Thursday
We flew into SFO, met up with Harold, and spent some time getting groceries and supplies for the trip. By the time we got into the Yosemite area, it was pretty late in the day. Instead of going into the park, we went to a gorgeous swimming hole in Stanislaus National Forest, then drove on Forest Service roads along the rim of Tuolumne Meadows towards Hetch Hetchy. That evening we saw a grouse, a free range cow, and a mule deer on our way to dinner, then another mule deer in the front yard of our Air BnB when we returned.
Friday
We woke up Friday morning to a strange peeping sound outside the house that turned out to be the sound of hundreds of baby turkeys. We got up and out by 7:30, then drove the stunningly spectacular Tioga Road to Tuolomne Meadows. Stopped to hike up a small dome above Olmstead Point and admire the view, but mostly hustled to beat the crowds to the meadows. We hiked up Lembert Dome, from 9500 to over 10,000 feet in less than two miles. Only Harold could go all the way to the top. On the way back down, Nikki experienced her first elevation related edema. After that, we took our time coming back down Tioga Road, stopping at Tuolomne Meadows visitor center, swimming in Tenaya Lake, and hiking up to Lukens Lake. Before leaving the park, we hiked to a grove of Sequoias, which are mindblowingly big, and Nikki experienced another edema and got her vitals checked by a nice ranger.
Tioga Road and Olmstead Point
Tuolomne Meadows and Lembert Dome
Tenaya Lake and Lukens Lake
Tuolomne Grove of Giant Sequoias
Saturday
We planned an epic adventure for Saturday. We were up and out of the Air BnB by 6am, despite a stomach bug that forced me to drink a full bottle of Pepto Bismol and visit every bathroom between the house and Yosemite Lodge. At the lodge, we caught an early bus to Glacier Point, which is visible right above the lodge, but takes 90 minutes access by bus. Glacier Point has the most amazing views you can imagine, but they’re also terrifying. From the overlook, it’s 3200 feet back down to the valley floor, and much of that is a sheer cliff. Instead of getting back on the bus, we planned to hike back to the valley floor, dropping 3200 feet over about 9 miles. As we started down the trail, the weather was perfect. Grouse were drumming. And I found a mule deer femur in the brush. We didn’t count on dropping almost a thousand feet in the first two miles, then gaining most of that back in the next two miles. By the time we got to the top of Nevada Falls, we were already exhausted and low on water. Luckily, I had a little Sawyer water filter in my pack that saved the day. Unfortunately, we still had five miles of hiking ahead, and that included bypassing Nevada Falls and Vernal falls on narrow paths where one misplaced step meant certain death. We got it done, though, and while we were waiting for a shuttle bus back to our car we saw the saddest bear in the world. By the time we left the park it was dark, so we stopped briefly for some stargazing on the way back to the house, then we ate food and drank cold beer and went to bed.
Sunday
After the previous day’s adventure, we felt justified in getting a slow start on Sunday. By the time we got into Yosemite Valley, it was mobbed with fellow tourists, but we barely noticed. Except for the time we almost got in a fistfight with a driver who threatened to run us over while he was driving on the sidewalk. Other than that, we just ignored the crowds. We started by walking to the base of Bridalveil Falls, then taking some pictures of El Capitan, then sampling some spring water from the most crystal clear pool you can imagine. We parked at the lodge again to get some pictures of Yosemite Falls from below, and a bobcat ran across the trail near us. After eating lunch at the main visitor center, we saw the stunning “tunnel view,” then waded in the Merced River to cool off, snapped some pictures of Bridalveil Falls, and started making our way back to San Francisco.
Thanks! Beautiful photos and the text was a bonus that was appreciated.