Back from Yosemite & other places, with pics!

[Mike Magee]

I’m back from my 20 day road trip to Yosemite, with stops along the way, and wow did I take a lot of pictures! Settle back in your chair and we’ll relive the journey together.

Departing on July 6, after the usual dull, hot drive through the plains of western OK, my first night was spent at the Clayton NM KOA. I have been there before. Happily, it was cool enough for me to open the windows for the night (not always true).

From there I headed over the pass at Raton and into Colorado. At midafternoon I was at my next destination, Valley View Hot Springs. Located north of Alamosa, this place has several small soaking pools in the woods (mostly 95*-100* at this time of year) as well as a regular swimming pool (90*). Be warned, though, that most of the campsites are highly un-level. And expect to see very few swimsuits (it’s clothing optional), which is nice if you hate the feel of soaking-wet fabric when you climb out. There were many patrons of both sexes and of about my own age (mid-50s) happily soaking and swimming, as was I. The workout in the swimming pool’s warm mineral water seemed to help my shoulder, which had been bothering me lately.

[Mike Magee]

The next morning, after a final soak and swim, it was time to head toward the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Happily, I chose on the spur of the moment to travel CO 114 instead of US 50. While filling up with gas in Saguache, a passing motorist informed me that US 50 had been, and still was, blocked for hours by an overturned tractor-trailer rig. My drive was scenic and uneventful, and I spent a couple of hours stopping at turnouts along the south side of the Black Canyon for pictures. (The water photo was taken near Sapinero.)







Returning to the highway, I made my way through Grand Junction and got a campsite at the James M. Robb state park in Fruita. I’d thought to stay in the Colorado National Monument’s Saddlehorn CG, but it was later than I’d expected, and once I saw the cliffs I didn’t relish towing the trailer all the way up there and through the tunnel. Plus I spotted a BBQ restaurant and decided to eat dinner in Fruita (the stomach usually wins these decisions). The pulled pork was awfully saucy to me, but they traded it for some ribs which were excellent. After dinner I drove the north half of the Monument for some sunset photos.

[Mike Magee]

Here are a couple more evening photos from Colorado National Monument.





More to follow........

[Mike Magee]

In the morning (day 4) I drove through the entire Monument and took more pictures.



Then it was time for a dash through Utah. Again on the spur of the moment, I decided to nix the Great Basin. Instead I turned south a bit, stayed the night at an rv park in Cedar City UT, then before it got too hot the next morning (day 5) I was at Nevada’s Cathedral Gorge State Park for some sightseeing. Cathedral Gorge, I gather, was formed when volcanos spewed a deep layer of ash on the land, then a bunch of it got washed into a lake, then the lake disappeared and a river cut a deep channel through the (relatively) hardened, deeply piled ash.









In addition to the wide main channel, water has sculpted many smaller channels. Some of them are like narrow little slot canyons that go back a hundred or a few hundred feet, usually culminating in dead ends. Here you can see the view at the end of a slot, looking straight up.

[Mike Magee]

By the end of day 5, I had reached the eastern Sierra Mountains and found a campsite in the June Lake loop at Reversed Creek NF CG. It surprised me to see how busy the east Sierra CG’s were, even mid-week. I got the last campsite at Reversed Creek, after finding 2 other CG’s to be full.

Next morning seemed like a good time to visit the Devil’s Postpile Nat’l Monument. Fortunately the Devil did not seem to be at the Postpile while I was there. One must park in the concession area, perhaps 3/4 mile from the park entrance, and ride a bus (fee). I bought a bus ticket to cover the return ride, but decided to ride my bicycle to the Postpile. The first 3/4 mile entails an elevation gain (which was difficult for me) from 8900 to perhaps 9200 at the rangers’ entrance, then it’s a dramatic drop to 7700 feet over the course of perhaps 5 or 6 miles to the main lot. As you can imagine, I utilized my brakes repeatedly to avoid coasting at 30, 40, or even 50 mph! 25 is plenty fast for me!



Once there, the actual Postpile is a fairly level 4/10 mile walk.



I walked past the formation (smaller than I’d imagined from photos I’d seen) and hiked the trail up over the top, too.





Then I hiked the 1.5 mile (each way) trail to Minaret Falls. Whew, enough exercise for a while!







I also drove south almost to Bishop, then headed west up a canyon to the end of the road. Even outside Yosemite, the mountains are pretty.

[cpaharley2008]

cool pictures, thanks

[Mike Magee]

Thank you. Whew, I had forgotten how long it takes to resize the photos and stuff. A little at a time, I'll get there.

After the second night at Reversed Creek, it was time (day 6) to head into Yosemite NP for my two nights’ reservations in the valley. These two campsites, one in North Pines and the second in Lower Pines, were secured just one to two weeks before departure.

North Pines site 401 appeared on the map to have a large open space on it’s right side. Unfortunately that map was misleading; it turns out there’s a restroom in that open space. Oh well, it was nice enough. The large trees block much of the view of granite, but it still was pleasant and woodsy. I got the bike out and rode around the valley floor 3 times during my valley stay, and I must say that biking is far and away the best method to enjoy the scenery and the forest scents without much worry about the traffic. The valley is pretty level ground, so bicycling is much faster and far less tiring than walking the same ground.



The Ahwahnee Bridge is an especially picturesque stone structure.





There was time during the afternoon for a ride to Mirror Lake. Many kids were enjoying it there.

[Mike Magee]

I also took an evening walk to the Ahwahnee Hotel and took some pictures of it.

[Mike Magee]

Day 8: I got an early start on the Vernal/Nevada Falls trail, thinking if I felt really strong I might make it to the top of Nevada Falls. Ha! The trail almost immediately becomes a very steep uphill climb. By the time I got halfway up the stone steps at Vernal Falls and the mist started hitting me, my legs said they’d had enough and I turned back.



Returning very tired to the trailhead, I didn’t have long to wait before it was noon and time to move into Lower Pines site 38. Site 38 turned out to be the best campsite in the entire valley! Check out the view. It felt great to lounge around the campsite and enjoy the perfect view of Half Dome for the rest of the day.





The previous day I’d seen a blue egg in North Pines, but I never went over to it. However, when turning into Lower Pines this day I had witnessed the blue egg moving into Upper Pines. So in the evening I rode my bike over there a couple of times, wanting to meet the owner. It turned out to be a Perris, and the family had it out for the first time. The owner was a nice lady who said she was a member here, but I thought she said her moniker was something like “Susie I” and I haven’t been able to find her on FGRV. But anyway it was great to meet the folks and to tour her Perris. She had found some interlocking foam pieces for the floor, and I swear they looked just like old barn wood... very cool! The Perris may have been previously used as a vending trailer, because it had Budweiser stickers all over it.

[Mike Magee]

Sunday, day 9, marked the end of my valley stay. I headed up the road to Yosemite’s Bridalveil Creek CG, a first-come CG at 7000 feet not far from Glacier Point. Glacier Point is really beautiful and I wanted to spend more time up there (nearly 8000 feet, with a view straight down into the valley 4000 feet below).



So I settled in at Bridalveil CG for a total of 6 nights. (Here’s the campsite; you can just see my solar panel at far right, behind the Toyota.)



This allowed a leisurely, relaxing pace. I could sit around the campsite and read (or pester the neighbors) , or when I got the urge I could drive someplace else for a while. This meant frequent, repeated 15-minute drives to Glacier Point where I could buy an ice cream and ponder the majestic granite peaks arrayed before me.

[cpaharley2008]

Unbelievable pictures, WOW..........

[francene]

Beautiful pictures; thanks for sharing your trip!

Fran
Compact II 1974

[LeonardS]

Thank you for sharing. I've been to Yosemite many times and still these pictures fill me with awe.

[Mike Magee]

Thank you. I saw several other Scamps and a Casita around the park, plus on the way out of the valley I spotted a Trillium (green, as I recall) being towed by a jalopy... perhaps a Model T or Model A Ford, something like that. If anyone knows who that was, please chime in. It was a really cool looking rig.

On Monday I took a drive south to the Mariposa Grove of giant redwoods.







And then I headed out of the park to see the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway. Unfortunately, they should have named it the Snaky Byway, because the road twists and coils worse than a snake! Every hundred yards or so was another tight, 25 mph curve. I did get a couple of nice pictures....





....but by the time I was halfway along the byway I’d had enough and took a shortcut on the Grizzly Road. The nice lady at the Oakhurst visitor center told me that this was a good, paved road but narrow: only one lane, with occasional wide spots in case two cars met, for about 18 miles. However, about 3/4 mile from the end, I got a flat tire and had to put on the spare! So I hurried back to Oakhurst to get the flat repaired. Arriving after 5 p.m, I found two tire stores that had just closed. One of them told me about a third store, which I reached right at their closing time of 5:30. The kind folks at Sullivan’s agreed to stay late and fix me up. The Firestone tire turned out to be unrepairable and an exact replacement was not available on site or even in their supplier warehouse, so I ended up buying 4 new Cooper tires... reasonably priced and only 3 months sooner than I’d planned.

[Mike Magee]

I almost forgot, when I came into the park on the Tioga Road, I stopped at Tenaya Lake for a picnic lunch. This is a nice spot, and it tends to get crowed around lunchtime.

[Mike Magee]

Tuesday (day 10) seemed like a good day to see Hetch Hetchy. Some folks claim it’s just as beautiful as the main Valley, but other than the lovely deep blue reservoir I felt let down. It just didn’t have that majestic feel without such distinctive formations as El Capitan and Half Dome.



I stopped at Bridalveil Fall on the way back.

[Mike Magee]

Wednesday morning was a short hike (about 2.5 miles round trip) to the top of Sentinel Dome for a wonderful 360* view of the park. How do you like my subdued shirt?



A deer accompanied the hikers partway up the dome... it was browsing on the plants and seemed mostly unconcerned about the photo-snapping critters circling it like a swarm of deer flies. Thank you, dear deer.



Then on up the road 5 more minutes to Glacier Point to check in with my wife by phone. The Point was a great place to pick up a cell signal from the valley floor below; my campsite at Bridalveil had no reception.

This tree grows alongside the Glacier Point Road. I believe a ranger told me that the bright green stuff is called Wolf Lichen, and that it's non-parasitic but it does grow on a couple types of trees around that area. It really is this bright a shade of green; I haven't enhanced it.



Thursday (day 12) was a lazy day around the campsite, other than a drive back into the valley for some groceries and (of course) an evening drive back to Glacier Point.



This evening I lingered till dark, then shined my Fenix TK70 flashlight down at the campgrounds 4000 feet below; a half dozen campers in the valley responded with their own powerful lights (one idiot had an annoying and dangerous green laser pointed at us from down there, though). Overall it was pretty fun to be “communicating” by flashlight with people almost a mile away.... straight down!

[Mike Magee]

Friday also was spent relaxing at Bridalveil, but in the evening I went for a hike to Taft Point. The trailhead is the same as Sentinel Dome, and the hike is of similar distance.



While at the point I met a group of nice young people who were in the park to attend a Bible conference. One of them, Rebecca, graciously took some photos of me. I think Rebecca looks better; what do you think?

[Mike Magee]

By day 14 I’d been in Yosemite for over a week, and I was feeling the itch to move on. So I made my way out of the park by the same route I’d entered... the Tioga Road.



Of course, being a Saturday, finding a site in an established CG would be like pulling teeth. So I made my way east and past Mono Lake, to a place I’d spotted on the way in: Sagehen Meadow. This is an undeveloped camping area on NF land, about 2.5 miles off Hwy 120 on a dusty dirt road and then 1/4 mile back on a two-track. I stayed here for 2 nights. No one else was around. I knew there was a house ½ mile away, but otherwise I detected no signs of civilization until the afternoon following my arrival when I heard a pair of dirt bikes go by on the dusty road.



Finally, Monday rolled around and it was time to head toward Las Vegas for a business conference the company had scheduled. This vacation was planned around the conference, so I can deduct some of the mileage as a business expense. I rolled into the Monte Carlo Hotel around 4 p.m., and the company had a hotel room for my next two nights. (Show girls not included.)



After the meeting I decided to skip the north rim of Grand Canyon and simply hightail it for home. I was feeling ‘camped out’ and ready to be home again. Besides, it’s time to start gearing up for the new season of work; I have to place ads, hire workers, compile school calendars, and other stuff. Oh, and the lawn desperately needed to be mowed!

[cpaharley2008]

What a nice trip....