Our road trip is half done, if you don’t count the week at the beach. Time has flown and we have seen and experienced so much already. Today we are going to pack up for a couple nights and head into Yosemite Village for a couple nights in a Yurt (a tent cabin with canvas walls and beds – not much else).
Jackson and I decide to hit the stream behind the campground, but in order to make it work with the move we need to be up early. Not sure what the fishing will be like at 7 AM, but we decide to give it a shot. I wake up around 6 and get Jackson up at 6:30. He pops out of bed, fixes his breakfast and we head down to the stream. We walk about half a mile downstream and wade in. It is VERY cold this morning (mid 50’s) and there is steam rising up off the water and you can see your breath. The step in is very invigorating. We start to slowly work our way up steam, fishing the same types of spots our guide pointed out yesterday. No hits all morning, and Jackson keeps getting his line tangled up. Our legs are numb (as are other parts for Jackson as he is often in waist deep). Our feeling is that we are out too early. There is not a single bug in the air. We do get a couple takes, but nothing we can hook.
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| Mist Over Big Creek |
When we are just about to the campsite, I get a take and quickly pull up. It turns out to be a 12 inch rainbow, but very grey in color. It must be one of the stocked fish they put in this spring. Still nice catch and I again fumble for the camera and lose the fish before getting a shot off.
Jackson loses another fly and decides to head out and up to camp. I keep working the stream right up to our RV. I have lost track of time and it is 9:45. We wanted to be on the road by 10, so I hustle up and get dried off. Wendy has started laying out the clothes, but it again takes us another 2 hours to finish packing and eat lunch.
12:15 and we are finally on the road, I need to stop at the lodge a mile back and drop off Jackson’s wading boots that he borrowed. We then turn around and head into the park. The line is a little bit longer and it takes 15 to 20 minutes to make it through the guard station. We flash our pass and head up the road toward Wawona. The drive to the village from the south end is about 35 miles and it can take anywhere from an hour to two and a half hours. We are moving right along winding around the mountains. We come up on the road to Glacier Point and decide to do this hour long side trip as we are not sure we will make it on the way out. From here you have excellent views of Vernal and Nevada falls and Half Dome. The trip is worth the extra drive. Spectacular views and even my kids who have been saying “Mom, it’s just another mountain” are very impressed. We stop for multiple photo ops, buy a set of binoculars (I left my good ones in the RV) and take in the surroundings.
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| View of Vernal and Nevada Falls from Glacier Point |
We will hike to the top of the first falls later in the week.
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| Half Dome from Glacier Point |
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| Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point |
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| Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point |
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| Georgia Jumping for Joy at Glacier Point |
After 30 minutes of taking in the sights, we head back up the road. At this elevation there is still a lot of snow and I ask the kids if they want to hop out for a snow ball fight. They all say “been there – done that on the last sabbatical” and Wendy mentions that it would probably just end up bad with someone getting a snowball in the face. We keep moving on and make a quick stop for some shots of El Capitan before heading into the Village. A lady has a telescope set up and we can see some of the climbers on the wall of El Capitan making their way back to their tent on the side of the cliff.
One at Yosemite Village, we work our way to Curry Village and get in line to get the keys for our Yurts. A short wait in line, and we head over to the parking lot to hump our stuff into camp. Fortunately, Wendy convinced me to have each person have their own bag, so each is able to carry rather than making the bags so heavy only I can pick them up. The yurts are clean and sparse.
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| Our Yurts with Half Dome in the background |
We unpack and head over to check out the other facilities. There is a nice grocery and I take Georgia over to pick up a snack to tide her over while we do a short hike. Wendy and I buy tickets for 3 to a star talk back at Yosemite Village from 9 to 11. Charlotte is up for it. By the time everyone is thinking about being ready for our hike, we decide we are all a little hungry and tired, so we opt to hit the buffet and take in the bear talk they are doing next door to our tent. This will allow us to get to bed a little earlier (we have a very early rise for a horse ride in the morning).
We also notice that the building next door to our tents has free internet access. I stop over and pick up email, though the service is spotty as there are a bunch of kids trying to watch Netflix movies. We head over to dinner for the buffet. Reminds me of dorm room food while in college, but everyone is able to find something they will eat and I am able to wash it down with a great brown ale from the bar. Next the talk about bears with a 45 minute film featuring some of the bear experts from within the National Park system. Great film and we all learn a lot.
Off to the yurt for bed, we close up the flaps, make sure all the cosmetics and food is in the bear lockbox outside and cover up with 4 wool blankets. Alarm is set for 6 AM – everyone has opted to skip showers to get that extra couple minutes sleep. Who needs a shower before heading out for 4 hours on a horse?