Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Bass Lake and Yosemite - Part 1 - Days 27 and 28


Well, our plans are to stay here until the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. I have no idea where we will spend the weekend but will worry about that later. I assume it will be in a motel somewhere. However, the plan was that Warren would kayak a day, then we would drive to Glacier Point in Yosemite, kayak again, then drive to Yosemite Valley for a day, then kayak again and then across Rt 120 back across the Sierras!! Route 120 opened really early this year because of little snow in the area which is great.

Warren did go kayaking and we did finally take showers after two days without any. Eoouw….This is about the nicest campground so far. A doe has greeted me each morning at the campsite and the birds are beautiful and numerous. Two mallards made themselves at home this morning.


Well, our first day at Yosemite was beyond words. I know why they describe it as the most beautiful national park!! We went down the Glacier Point road which is about 7000 feet. We first did a hike in the Sentinel rock area. The hike was aboutg 2.25 miles round trip and through meadows that still had snow. We ended up in a place overlooking the Yosemite Valley with Yosemite Falls in the background. It was stunning and we were so high. The walk had been the plan for the day. We decided to proceed to the end of the road though as we were only a couple of miles from it.
Oh my….We were greeted with two turnoffs and scenic overlooks. I can say easily that I have never seen such a beautiful place!! You looked off in the distance and saw Half Dome, the Nevada and Vernal Falls, Yosemite Falls, El Capitan and all that with snow covered mountains in the background – Incredibly beautiful. Warren said he thought it was even more beautiful that Glacier Park which had been his favorite from childhood. It was just stunning..

Days 3 and 4


Well, Yosemite just doesn't disappoint!! Warren has adopted a cat with white whiskers on one side and black on the other matching her patchey face -- we would bring her home except we have a month to go and she seems very healthy and happy at Bass Lake as the campground mooch.

We drove up to Yosemite after a leisurely day where Warren kayaked on Bass Lake again. We took Route 41 north for about an hour drive to get there watching for the ever present deer along the road. I took many pictures at the entrance but again we exhausted ourselves.
We first stopped at Bridal Veil Falls and walked into get a close view. Unfortunately, the sun was shining right over it so it was almost impossible to get any kind of picture except from the parking lot!!

Once in the park, you pass El Capitan as well. We first looked went into the village and found a parking space so that we could use the convenient shuttle buses. We checked out the little stores for a later shopping trip. <>

We then went to Yosemite Falls which was a really pleasant little walk with a wonderful falls at the end. It was a big loop so we went out the other way following the creek.


We then headed to lunch at one of the lodges and then on to see the other sights. We decided to try to Mist Trail up to Vernal Falls and that was a pretty intense hike especially for me at that altitude. It was a bit warmer that day as well but I took it slowly. I got almost to the top and Warren went further but he said it was very slippery and very narrow and I was tired, so I stopped about 30 feet short of the top. We then came down and headed back to the campground for the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.