Coddiwomple Stardate 180601

Monday, we picked up our hire car from Oakland Airport. Jake & Ally where kind enough to drop us there. We decided to head for Lake Tahoe driving in from the North of the Lake. Sharon & I could not believe after going about 200km we where still on a 5-lane highway. It was the Monday of their long weekend called Memorial Day. The traffic going back to San Francisco was at a standstill most of the way. Being an interstate highway there wasn’t much to see along the way.

We turned off near a town called Truckee and drove about another 20km before turning into a campsite I found using Wikicamps. The campsite was called Goose Meadows. Their camping fees are expensive over here much like everything else we are finding. The fee is $22 US a night for a site. All you get is a drop toilet, picnic table and a Bear Locker to lock away anything that is enticing for bears. As I have mentioned before adult wages can be as low as $2.50 per hour. You can start to understand why there is a huge social problem in the US.

The campsite was near a river that was fed from Lake Tahoe. There weren’t many other people that night, so our spot was very quiet except from the continual traffic that seems to be everywhere in the US. The river noise drowned out most of the traffic noise.

Tuesday morning, we drove to Olympic Valley. The 1960 winter Olympics where held here. It was a gorgeous valley there was still snow on the mountain. We were recommended to come here from the caretaker of Goose Meadows. There is a sky tram you can go on and there is meant to be great views over Lake Tahoe. It wasn’t running and at $47 US each I was glad.

Next stop Lake Tahoe City. When we drove in we decided to head to the North of the lake. After driving for half an hour, we still had only glimpses of the lake. Houses are built on the lake edge and is private property up to the edge of the water. We finally found a spot to stop near a restaurant. The views were amazing, but you only had access to a gorgeous jetty and about 100m of the lake shore before being all private property again.

I was already tired of Lake Tahoe with very little opportunity to see anything I decided to head South and get out of there. With occasional glimpses of the lake we came across D.L. Bliss State Park. After paying our $10 US to enter we finally came across a beautiful beach. But once again only about 100m was accessible by the public. We were faced by No Trespassing signs again. If you want to camp there overnight it is $45 US a night near the beach and $35 US a night more in the bush. But they do have showers. After some lunch, we went to a nice spot called Balancing Rock and a short walk around the rock and passed a small waterfall then back to the car. No view of the lake here. Then it was a short drive to Emerald Bay. Possibly another great view. Went into the car park which was full anyway and they wanted another $10 US to park there. Back on the road again and we stopped on the side with hundreds of other cars just to get a glimpse of Emerald Bay. Then that was it I had had enough. What we did see was gorgeous but ruined by the very restrictive access.

We are now heading for Yosemite. Instead of following the main highway we took a back road which is still busy. The views driving along were amazing and still have snow close to the road. We camped at about 3.00pm. Another spot I found by Wikicamps and another very quiet place called Silver Lake. Sharon has befriended a little chipmunk. Only thing now he has lost his shyness and is quite happy to steal food off the picnic table and from our hands.

Sharon wasn’t feeling to well that night. It wasn’t until the next morning we saw a sign saying altitude 7000 ft (2135m). We took Sharon’s illness to camping at that altitude. The road was quiet for a change and the views once again spectacular. We came across road works and realised that is why there was no traffic. Traffic was reduced to one side of the road.
People speeding through construction zones is an all to common problem. I have worked on sites that require traffic control and I can tell you from experience it is not a safe environment if people don’t heed to the posted speed. In California it is double the penalties if caught in these zones. Traffic management also use pilot vehicles that escort you through the maintenance areas, so you can’t become impatient and increase your speed.

On the way to Yosemite we drove through the towns of Jackson & San Andreas. We hadn’t booked any camping sites at Yosemite. It was during the week and no holidays we thought it would be fine. When we got to the park entrance we bought a yearly pass for all their National Parks. It was $80 US. To enter the park would have been $30 US which did last for 7 days. Once through the entrance it was a short drive to book in for camping. All the camp sites were full bar one. We managed to book into Crane Flat for 3 nights. We were told that the camp grounds are closed for winter. As soon as the National Park says the park is open for camping everything is booked out in 15mins. After paying our fees the Ranger gave us the information required to protect ourselves from bears. His best suggestion was to bang pots and pans together to scare away the bears. All I could think of was our pots are made of silicon, oh dear!!. He also informed us there had already been a bear in our camp area that morning. Our drive to the campsite was 15 miles (24km) from the entrance. It was another 15 miles to Yosemite Village. That’s when we realised why Crane Flat still had available sites it was a fair drive still to get to the main tourist sites. I originally thought if all the camp sites were full we would camp at the closest site outside of the National Park called Diamond O. It was 10 miles (16km) from the park entrance. If we had done that it would have been an 80 mile (130km) trip every day to get to the main part of the park. Until then I hadn’t realised the size of Yosemite National Park.

After setting up camp we headed into the village. On the way, there were great views of deep valley’s and a river. Couldn’t see why everyone raves about Yosemite. We had already seen grander on the way to the park. About 5 miles out the scenery just becomes stunning. There are waterfalls everywhere and the shear height of the cliffs are incredible. We were at about 5000ft (1500m). Some mountains go up to 13114ft (3997m). There were tunnels to drive through, waterfalls cascading down, very fast flowing river and lush forest you drive through to get to the village. We saw the other campsite in the Village. The land was flat, very overcrowded with very little space in between sites. We may be further out, but our camp grounds have plenty of space between sites and nice hilly sites with views through the forest.

Thursday morning with no bears to be seen we drove close to the start of the Mist Trail. This was recommended by Jason who had been here about a week before us. It is only a 5km hike up to Nevada Falls. But has an incline of 1872ft (570m) with lots of steps. On the way you pass Vernal Falls which is very misty( you could take your toiletries and wash your hair by the amount of mist!!). By the time we passed we were very soaked. Then all the way to Nevada Falls. Sharon was determined to do this hike and she did go all the way. The hike up would so far be my favourite I have done. The rugged beauty and shear height of the falls are magnificent. We came down on the other side of the falls and very shortly came across more water cascading down the cliff. You could not avoid the water and another soaking prevailed. In all it took us over 7 hrs to complete but there was plenty of stops for picture taking, rests and just to admire the views.

Friday morning, I planned on just checking out a few places on the map and taking it easier than yesterday. First stop was Tuolumne Grove. It was just a short drive of 5 mins from the campsite. It is one of the few Sequoia Groves left. There is another in the park called Mariposa Grove. Unfortunately, this one has been closed since 2015 and is under maintenance. It opens this month, but we will be gone. The walk was 1 mile (1.6km) with a decent of 400 ft (120m). Sharon didn’t think she would cope after yesterday’s hike and stayed in the car. I couldn’t wait to see the largest trees in the world. As I was reading the signs as I descending I discover there is only 26 trees left in this grove. I saw 8 of them. Grand as they are I was expecting a forest full. One interesting tree was one that was carved out in 1878 as a tourist attraction so you could drive your wagon through. The tree was already dead when they hacked away at it. You see cars in USA driving through these trees and I always thought they were like our Tingle Trees in the South West. Where by fire they created large opening’s, you could drive a car through. In the USA all the large openings are cut out by chain saw and you are charge admission to drive through.

Next stop was Bridalveil Falls. These are the only falls in the park that run all year. Another very misty waterfall. Even though the car park was already full at 10.00am the falls themselves didn’t have many people. If you stayed too long you became very wet.

Next destination was Cathedral Beach on the Merced River. All the other car parks were already filling up and I expected this one to be full. When we arrived, there was about 6 people. Could not believe it. It was also a very majestic view of the river and over looking El Capitan which is at 7569ft (2307 m). Then it was Sentinal Beach, again not many people. It wasn’t as nice as Cathedral Beach. Then the Swinging Bridge which does not swing. This one had stunning views and again very few people.

After here I wanted to walk to Mirror Lake. It was not meant to be. Everywhere was jammed packed with cars. We decided to get out of the main tourist trap and find a picnic area to enjoy our lunch with wine & beer. We chose the picnic area of El Capitan. Sharon was quite tired by now, so we headed back to our camp for a relaxing afternoon. Sharon drinking coke and me with a six pack of “Hazy Little Thing” by Sierra Nevada all on ice.

My last words for Yosemite are. It is a truly Hiker & Photographers dream.