Yosemite National Park

This blog of my West Coast adventures would be incomplete if I did not write about, with all due respect to Walt Disney, The Greatest Place on Earth - Yosemite National Park.

I have visited this geological shrine four times since April of this year. I must admit I knew nothing of it before I came to California, in fact when I first thought of going to visit it in September of last year I thought I was going to see the world famous "Old Faithful" guyser. Well, that is at Yellowstone National Park in parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. I went to Sequoia National Park instead and never really thought about Yosemite for the next few months. Then, in the first week of April, I made the trip to Yosemite. I knew by then that I was not going to see Old Faithful, but I still had no idea what I was in for.

I came north on CA-41 from Fresno (about 45 miles) and entered the South entrance of the park. There was still heavy snow on the ground, blanketing the ground like a pristine goosedown comforter, so I was already awestruck by the beauty of the area. At the south entrance is the Mariposa Grove, which contains a forest of Sequoias, but the road was still closed for winter, so I drove the road toward Yosemite Valley (another 35 miles), along the way stopping to take pictures of a small waterfall and some the mountainous scenery, still not knowing of the beauty I was about to behold...

About 30 minutes in there is a tunnel that you travel through, and if I knew what I was stopping to look at if would have been better, but, alas, I was still clueless. Then, right after the tunnel...the most breathtaking scene of nature I had ever encountered...Yosemite Valley! I stood in awe for what seemed like a lifetime, the vertical granite standing high and strong about 3,200 feet from the valley floor (El Capitan), the tall, glorious waterfall (Bridalvail Falls) and a geologic wonder (Half Dome) are the main landmarks at this spot. I took several pictures while thinking I could stay here forever. Well, I knew that there was more to see, so after pulling myself away, I made it another 15-20 minutes to the valley floor, which is already about 4,000 ft above sea level. Now, maybe because I have lived the majority of my life about 10 feet above sea level these emmense scenes have more of an impact on me, I'm not too sure, but if there is any amount of humanity in you, you have to taken aback by this glorious valley.

The Valley floor gives you a totally different view of some of the same places scene from the tunnel, and a lot closer up, so again, more picutes and more amazment and wonder filled my mind. Yosemite Falls is one of the key places to see here, where Yosemite Creek ends by plumiting 2,425 feet (one of the world's tallest waterfalls) in three sections: Upper Fall (1,430 ft), a middle cascade (675 ft) and the Lower Fall (320 ft) which itself is twice the height of Niagra.
It also gives you a close-up look at El Capitan, the mighty granite cliff that rises about 3000 feet from the valley floor, the summit sits 3,245 feet above its base. It is one of the largest exposed monoliths in the world. As with any trip to a National Park, a visit to the visitor center will give you more info and history on the park. My trip was limited as it was a little rainy and even snowy when I reached about 7,000 feet on my way to the valley, and I knew I was coming back here, so I made three more trips!

My last two times I got to see two parts of the park I had not been to before. Although Mariposa grove was open this last time, it was full, so I never made it there. You may have seen some pics from there before though, as it has a famous tree there, the Wawona Tunnel Tree. It dates back to 1881, when an old burn scar was enlarged to allow stagecoaches to pass through it. It fell in 1969 under a heavy snow load in its upper branches. Another road that had been closed previously also was now opened, Glacier Point Road. This road leads 16 miles to some panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada, as well as one of the best views of Half Dome. There you are at an elevation of 7,214 feet, so although the walk to the point is short (300 ft) you can run short of breath if you are not used to the thin air. The walk is worth the trip, as you get a wonderful view of not only the Sierras and Half Dome, but also a 3,000 foot cliff into Yosemite Valley.

The last part of the park I visited was the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Once a glorious valley itself, it was damed in 1923 to provide water for San Fransisco. It created the last great battle for John Muir (known as the "Father of our National Parks"), who was quoted as saying it is "a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." It was a fight he lost, but it was because of his fight for a system to preserve areas like Yosemite that the National Parks System was created in 1916.

Yosemite is a one-of-a-kind place, and there are still areas I was unable to explore because of road closures, so I hope to make it back sometime, hopefully in the summer.

As always, you can visit my Flickr account to see my photos, where I have 125 from Yosemite.