The biggest challenge I had for Yosemite camping was booking a site. I had to book 3 separate sites for a single night each. The first night at Upper Pines, the second at Wawona which is about an hour’s drive away and then the third night back at Upper Pines.
So my plans of utilising the shuttle were not realised and I had to do a lot of driving myself.
I don’t mind that but driving here is exhausting. I’m balancing driving on the wrong side of the road, on high alpine roads and watching Google Maps to ensure I get where I need. Twice now I’ve had to pull over on the side of the mountain and have a micro-nap of ten minutes to refresh my brain as I felt myself nodding off at the wheel.
But when you see what I’ve been up to you will understand!
First night camping was a success, bed set up was simple and it’s super comfy. It’s also really quiet inside, even with the front windows down (I have Skeeter Beaters on them to keep the bities out!). I was a bit worried about bears being able to get in the windows but was assured I’d be ok.
So after a lovely sleep I packed up and headed to Wawona Campground via Tuolumne Meadow - the highest alpine meadow in the park. A little earlier and it would have been covered in wildflowers, but even this late in the season their evidence was still there.
Did a short hike to Parson’s Lodge and Soda Springs. The springs are naturally carbonated, cold water. Geologists have been unable to determine how they work but they have been there for hundreds of years. Saw a Marmot and its baby emerging from their burrow, which wasn’t hard to find given the amount of scat that it had heaped at the bottom of the hill. Like a cross between a beaver and a giant rat, it was very cool to see something I hadn’t seen before. I’ve also seen grey squirrels and what I think are chipmunks but will have to wait til I have reception to see if they are!
Back down the mountain roads again and arrived at camp where I found myself next to a lovely family from LA - grandparents, their son and his wife and their two little girls. I got talking to them and they were very excited to find out that I was from Bluey’s hometown. Their older daughter also adores koalas so it was lovely to chat.
The campground is very close to the Mariposa Grove - a grove of giant Sequoias and other giant trees, so I drove to the shuttle stop and hopped a bus to the grove.
Now everything I do for the next five days is at altitude. Even in the valley I am still at about 4-5 thousand feet. Walking is tiring, walking uphill is exhausting as you acclimate to the thinner air. At one point I was at 9000 ft - higher than Mt Kosciusko and Machu Picchu!
There was a walk to Old Grizzly - an old grizzled sequoia that had a lot of up before the down. Worth every laboured breath to get there and glad I read the guidebook to take the ascent slowly.
There is something so majestic about these giant trees - shallow root systems that can survive on 3ft of soil on granite, as long as there’s plenty of water - the root systems can spread up to 200ft to stabilise them. Some of them are as high as 20 storeys and are 1200-1800 years old. They have bark 2ft deep and are relatively fire-resistant.
Back from Mariposa I made my way down to the creek and enjoyed a refreshing swim in the icy cold water. Spoke with another couple about their travels and finished off the night with a cream cheese bagel with extra cheese and some peanut M&Ms for dessert.
Woke up at about 11pm to a sky choc-o-block with stars, so bright it was hard to work out which constellations were which.
Woke again at 4am needing to pee but there had been a bear in the loop next to ours the previous night so I had to grin and bear it (no pun intended) until the sun came up and other people were moving around. I really want to see a bear but not on those terms!
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