Yosemite, Fall 2014

We went for a getaway week August 28 (Wednesday) through September 4 (Thursday) to Yosemite Lakes campground for a bit of R&R, okay, just bumming around.  Yosemite Lakes campground is 5 miles from the northwest entrance to Yosemite National Park, off of CA-120.  If you want to see big waterfalls and lush meadows, late summer is not the best time to visit Yosemite--especially after three years of drought.  But it is still a nice place for a getaway.  Since it was the Labor Day weekend, there were lots of people cluttering the park.  Fortunately, we only ventured into the park on three days: Thursday, before the crowds arrived, we explored Yosemite Valley, Saturday we hiked the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias (does not attract big crowds), and Tuesday, after most of the crowds left, we explored Wawona, Mariposa Grove, and Glacier Point.

So, what is a Yosemite?

Yosemite National Park is arguably the first national park, even though some people claim Yellowstone was the first national park.  On June 30, 1864, during the bloody and ugly Civil War (150 years ago), President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act creating Yosemite as a forest reserve .  The Yosemite Grant Act set aside Yosemite under California's care and it became a state park.  Like many things entrusted to California's politicians, Yosemite did not fare well.  John Muir got ticked off at the abuse of Yosemite and fought for its preservation.  With no luck with the State of California, John Muir finally had a chance to go camping with Teddy Roosevelt for three nights in Yosemite and convinced Teddy to pursue making Yosemite a national park.  Congress created Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890 (Yellowstone became a National Park in 1872).

So why is Yosemite Yosemite?  A few years ago (okay, a lot of years ago), a big plug of molten lava cooled just below the surface and formed granite.  Over the years, this granite uplifted, the dirt and soil covering it washed away, and with the help of some glaciers, great granite cliffs formed in the middle of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Now, those of you who live east of the Rockies--like in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio--can't appreciate the grandeur of the Sierras or the granite cliffs of Yosemite, sorry.  Coincidently, this granite uplift happened to occur in the middle of Yosemite.

Yosemite Valley

We spent Thursday exploring Yosemite Valley and seeing a few of the highlights.  It was a one hour drive from the campground to the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center.  The Yosemite Valley is seven miles long and one mile wide and it is surrounded by remarkable granite cliffs.  We started by visiting the visitor center and Yosemite Village area.  Since late summer isn't the best time for waterfalls and lush meadows, we saved many of these sites for a future springtime visit.  We were lazy and since this was just us bumming around and wanting to get an overview from the valley, we took a two hour open-air tram tour to get a roadside view of the granite cliffs and many of the sites.  Afterwards, we watched the film "Yosemite: A Gathering of Spirits" and explored the Ansel Adams Gallery.  We decided we were too famished to drive back to the campground, so we stayed for pizza and then attended the live performance of John Muir's Animal Stories.  After the show, the shuttle wasn't running the 1.5 miles back to where the truck was parked so we had to make our way in the dark.  Thankfully, I had the flashlight app loaded on my phone.

Our chariot awaits, onward!

El Capitan: the monster of Yosemite

View from the valley floor

Tunnel View: from the road looking across the valley

Bridalveil Fall: with a trickle of water still flowing

Sentinel Rock: watching over the valley

Yosemite Falls: imagine a flood of water gushing over the rim, next year

Yosemite Chapel

Half Dome: what happened to the other half?

Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias

Saturday, while the throngs of people were invading Yosemite Valley and the other sites, we went on a hike to the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias.  This is a small grove of twenty giant sequoias about 12 miles from our campground.  It was an enjoyable hike 2.25 miles down to the sequoia grove.  However, that meant a moderately steep hike back up.  Overall, an enjoyable three-hour outing.

Becky getting ready to hug a tree

Big trees, little people by trunk

Wawona and the Mariposa Grove

On Tuesday, after the majority of the holiday crowd left (except for us and all of the non-English speaking foreigners) , we drove to the southern end of the park to Wawona and the Mariposa Grove.  Wawona was a resort town that still has the Wawona Hotel.  Also the Pioneer Yosemite History Center is located there but, due to time constraints, we skipped the sites at Wawona and caught the shuttle bus to the Mariposa Grove.  At the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, we cheated and took the open-air tram tour that is a narrated seven-mile tour of the grove.  This is the final year that the tram will be operating.  The paved pathway for the tram and its weight is causing damage to the root system of these big trees.  Beginning next year, they will be removing the paving and changing the hiking trails to better protect the trees.

If you want to see giant sequoias and you don't live near the Sierra Nevada Mountains, tough luck.  You are going to have to travel to the west coast and the Sierras.  These giant sequoias used to be found across the continent but now there are only a few groves left in the world and they are in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Two brothers

A twelve year old sequoia

California Tunnel Tree

Glacier Point

On Tuesday afternoon, we headed for our final sightseeing stop: Glacier Point.  It was a great way to end our sightseeing. There are fabulous views looking out across Yosemite from various vantage points.  We were able to see several of the named granite peaks and waterfalls and were able to look down into Yosemite Valley and see all of the people and cars scurrying around below.  All of this magnificent view started as a lava plug below ground that cooled to form granite and then uplifted and was carved by glaciers.  Beautiful!  

View from Glacier Point

We will have to return in the springtime after a good year of rainfall to see the lush meadows and raging waterfalls.