Crane Flats for closer, easier access to the valley. Got a notice from the park service shortly after we arrived that a "controlled burn" had gotten a little out of control and burned down the campground. Our fees were graciously refunded but we were forced to find other accommodations outside the park and made daily commutes to the valley. Perhaps the photos will show why this was a disappointment but not a disaster.

Tuolumne Meadows

  

Yellow-bellied marmot

Mergansers. Or as the kids say, M R ducks. C M P N?

Half Dome from the back side up in the Meadows.

Yosemite Valley

El Capitan

Bridalveil

Yosemite Fall. Or would have been if the creek hadn't dried up in August.

Half Dome from the Valley side.

The profile view from up at Glacier Point.

Sheer cliffs and snow melt produce numerous waterfalls.

   From Yosemite I had considered continuing on to Death Valley as long as we were in California anyway. It was mid-September but fellow campers said, "You don't want to do that. It's still 110 down there." So we saved that for our winter trip to Arizona. Instead we went to Las Vegas. Well, not actually. Went to Costco and Trader Joe's. Have returned to Las Vegas a couple more times but still have never spent a minute in any of the places people insist you have to go when there. It was only in the 90s  but it was that famous "dry heat."  Camped at Lake Mead near Hoover Dam for a night where only six of the 157 sites were taken. Nobody believes that "dry heat" isn't real heat. From there we continued to Grand Canyon and the five national parks in Utah. We'll pick up there in future installments.