Yosemite National Park, I-5 Northbound California and Oregon
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We woke up to another snow fall. We weren’t really expecting that. There was about half an inch or so on the truck as we packed up. We got ready as fast as possible, had Pop Tarts in the car and headed for Yosemite. Yosemite was sort of a victory lap for us. A bonus trip really. We hoped that the pass would be open.
The Tioga Pass into Yosemite is 9970 feet. With the snow still falling we weren’t sure if it would be open. If not, we were going to have to head to Reno and try to cross on Interstate 80 through the Donner Pass.
Turns out the road was open, although there was some snow on it, and the snow continued to fall as we went up. The entrance to Yosemite is right at the pass. As we entered the park we passed the highest point on our trip. We had changed elevation over 10,000 feet in less than 24 hours.
The road from the entrance to Yosemite Valley where all the “good” stuff is, is about 45 miles. Most of the scenery was pine trees with occasional granite canyons. Yosemite Valley was formed by glacier activity awhile back. The glacier carved away the soft rock leaving only the hard granite parts behind. The glacier was a few thousand feet thick. That’s why Yosemite has steep granite canyon walls a thousand feet high.
As we reached the junction for the road into the valley, we passed a sign for the Toulumne Grove, a stand of 20 or so Sequoia trees. It was about a mile walk to the grove so we took it. Sequoia, along with Redwoods and Bristlecone Pines make up what we think of as Redwood trees. Bristlecone Pines are the oldest living things, Redwoods are the tallest, and Sequoia are the most massive. Everybody gets to be best at something. Anyway, these suckers are big. They’re a couple of hundred feet tall and maybe 50 feet around at the base. Les and I stretched out our arms and together we weren’t a quarter of the way around.
We looked at the trees for awhile, including one or two that had fallen down. You should see the root structures on these guys. Pretty amazing. Some of the branches were bigger than nearby trees.
From there we headed into the valley. First stop was Bridal Veil Falls. This is one of at least 3 or 4 waterfalls that fall into the valley from the top. It’s many hundreds of feet high. I’m not sure how tall. There was a fair amount of water coming down but the distance is so long that it turned to mist before it hit the bottom. The wind was so strong that as the water came over the edge, it was blown up and out. It had the weird affect of looking like it was being shot out over the edge from a big hose.
The water hits the ground about 100 feet from where the path to the viewpoint ends. At the end of the path is a huge pile of rocks that have fallen off the canyon walls that the water ripples down through in little waterfalls. There are signs that say how the rocks are slippery and dangerous and people have been hurt or killed, so of course we (and 50 other people) decided to climb out over them and see if we could get closer.
Sure enough, the rocks were pretty slick, even when they were dry. They must get smoothed by the water running over them when there’s more of it. Considering this was October and the end of the dry season, there was a fair amount of water. I imagine in the spring there’s significantly more.
Most people stopped at the bottom of the cliffs but Les and I wanted to go up to where the main waterfall landed which was probably 60 feet higher, so we climbed up the hill being very careful where we stepped so we didn’t go crashing to our deaths. I was committed to getting to the top but most of the way I was wondering how we were going to get down.
It turns out there is a small pool at the base of the waterfall. We were one of the few people there that day to see it and I got the pleasure of telling someone at the bottom, ya know, there’s a pool up there at the top. If you climb up those rocks there you can see it. It’s not for the faint hearted though (smug look). I’m sure Columbus was equally annoying when he got back from the New World. Ya know, there’s a big continent out there if you have the guts to sail to it…
Getting down turned out to be easier than up. Going up, you’d be tempted to look up at the waterfall while you were climbing. Bad idea since you have to tilt you’re head way back which tends to cause you to start falling over backwards. Coming down you stay more focused on the immediate problem at hand which is finding a place to put your foot.
It was early afternoon by now so we got out the cook stove and made some soup in the picnic area in the parking lot. Then headed further into the valley. We stopped to look at El Capitan, then headed down the road for a look at Half Dome. If you’re not impressed with massive granite cliffs it wouldn’t do anything for you. Otherwise, you’d be pretty amazed.
We headed back out of the valley, passing El Capitan again. There were a bunch of people standing along the side of the road looking at it with binoculars. We recognized this from previous experience as a sure sign of climbers. So we stopped for a look. There was a climber, but he was sure hard to find. El Capitan is massive. You couldn’t even make out the guy with the naked eye. Once you saw him with binoculars, you could see the little black dot that was him without them but once you looked away he was hard to spot again. He was maybe a little less than halfway up. I don’t know what time he started but he had about 4 hours of daylight left before he was going to be spending the night up there. El Capitan is one big rock.
It was getting pretty late in the day for us too. We need to drive to Portland and it’s a 15 hour drive or so from here. But as is generally the case on our travels, we decided, when we are going to be here again and see this stuff. And really, what’s the difference between arriving home at 4 am. and 6 am. We’d already overstayed our time so what’s a few more hours.
So, we headed up to Glacier Point. Glacier Point provides a commanding view of Yosemite Valley, Yellowstone Falls, Vernal Falls, and Nevada Falls as well as the valley floor. It’s an incredible sight. I suspect it would be even more incredible at sunset or better yet, on a night with a full moon.
It was freezing up there though. Shades of Wyoming. We broke out the heavy coats which had migrated to the bottom of the pile. Out on the point, past the protective railings was a rock ledge jutting out over the valley. It was probably a 2000 foot drop below it. We decided we needed a picture of Les standing on it. I get sweaty palms just typing this. My knees got weak just considering the possibility of going out there myself. But, Les just walked right out to the oohs and aahs of the crowd. I got a couple of pictures which I hope will give at least a hint of where he was standing.
The last place to see was the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias. It was 20 miles south of where we were and north was where we were headed. But how many times do you get to see the oldest living thing on earth? Grizzly Giant is a 2700 year old tree. And it looks it too. There are branches on this tree 7 feet in diameter. The base is easily 40 feet around. It looks old and grizzled too. So would you if you were 2700 years old I suppose. I wonder if the grandkids ever write. To give you some context, 2700 years ago is the beginning of recorded history in western civilization. It’s 800 B.C. This is an old tree.
On the way there we passed 20 or 30 “youngsters”. The trees are very impressive. They stand in among other trees including some of the biggest Ponderosa Pine I’ve ever seen. But even these seem small in comparison. “Regular” sized trees seemed puny.
It was now 6:30 and definitely time to hit the road. Besides, it was dark and there was nothing left to see. We decided it would be better to leave via the south entrance and try to get to the freeway as quickly as possible rather than navigate back north through the park. The fastest way appeared to be through some side roads through Oakhurst, Raymond and Le Grande. As always, the roads looked straight on the map. Not so in real life. I think we need to have a word with the Rand McNally people. They seem to take a lot of poetic license with the roads on the map that are the small black line roads.
The road twisted and turned through the mountains. We couldn’t really go more than 30 mph or so. We finally found Raymond, then headed for Chowchilla, the town on the freeway. We were behind a car full of old ladies going about 20 when we finally saw a passing lane. We zoomed up to 50 or so to pass, then discovered the passing lane was about 100 yards long, followed by a 10 mph turn. 10 mph! That’s not a turn. That’s an intersection. They should put up a stop sign and change the name of the road on the left to something else.
We managed to make the turn, tires squealing, then found two or three more of these 10 mph suckers as the road meandered through the fields and backyards of various people. Finally, we reached the freeway and the final turn for home.
As I write this it’s 9:45 and we’re in Modesto. That’s about 12 hours or more from Portland. The truck has to be back at 1 pm. tomorrow and I promised Marion and Daniel I’d be home before noon so it’s going to be a long night.
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