Nov 26-30
We left the city of Napa on Thursday morning, the US Thanksgiving Day, heading up to much higher grounds. The plan for the next 4 nights was to drive up into the Sierra Nevada mountain range and camp in Groveland for 2 nights then a short drive into Yosemite National Park for 2 nights during the US Thanksgiving weekend. We were only spending 2 nights in Yosemite as we were “dry” camping. No electrical or water services. We had our holding tank and generator, but were still somewhat limited.
The Groveland park was about 120 miles from Napa and drive was good until the last 20 miles or so as we met the elevation. Going around 12 miles of that at about 15-20 mph so it was a long and winding road to 3,000’. Luckily we were greeted with warm and dry weather that day and on their Black Friday. When you can wear shorts and T-shirts and blog and play board games outside, all is good!
When we arrived around 2 pm the park was not full, but the ones that were there all had their deep fryers out for cooking their turkeys. We didn’t partake in those festivities. That night, at 3,000’ it cooled down fairly well, so we left the camp fire until the next afternoon. Many campers left during the day on Black Friday, for the day, so it was real quiet in the park which suited us fine.
Saturday morning we were up and out early heading to one of the grand daddies of National Parks. We had heard of snow expected at elevations above 6,000’ but our camp in Yosemite Village is at around 4,000’ so we thought we wouldn’t see any. That wasn’t the case! What we didn’t know is that we had to climb from 3,000’ to over 6,000’ that morning and as we did, guess what – big snow flurries. Shortly after this we began our descent to around 4,000’ which is where the Yosemite Village is located amongst the valley floor, surrounded by monster mountains.
Needless to say once on our way and when we arrived, the “shutterbug” was in engaged. There is too much to talk about covering the next 2 days, but I will try to surmise the visit. Needless to say, everywhere we turned, awesome sites abounded. Once we settled in on the early Saturday afternoon, the bikes were out so we could orientate ourselves around the village. We headed off to see Mirror Lake and Halfdome. Mirror Lake is a dry lake until winter snow and spring runoff fill it up, so that day we walked the lake bottom. It was basically a big beach. For those that know the clothing line “The North Face”, the Halfdome in the logo was inspired from here. See pics.
We did some more roaming around that afternoon then headed back to camp for a fire to warm us up. Temps at night went down to the high 30’s so we were glad to be high and dry and warmer in the RV. The next day we had booked a 2 hr bus tour to show us all the sites on the “valley floor” beginning at 10 am. It was very informative. One item I’ll share here is that these sheer rock faces are a Mecca for rock climbers world wide. One rock face is called El Capitan. There are a couple of pictures below, one were you will see a small red highlight with a dot above it. Zoom the picture if you can and you will see a climbing platform suspended by ropes were climbers will sleep during the night – at around 1,500’ elevation. El Capitan is 3,000’ in height and the tour guide said the average time to climb it is between 2-7 days. Some have set records though at under a day. Looking at the sheer size of the rock face and this little speck is incredible. Try to zoom the pic and you will see the platform/tent and several ropes nearby.
There was lots of wild life around, mainly deer but bears were prevalent in the area, so any tenter’s had to keep all food products, coolers, etc. in a bear box which you will see in the picture of us by the campfire.
I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story on our exciting time in Yosemite National Park.
On Monday we head off to much lower elevation heading south to Bakersfield to relax for a week – at one site! That will be a first and we are looking forward to it as we have exceeded 5,000 miles (8,000km) so far. I estimate another 6,000 miles for the next 5 months, so obviously it will be at a much slower pace.
Until then, we’ll be on the perch for the next week.
Climbing the Sierra Nevada’s around 3,000′
US Turkey Day! Yosemite Pines – Groveland (warm and dry)
Saturday on the way to Yosemite – vegetation disappearing at 6,000′
First glimpse of Yosemite’s awesome views
On the “edge”
Small tree’s with deep burgundy trunks and bright green leaves – what are they??
Some of the steel grey granite that almost looks fake
winding our way to Yosemite
Dry camping in Yosemite NP
Real or fake?
Mirror Lake – at the base of Halfdome. It’s dry until the first snow and the spring run off
Raven’s – huge birds and smart. They also make several different sounds, one which sounds like a turkey
A ponderosa pine and our bikes
Lower Yosemite Falls
Buck!
El Capitan – 3,000 of sheer rock face straight up
The climber’s rest and sleeping pod – at 1,500′ suspended by ropes
Look for the dot to the middle left, right above the red line I inserted – climbers rest spot suspended by ropes
A view in Yosemite Valley and all the different mountains within it
Halfdome – the “North Face” emblem
The North Face – Half dome logo and it’s inspiration behind me
Checking out the bark on a “baby” Sequoia tree – very thick and spongy bark
Upper Yosemite Falls
Jazz and me out for a walk
Happy Isle Bridge
Campfire – rain was sprinkling thus the umbrella’s. Note the bearbox in the background for tenter’s to keep their foo/coolers inj.
Heading south to the San Joaquin Valley
I hope you have enjoyed a restful week, you certainly deserve it. You have covered a lot of territory in a short time, and I have certainly enjoyed it too.