Our trip spans a period of 42 days, so at Day 21, I considered us on our way home. It doesn’t seem like there is very much time left, but we are also getting pretty tired. The time change coupled with the heat is wearing us out. We were rather dismayed with the cold and rain for the first 3 weeks, but I realize now that was probably better than heat. We are definitely in the desert now. It is so hot and dry in the afternoon, but freezing cold at night.
Today was a mixed bag. Part of it was fantastic and part was blah and time consuming. Mike planned it last night because I never really got around to planning Yosemite in detail when we were at home. First off, he chose to take us to another Sequoia patch accessed by a trail. We love the big trees, so we couldn’t really go wrong, except we do plan to go to Sequoia National Park, so it isn’t a must do at Yosemite. I also wanted to make sure we got some exercise in each day, and this was about the last short-ish trail left on the map. Most of Yosemite’s trails are day hikes or extremely rugged….as in “bring climbing equipment.” We were going where there were less people, which is good, but it was bad we went there with very little gas in the tank because it was so far. Mike meant to find something cheaper than the 5.00 gas right outside the park, but forgot to take time to do it. Probably because……
Even though we tried to get an early start today, I was having trouble uploading pictures onto the blog last night and this morning, so once I got them loaded, I didn’t want to lose them, but the program wasn’t responding properly, so we left late with the blog still undone, which was frustrating.
I asked the family if anyone had read what the word Yosemite means. Mike said he thought it meant: You's might want to take a picture here. Or maybe: You's might like these waterfalls.
Arched Entrance To Yosemite:
Mike or John Muir?
The hike was similar to yesterday’s but a little longer and a little more rugged. Translated to: Fast going down……Killer coming back up. I mean really, really killer coming back up! Did I mention that it was killer coming back up? Not for the kids…..just for the parents. Probably all trails leading to Sequoias are down then back up because the Sequoias thrive on foggy, cool, moist air. So if there is a grove nearby, it will probably be something you have to go down into a low bottom land so see.
 |
| At the Trail Head - Going Down to the Grove |
 |
| Looking Up! |
 |
| Natalie Flying like a Fairy! |
 |
 |
| Hidden Cabin |
Here is a sad thing. When we were going down and got to the last mile, there was this man sitting by the gate over the trail with some kind of brace on his leg. He told us he tried but couldn’t make it down but really, really wanted to see the trees, so could we email him some pictures? How sad! Especially because you really can’t take pictures of the trees and really see what they look, feel, and smell like in real life. Yes, smell…..They smell like a cedar closet. And the way they dominate the forest around them, is just ethereal. It really feels like a magical place.
Then we had an enchanted little lunch at a table on a high hill under some pine trees. Mike quizzed the child with an encyclopedia mind about how gymnosperm trees reproduce with those hu-mong-go, huge cones.
The rest of the day was kind of flat…..We drove to Hetch Hetchy, which it the farthest part of the park. It was supposed to be a scenic drive to the huge reservoir that keeps all of San Francisco in water. The drive was long and not very scenic. There is something going on out West with these little bugs that are killing forests. So the trees are dead and are being chopped down and burned. Not very scenic. I took a few pictures. We could have walked the reservoir, but it was so hot at that time of the day. Plus we were still tired from the Sequoia hike, so we passed.
 |
| Lupines |
 |
| Hetch Hetchy Reservoir |
 |
| Waterfall on the Reservoir |
Natalie spotted this rainbow in the clouds and snapped a picture from the car window.
Then Mike just left the park because he didn’t know if we had enough gas to get back to the campground. Additionally, he thought it was 8:00 PM, so just started driving back to the campground. Ummm…..it was only 5:00, but we were tired soooooo……I hope we can see everything that is left at this park tomorrow!
I put the rice onto boil tonight for dinner and sat down to work on the blog. We were starving hungry, so after a half hour and the water still wasn’t boiling, I realized the burners weren’t plugged into the outlet. Yay.
Up Next: Last Day at Yosemite! Hopefully there will be some great breathtaking photos!
No comments:
Post a Comment