Yosemite 7.15.11 - 7.18.11 - None of us having ever been to Yosemite, we did not know what to expect from the most-visited of the National Parks with over 6 million visitors per year. Making reservations was our first indicator as Mugsy, Eric, Alexander and Jordan had all been logged in exactly 4 months to the minute ahead of our date, only to be ousted by others, equally as adventurous and somehow quicker on the clicker. This, however, proved to have its merits as we camped "just" 5 miles on a rigorous trek up Evergreen Rd outside the Northwestern Yosemite NP entrance.
Our first night following our drive from Napa, being waylayed by Costco pizza for awhile, was spent settling in and having Chipotle Lime Dutch Oven Chicken for dinner. Our campsite was generously wooded, albeit in bear country requiring clean packup at night again. The next morning rewarded us with a tortuous 45 minute drive into the Yosemite Valley complete with our first breathtaking view of Half Dome as we rounded one of the sharp turns. Soon, we came upon Bridal Veil Falls, careening over the granite cliffs, off to our right as we entered the Valley. El Capitan, a sheer 3500' wall welcomed us into the Valley floor as we continued on to Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls. The cascading water tumbled as if in slow motion, cartwheeling over the rim from an unseen source. Majestic and peaceful, it fell, bringing us a vista of cool mist in a timeless space. Kendall, however, seemed to have a different initial impression saying, "We came all this way just to look at a bunch of rock and a couple of waterfalls!" :) She did change her opinion over the next few days after refeulling her chocolate tank, thinking the falls and the cliffs were quite beautiful and dramatic.
We picnicked near the Awana Hotel...only $400/night!...and strolled the grounds, nibbled chocolate truffles from the Sweet Shop and enjoyed the exquisite stained glass and stone structure with dramatic backdrops of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls. Bobby and Clair were surprised the cashier at the Sweet Shop had lived in Lynchburg, VA from the 70s-90s and took French from Clair's old professor, Dr. White at Lynchburg College. Dinner was Tropical Pork, Dutch Oven-style, preceded by a rousing game of Bananagrams. Kendall managed to get stuck in the lovely vault toilet - poor kiddo! and was rescued by a random nearby camper.
The following day was started off with a hearty Grandpa breakfast of sausage and eggs and plenty of coffee. We headed back down into the Valley and took an incredibly inspirational walk to the Lower Yosemite Falls. We continued along the Mirror Lake trail, picnicked again near the Awana Hotel, ambled through the meadow and "Housekeeping Camp," shuttled to the Mirror Lake trailhead and made our way on up. Kendall's line drawing and Andrew's photo of Half-Dome reflected the spirit of the venture into this majestic vista. Dinner was enchanting at the Evergreen Lodge (Who would EVER think of putting a lodge there?!) out on the patio and preceeded by "sneaky" showers. :)
We headed south the last day in Yellowstone, toward Wawana, glimpsed the white clapboard old hotel and wiggled our way into our Junior Ranger Badges from Ranger A. Barta. We had to bypass the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias as it was not accessible from our caravan. Ever onward we rolled down to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks...."You can't get there from here!" This seemed to be the prevailing sentiment as we drove west to go east.
7.18.11-7.20.11 - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks - After quite a treacherously windy road, we arrived first to Kings Canyon to Grant Grove (not to be confused with Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone!). Grant Grove houses one of the groves of Giant Sequoias that only grow in the Sierra Nevada in a narrow srip in California. The Twin Sisters, Lincoln and Grant are a few of the phenomenal specimens in this grove that greeted us after a long trek up the mountain. Their sturdy bases rise defiantly to stubbly dentate vegetation, looking like a shrubbery atop a plateau of a reddened clay tower. Our campsite at Dorst Campground was generously wooded and was a welcome respite. Being still in bear country, we were on our guard. Our campground had had over 60 episodes the season before, with bears even jumping INTO truck cabs, so we were a little edgy. Our dinner that first night of vegetable, three cheese frittata a la Dutch Oven and Grammy salad helped to calm the edgy nerves and the only bear we saw that night was the Grandpa Bear!
A lazy second morning with a big Grandpa breakfast had us headed down 15 minutes to Lodgepole for hot showers and plenty of coffee. We meandered down to the Big Tree Museum and 1 mile meadow/Big Tree walk. We encountered a young cinnamon brown bear lounging and eating in the meadow! We cautiously continued the loop and have photographic proof to answer the rhetorical question, "Does a bear poop in the woods?" Perhaps, if we had been 5 minutes sooner on our jaunt we would have crossed paths with the larger momma bear also roaming in the area! A quick retreat to the vehicles and back up to General Sherman Tree walk and we found out quickly, what goes down must go back up ie. walk back up from the tree! An early retreat back to camp to regroup, eat soup, get the scoop...a rousing campfire to use up a lot of remaining firewood, many s'mores and new camp friends, horseshoes, pingpong and eventually sleep was found by all! Everyone agreed the "Scamp" camper was definitely a cutey!!
7.20.11 Mojave Desert - HOT - We amazingly woke up and headed out 15 minutes ahead of ETD of 7:30 am! (WOW!) and down, down, down, out of the cool mountain climate and into the desert! We are currently headed to Kingman, AZ on Route 40 - only 2954 miles to Wilmington, NC from here the sign says where Route 40 started! We are parallelling Historic Route 66 and having a heated good time! The temp in Rubio is 110 w/no ac for much of it to not overheat the engine...but hanging in all the same. A long driving day today of 9-10 hours leaves plenty of time for napping, movies, reading and catching up on journals and blogs. On the homestretch! :) Hot showers and a HOTEL tonight! That is, if they will let us in smelling the way we do :)
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