VISITING YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

We can now cross off Yosemite National Park off our Bucket List.  We seen it, been there, done that.  All I can say is “wow”! All the foreign people that love to come and see our National Parks! I think so far it had the most people than any of the few other National Parks that we have seen thus far, with Zion NP coming in a close second.

On our first day going into Yosemite NP, we first had difficulty finding even a parking spot, and ended up parking along the roadway.  At first glance-it seemed confusing, but soon figured out where all things were at.

With our map in hand, we jumped on a bus shuttle and stopped at Mirror Lake.  Since it was late afternoon and really didn’t want to get on any lengthy hikes, we opted a short easy hike to Mirror Lake.

                 

After the short hike, we needed to figure out which stop we needed in order to find our truck once again, but not after first finding the visitor center for more info.  Once we got what we needed it was time to head home and study all the information that was handed to us and figure out what we wanted to do and what hikes we wanted to come in.

Being that we literally could not get camping reservations inside of Yosemite (all booked up), we reserved a campsite to the nearest entrance to Yosemite; Dimond O Campground.  We soon learned that it was only a very short distant to the West Entrance to Yosemite NP, however it was well over an hour drive just to get to Yosemite Valley!  So we really needed to decided how many time we want to head in.

We finally settled on three different trips into Yosemite Valley with three long hikes involved.  The first one was to Vernal and Nevada Falls, the second one would be to Lower & Upper Yosemite Falls and last would be just doing the Lower Loop Trail around Yosemite Valley.  We also already decided that we would stay away from the Valley on the weekend, and do all of our hiking trips during the week.

We did do Hetch Hetchy On a Sunday, and that was a spectacular five mile hike to a gorgeous waterfall.  Hetch Hetchy is probably the least seen by visitors, due to the fact that getting to it isn’t in direct route of the other entrances to Yosemite.  It has a separate entrance station and in the very Northwestern corner of the National Park.  Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of people on the trail, but no where near crowded and was very enjoyable and relaxing hike out of the whole trip. 

     

Also Hetch Hetchy has a strict entrance guideline; you could not be over 25 feet long and 8 feet wide-and that is strictly enforced!  After being on the road into Hetch Hetchy-I quickly understood why!

Getting back into Yosemite NP, we were all geared up and excited for our first hike to Vernal & Nevada Falls.  This would be a strenuous 5 mile hike.  So we were up early and heading in.

On the way, we stopped to take pictures of the valley and surrounding area.

       

Another quick stop and short hike to Bridalveil Falls

Now it’s time once again to find a parking spot.  This time I manage to find a perfect parking spot near shuttle stop #11, easy in, easy out.  Jumped onto the shuttle and had them drop us off to the nearest stop to the trail head. 

First part of the trail was black top, but it isn’t easy because the whole time you are gain elevation.  Many folks, including us was taking breaks quite frequently.  The trail became very busy with many of us wanting to get at Vernal Falls.  We ran into at least 3 different school groups and while going up, they seem to be patient with us that we were going at it a  little slower.

We eventually got to a bridge (which was crowded with many onlookers) that had a spectacular view of Vernal falls.  Here many would stop and turn around, while others, like us-kept tracking forwards-after a brief rest and of course picture taking.

        

The black top end and the trail still kept climbing in elevation and was getting more strenuous.  We soon learned that we would be climbing over 600 steps just to reach the top of Vernal Falls!  Oh not to mention it would be guaranteed that we would get wet-it’s a good thing that we carry rain ponchos in our backpack.

Those that were coming back down-soaking wet, said that the mist off the falls was freezing.  We seen many other hikers, pulling off and putting on rain gear, so we knew we should soon do the same.  The steps were soaked, slippery, and we were getting completely wet with the mist coming off the waterfall; it was amazing!!

It was nearly noon, and we finally found a dry spot and out of the way to eat lunch-and we still hadn’t reached to the top of Vernal Falls yet.  With that said we knew we probably wouldn’t make it to Nevada Falls after all.  We didn’t expect the hike to be so strenuous nor that busy.

Climbing yet more very steep steps, we finally made to the top of Vernal Falls!

     

As the saying goes: “Curiosity Killed The Cat”. Well that kind of went for us, we said we wouldn’t really make it to Nevada Falls, but we kept marching forwards.  It seems many didn’t go farther-other than one of the school groups; so the trail did get quieter. 

We can say we saw Nevada Falls, but we didn’t make it to the top.  What we did get to see was well worth the extra length to go.

       

It was time to head back down, and it seems as though everybody at once had the same idea; including all the school groups.  At one point we had to tell some kids nicely just to back off and not to get too pushy. 

It was now time for a few days rest, and after that hike, we change our plans slightly and decided that the next hike would be the lower valley loop hike.

Once again, up bright and early, and heading back into the Valley, and once again parked in our #11 shuttle stop parking lot.  Made a quick stop at the visitor center to inquiry about wi-fi service in the park and of course to buy our T-Shirts.  We learned that there is actually a library (called the “girls club”) inside the park!

This time we wouldn’t get on the shuttle but instead jump on the hiking trail just behind the old church.  This trail would not be strenuous, but it would be lengthy.  We hiked until we came to the El Capitan intersection and turned.  Stopped at a day use for a lunch on a log near the Merced River.

Crossed over the El Capitan Bridge, and realized we still had a ways to hike back towards the Yosemite Falls.

Really got some awesome views of El Capitan and Dome Rock.

  

This trail was much nicer because it was less used by visitors, and wasn’t crowded in the least; until we got closer to Yosemite Falls.  We were both getting tired, our feet hurt and wanted to just get some pictures of the falls, and find the nearest shuttle bus, and jump on.  We got close to the falls, but fighting the crowd wasn’t our thing, so we got what pictures we could, and left. 

Now try to find the nearest shuttle bus…we asked several folks where the shuttle drops off at, and not a single one could speak English!  Talk about feeling like a total stranger in my own country!  We did find a stop, jumped on the shuttle, got to the library, downloaded pics, and then headed out.

After all that frustration-we decided at that point-okay, we seen it, done it, been there-we had enough of Yosemite NP.  It’s  a very beautiful park and a must see.  But after a few days of LOTS of folks-it just time to let the rest enjoy.

All I can say is if you plan on visiting Yosemite NP-you best get your camping reservations WELL in ADVANCE!  But with that said, I’m glad now that we got our camping reservations outside of the Park.  Dimond O has been very peaceful-even though it’s quite the busy little campground.

  

HETCH HETCHY AT YOSEMITE NP

So what is Hetch Hetchy and where is it located?  It’s actually a part of Yosemite National Park.  Hetch Hetchy is located in the North-Western Part of the Park and only can be accessed via Hwy 120, turning onto Evergreen RD. 

We found it due to the fact that our campground is just outside of the Hetch Hetchy Entrance.  Josiah D. Whitney preferred it as a “Counterpart of Yosemite”.  It provides many hiking trails for one day hike or cross country backpacking for several days into the Yosemite Wilderness. 

Hetch Hetchy is a water shed resource that provides Power to those in San Francisco.  Due to the pristine water-they allow no swimming or boating on this beautiful lake.

RV’s over 25 feet or vehicles wider than 8 feet wide are not permitted inside this area-and we soon learned why.  The road IS very narrow with rock boulders sticking out in many places. 

We met a lady that was traveling in a View Winnebago Motorhome that camped near us, and she wanted to go into Hetch Hetchy and she was only 2 inches over the 8 feet width and they literally would not allow her inside the park.  So it is strictly governed on size!

Once we arrived at our destination and picked out our hike for the day, it was difficult to first to find a parking spot.  Once we got situated, then they decided to open the rest of the road for more parking.  It’s a busy little area-but it still doesn’t get nearly as many visitors as Yosemite Valley receives.

Our destination today was hiking 5 miles to Wapama Falls.  We walked across the dam, and soon learned that we had to walk through a tunnel. 

The tunnel wasn’t very long, but it took a minute or two for your eyes to adjust to the darkness.  There was standing water, and we had to side step around the ponding waters.  There was small lights inside the tunnel that helped somewhat.

As we traveled along, the path appeared to be smooth and easy traveling,  But that soon end….a short way the path became very rocky in many areas of the trail.  In some areas you had to watch for slippery rocks.

 

We came to a split in the trail, and they had these unique signs made out of iron, telling you which trail led to where and how far.

We continued on our path towards Wapama Falls.  We still had another 1.6 strenuous miles to go.  It really wasn’t that strenuous, the only thing is that you had to keep watching your feet with the rocks and wetness in some of the areas.

When we finally reached our destination-it was amazing and very well worth the hike!  We came to Wapama Falls, and as we descended slightly downward, we really had to watch our footing the very slippery rocks.  The water fall was at it’s fullest, causing such a spray that we were constantly getting misted on.  But that was nothing-compared for what we were in for….

As we made the descend and around the corner, to our surprise, there was a bridge crossing over the waterfall itself.  Needless to say, any that chose to cross this bridge, was bound to get wet!

You literally could not stand on the bridge and get a get a straight camera shot of the water fall-unless of course you had a waterproof camera….

    

There were several more bridges to cross, but not nearly as intense as the first one.

Once you crossed over, you could opt to continue on another waterfall called Rancheria Falls; which was probably another 4 miles past this point; making it a 13 miles round trip hike.  We as well as many other, opted to rest, each lunch and hike back.  5 miles was enough for one day.

We did enjoy the hike greatly and was so well worth  spending the day out here.  We had interruptions of beautiful butterflies fluttering all around us.

Saw many beautiful blooming flowers

  

got some spectacular pictures of the area

  

Yep, all in all, it was a wonderful day-except for…the mosquitoes that bit every now and then, and the unexpected fall that I took on a slippery rock heading back on the hike.

I didn’t get hurt, and was grateful for another couples help.   As I mentioned, the rocks were slippery.  instead of staying on the main trail, I wanted to walk on the rock slope, not realizing that areas still had water running down.  As I was just going to tell Brian to watch his footing-I went down-making a good splash!

I rattled my teeth a bit, and Brian wanted me to get up-but I just couldn’t make my body work that fast, so sitting, getting wet and chilling out a bit, I had to figure out how I was going to get up without going down again, and taking Brian down as well.

This couple came over to assist their help.  The gentleman, gave me his walking stick (we forgot ours in the back of the truck), reached behind under my arms, and helped me to stand once again.  Nothing was broke (Thank goodness), and with assistant-we got across safely. 

The couple wanted to make sure that I was still able to walk-for we still had better than a mile to hike yet.  All seemed to be okay, and we all went on our merry way.  Of course I slowed down on the pace a bit.  Once again, just a ways up the trail, the couple lagged back-just to make sure that we were coming.

Knowing that I would be able to finish the hike out, they continued on.  As we get back to the truck, I couldn’t believe that a jeep had literally blocked us in!  Come to find out-it was that same couple-making sure that I did make it all the way back.  They knew our truck, because they came in the park the same time we did, and they didn’t want to leave until he knew that I was back safely to our truck!  I didn’t think strangers ever cared anymore-I guess I was wrong. 

To whoever you were on that trail, I can never say Thank You enough  for caring for another stranger!

             

     

INTERESTING STAY AT WISHON CAMPGROUND

As I wrote in a previous blog about our experience in getting into Wishon-and making the final decision of staying turned out to be well worth it in the long run.

We did tour around to see some of the worlds largest trees, but I think the memorable was inside the campground itself.  As I mentioned in our first few days there we had a Mountain Lion cross our path as I was cooking lunch one day.  She meander right across the road and up the hillside-not caring in the least that we were around.

A few nights later, were were woken by this most eerie sound.  It sounded like at kitten meowing-but in a man’s deep voice.  It kept it up for several minutes.  Later on-we learned that it was a lion cub crying for his momma.  Leah thought it was an animal hurt and wanted to see what it was-Brian made her go back to bed. 

On another night, I was awaken to our bear proof trash canister lid banging several times.  Knowing we had no one camped near us-we knew it was not human.  After talking with a park ranger-we learned that it was a bear.  Of course I was too chicken to get out of bed to investigate!  As for Brian-he snored right through it and Leah heard it-but curled tighter under the cover!

As you enter into Wishon Campground there is a split in the road; one heads right into the campground itself, and the upper road goes to a day-use parking lot for fisherman and a closed lock gate.  Behind that locked gate about 3/4 mile is a community called Doyle Springs (establish in 1916).  What we thought was just a few small cabins-we later learned that there are actually 50 homes back there.  The community is very private and won’t hesitate to directly tell you that you are trespassing and to turn around.

Anyways one Saturday morning after Brian wakes up, he looks out and all of a sudden started to count at least 7 sheriff’s vehicles going towards the community.  A few minutes later, parked next to us was a fire truck, a few private vehicles (EMT’s) and eventually Porterville’s ambulance.  So curiosity got the best of us and we had see what was going on.

We learned that one of the gentleman in that community had boarded himself in his home and was threatening to burn it down.  Fearing not only for his safety-but the safety of many others, including us campers, the cavalry was called in (meaning every deputy, EMT and Fireman).  What was thought would only be a few hours turned into an 8 hour stand off.  Unfortunately the poor guy gave in and shot himself.  So our heart went out to those in that very remote community…..

As our time was drawing close to an end, we had seen Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, checked out “Giants of 100 Trail”, hiked the trail inside the campground.  The last thing to explore was the forest road in our campground.  They hadn’t open the road to disperse camping yet, due to fire danger extreme.  So we hiked around the gate and knew we had that section of the forest to all our selves….well sort of…..

We are walking along and I’m shooting pictures of  spring flowers that are blooming all over the place.  The road is just like the rest of the roadways around here; switching back and forth, slowly climbing higher and higher.  Enjoying ourselves immensely, listening to birds singing.  Then I think I hear a different type of noise, like something huffing.  Brian and I both stop to listen, then all of a sudden just below us we heard this very load ROAR!  we looked at each other, hear another ROAR, concluded that yep it’s a bear, and an unhappy one!  So we turned around, I grabbed Brian’s hand he’s trying to keep me calm and I’m in panic mode!  We walk back in the direction we came from-not wanting to keep going and crossing that Bears path.  As we are heading back-a second panic button hits me, for now I realize that the bear could still probably sense us-since we have to meander below it on our way back down!  Brian keeps assuring me that it’s not following us, but we both keep looking back and listening.  We think it was a momma with cubs and she was warning us that we were just a bit too close for comfort.  We did make it back safely to the campground.  We soon realized that this was actually our first time ever hearing a bear out in the wild-so how cool was that-after the fear leaves you?

We again ran into another Forest Ranger as he was going around to make sure that all campers leaving had put out their campfires.  He informs us that they are expecting some very heavy rains in the area and that the road into Wishon could get closed off due to mud slides. 

So we opted to leave a few days early so not to get stuck up in the mountains.  We leave with the most memorable of memories so far on our trip across California.

Next stop: Yosemite!!

A HECK OF A LONG DAY RIDING

When we first made our plans for our California trip, we wanted to make sure that we got in as much of the National Parks that we could.

Upon researching and thinking that we were in the “heart” of the Sequoia National Park and the Monument, we made our reservations here at Wishon Campground-thinking that would put us in the middle of all to see and do.

I had made a list of sites that I would have liked to seen in the area, some of it in the Northern sector and some in the Southern Sector of where we were located.

Getting up bright and early and packing a lunch and plenty of coffee we started our on our one day adventure.  After talking to some local and the deputy that patrols the area, we took what they called was the scenic route towards Sequoia National Park. 

The “scenic” route we didn’t think was that “scenic”.  With the many twist, turns up and down and all we saw was how much CA is in dyer need of moisture.  The rolling hills that should have been green was all dead due to lack of snow and rain.  And they say happy cows live in CA-the cows we seen didn’t look  so happy.

Anyways what seem like took hours (wait-it was hours later!), we finally arrived at the entrance to the Sequoia NP, just to start the twist and turns and the ups and downs once again.  But the scenery was well worth it and spectacular!  First stop was to tunnel rock.

As we kept driving, we wonder though if we would ever come to the big giant trees, for we mostly saw the common forest trees.  Little by little we did start seeing small “giant” Sequoias.

   

We came across where we had to drive between two large Sequoias, and that was really neat!

On our way to Moro Rock, we came across what was once a log road made from the Sequoia itself.  It’s no longer drivable but you still could see evidence of them driving on it at one time in life.

Once we got to Moro Rock, it was time for a small hike for a fantastic view of the whole area.  We even could hear an Eagle’s cry from far below, but could never actually spot it. 

 

We didn’t dally too long here, for we still had lots to do and see and time seem to be running fast on us.  So we moved on to the next thing.  We have yet to see the bigger Sequoias.

We came across a down Sequoia that you can actually drive through!  Brian jumped out to get a picture of me driving the truck through.  I was nervous-not knowing if I would fit-plenty of room!  But if you fear you won’t make it-there is a by pass road to get around it.

Then we came to what was called the Parker Group.  Now here was some huge trees!

    

Next on the list was the Sherman Tree.  The history behind it is interesting.  The US Calvary guarded the Giant Sequoias back in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s.  A former soldier named the Giant tree after General Sherman, his leader during the Civil War. 

Moving on at a quick pace, we needed to keep moving and also find a spot to grab some lunch.  Now we enter into Kings Canyon National Park.  We find a pull-out that seemed nice to eat our lunch.  We had to eat it quickly, or the bees might have carried off with our sandwiches.  We learned later that the bees and wasp thrive on these giant trees.

We came to what is called the Giant Grove Village, second world largest set of trees.

  

As we continue on, the road did many switchbacks and we soon was ascending higher and higher.  Every now and then there would be pull-offs to get some spectacular view of Kings Canyon!

  

Next thing we knew, we had a roaring river running next to us along the roadway.  My guess is if there were any rafters on this river it would have been a class IV.  We came to a picnic area and found a waterfall.

The day was getting away from us very quickly and we knew we had to finish the last leg of this ride and head  back towards home.  There was to be another huge waterfall down the road.  We got nearly  to the end of the roadway where it ends, and decided that we needed to head back towards home.  So we never did find the water fall.

I wanted to climb a fire tower or two, but learned they do not open those up to the public until later in May, when fire danger starts to become a concern.  There are also two cave tours that you can do while visiting the Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP.  One was open for tours while the other don’t open up until later in May. 

Many of the campgrounds were closed as well, although a few were open, and only one to accommodate larger rigs. At the other end, in Kings Canyon, we didn’t seen any campgrounds open, however they were many doing dispersed camping in the pull-outs along the river side.

We also crossed some pretty serious road work being done on section of the General’s Trail in the Sequoia NP, but we were fortunate that they were not working this day.  Even though the sign said they work Sun-Thur.  There are signs stating rigs over 22 feet not recommend-I would head that warning to the fullest!

I didn’t get to everything on my list. However, we did get to see a lot of Giant Trees and many great views, memories that we will carry with us.  Someday  we will return again, and stay inside the Sequoias NP instead of the Sequoias National Monument; where we will be able to do more…..