Yosemite

We made our way to Yosemite Valley via the Tioga Pass Entrance. We were enjoying the view and the drive and then the rude shock… What?! A tunnel that’s only 10’4 at the curb? In all our research we have not come across any information of low-clearance tunnels along the Tioga Pass. So we stopped and waited for traffic on the other side to clear and then drove down the middle with the 4-way flashers. That was definitely not planned and I found it quite stressful.

When had a “fun” time finding our campground as the roads have changed, the GPS map was not up to date and signage wasn’t very good. In addition, traffic congestion was quite crazy and there were people everywhere, you can imagine Jeff didn’t have a lot of fun towing the 5th wheel under these conditions. We finally made our way to the campground – and it was a nice spot with a view of Half Dome. After lunch, we went to the Visitor Center to pick up Ashleigh. She flew to Fresno and then got on the bus to Yosemite to join us for a week. The pick up was an adventure in itself as we circled around for 30mins trying to find a place to park. Traffic congestion hasn’t been that bad since then, we think it’s just a Saturday thing.

We did a few hikes while at Yosemite. We hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. The hike to Upper Yosemite Falls was only 11.6km but with an elevation gain of 2700ft it took us 5 hours to complete. On another day, we hiked to two other waterfalls – Vernal Falls at 1000ft and Nevada Falls at 2000ft. Before we reached the top of Vernal Falls we had to climb over 600 steps on a steep granite stairway. The most enjoyable part of it was getting some cool relief from the waterfall spray and seeing the waterfall close.

Yosemite is also known for it’s giant Sequoia trees that are as old as 3000 years old. Unfortunately for us, Mariposa Grove which the biggest tree grove is closed for restoration this summer, we had to make do with the other two groves in Yosemite. Seeing the giant sequoia in one thing, but realizing that those trees have been around before the Roman Coliseum, before Angkor Wat, before the Great Wall of China really does place it into perspective how old the trees are.

To see Yosemite valley from a high vantage point, we drove to Glacier Point. We had a clear view of Half Dome and the whole valley but behind us was a large plume of smoke in the distance – there was a wild fire close by that has been burning for days.

The day after our visit to Glacier Point, the road leading up to the summit was closed, probably due to the wild fire. We were glad that we did not miss the opportunity to go up to Glacier Point where many iconic Yosemite photos have been taken from.

With the wild fire not too far away, we have seen ash from the fire all throughout the park – along the trails, at our campsite, on the truck etc. It was quite bad a couple days ago when the fire was 44% contained and we could even smell smoke from our campground.

We’re off to Lake Tahoe to spend 2 days. We’re not too sure what we do or see there…