National Park Tour - Yosemite - Thursday 5/24/07

I got a late start with last minute packing and grocery shopping. I got up at 4:30 intending to be on the road as the sun rose at 6, but didn’t end up leaving town until 7.

I stopped at the Kings Beach post office in Tahoe to mail thank you cards to Matson and Isom for the interview and office tour they gave me the week before and mail my last-minute employment paperwork to Kohls. Now I was officially on vacation.

I didn’t stop again until the Yosemite fee station at the top of Tioga Pass. I had it in my brain that all of the National Parks accept credit/debit cards for fees since they do in Death Valley, and intended to bring my checkbook just in case. Unfortunately the checkbook didn’t make it onto a checklist; because it turned out to be the only thing I forgot and actually needed for the trip. Doh! I had no choice but to drive all the way down the pass to a Lee Vining ATM because I was $20 short of the $80 needed to buy my annual pass.

Upper Yosemite was beautiful and still had snow and ice on the lakes. The drive down to the valley took much longer than I remembered, and because of my late start and my two trips up Tioga, I only had time for one short hike and so I chose lower Yosemite Falls.

The trail was one of the poshest I have ever seen. It had new pavement, and redwood bridges and boardwalks. The falls were amazing. I found a rock that wasn’t already covered with the butt of another tourist and ate my lunch while gazing at the falls. An overweight squirrel tried to steal my food when I wasn’t looking.

On the way back, I moved off the trial for a picture of Half Dome dwarfing the local park that I thought I would cleverly caption “America’s Playground.”

It was on this detour that I surprised a pair of tame national park deer and got a much more entertaining video of one deer licking its hind end.

I made it back to the car by 5 and after a short stop at Olmstead Point and Tenaya Lake, drove all the way to my favorite Eastern Sierra campsite ( a secret not to be named on the internet) before the sun set at 8. I made the rest of my cash disappear on a couple nights’ campsite fees, which had gone up since the last time I camped. I made a mental note to try some free nearby camping the next time I am in the area.

The campground was deserted. I set up camp and broke in my brand new dutch oven with a chicken pot pie. It came out perfectly, and the crust was crispier and more delicious than any I had ever had before. Yum. Dessert was a s’more. I was in bed by 11 pm.