Yosemite 3 - 4 Nov

Tue Nov 3
After refilling our Propane Gas (that we use for cooking, hot water (very rarely) and for the fridge when we are not plugged into an electricity supply), we set off 36 miles to the entrance of Yosemite National Park. We followed the path of the Merced river weaving along a valley, at one point a landslide had completely covered the road in boulders of all sizes, and we had to take a detour on a single lane stretch over two temporary bridges, waiting first for traffic coming the other way. The dry shrub covered hills started to give way to more sheer granite cliffs but the Merced river was a constant bubbling, fast flowing body of water through rocks of all sizes at our side. The Merced actually has its watershed in Yosemite and we were to follow it all the way into the Yosemite valley and we are now camped only a couple of hundred metres from it. From its banks you can see down into deep pools through the crystal clear water, and we watched trout swimming lazily in its current. After entering the park we had to pass through a narrow one way section of road that passed between two huge granite rocks; a very dramatic entrance(!); and then we continued, following the river, as the surrounding cliffs got higher and higher and slowly the slim, V shaped river valley we had been travelling along opened out into a wide, deep U shaped valley of glacial beginnings.
We passed a spring where clear, cold water was bubbling up out of the ground and then lazily winding its way down a short stream to join the Merced. All around it was now more lush, but the trees were showing their autumn colours and the road was just one breathtaking view after the other. We turned to the South and then West to make our way up to Tunnel view, from this point (right beside a 400m long tunnel dug through the granite to allow visitors in from the South West) you can look down the whole valley to the East; the green valley floor; the white, bare, granite expanse of El Capitan rising vertically up on the North side; the snow capped Clouds Rest and darker granite mound of Half Dome straight ahead, above the valley to the East; the jagged grey Sentinel Rock and towering spires of Cathedral Rocks to the South; and, from below Cathedral Rocks, the wispy white trail of water spilling down the vertical cliff face - Bridalveil falls. Everything was so dramatic and the sky above was so blue, the sun was shining from the South and casting dramatic shadows of Half Dome, Sentinel Rock and Cathedral Rocks over the valley, we sat and ate watermelon and stared, the only interruption was from some very bold ground squirrels who decided they wanted some of our fruit! Of course, having spent so much time trying to get close to ground squirrels the other day, it was infuriating that the ground squirrels came so close (within one metre) and we had left the camera back in the van while we ate!
We then drove back down the hill into the valley stopping to take a short walk up to the base of the Bridalveil Falls where we got some excellent photos in the mist of the falls. The rocks were incredibly smooth and slippery, even the dry ones, but the mountain goat footed Celso and Tristan managed to clamber up quite high.
Then we drove along the valley floor, stopping to admire the dramatically contrasting views of stark rock, blue sky, rounded boulders in the Merced River and the autumn colours of the vegetation. We spent so much time getting to the end of the valley (about 5 or 6 miles from the Bridalveil falls) that when we got there the whole valley was already in shadow, we got a campsite and then left the van to go for a two mile walk to the visitor centre and museum. At the entrance to the campsite we were given a talk on bear safety as, already this week, there have been two sitings in the campsite, one where a pizza was taken as it waited on the table to be eaten, and the second for a pie. On our hike we tried to keep off the main paths, following some hiking trails that stayed away from both bike and pavemented trails. We met an English couple who warned us that they had just met two black bears further up the path we were just about to take, he showed us some photos of a big male (complete with tracking tags and collar) and told us that the other one was even bigger, but they had been too busy getting out of its way to take any photos; we decided to take another route even though we are dying to see a bear. On our walk under El Capitan we could see huge white granite boulders, that had fallen down from the cliffs, dotted amongst the trees, apparently this is perfect mountain lion country, but as opposed to bears, with mountain lions you should stand and face them, shout and wave your arms as they are pretty shy and should run. Mountain lion encounters are much rarer than bear encounters.
At the museum we watched an Indian woman weaving a traditional basket, they also had an Indian village with signs that told you how the Indians used to live here. Their history goes back 4000 years, their staple diet was a mush made from acorns that were pounded in pestle and mortars made out of the granite rocks and the resultant 'flour' was then soaked for hours to get rid of the bitter tasting Tannins. There was a huge rock in the centre of the village that was an original site for such preparation with smooth round hollows in it up to 6 inches deep. Most of the houses were made from Sequoia bark that resisted fire, fungus etc just like the trees do, and in the village there is a ceremonial round house and sweat lodge that are still used by the local Indian community.
In the visitor centre we watched a film showing Yosemite in all seasons and informed us about the history of the making of the National Park. The first part of it (the valley and its immediate surrounds) was declared by Lincoln during the Civil War and then the rest by Roosevelt after a chap called John Muir realised that without protecting the watersheds of the rivers then really they were only doing half the job. Now the park encompasses 1200 square miles of mountain and valley, we will be crossing over the highest road part tomorrow, the Tioga Pass, at just under 10,000ft.
Wed 4th
No bears visited us in the night nor did we see any today, in fact the road we took was very devoid of animal and bird life, everything has gone to lower altitudes for the winter I think... but what an amazing drive.
We started up through a part of the upper valley that had been gutted by fire earlier this year, it was a barren and horrific view until you stopped to look closely and then you could see new green shoots poking their heads up through the ash - amazing how fire is so important in many plant life cycles in this region.
We had amazing views of mountains in the distance and eventually got to a spot where we were looking out over the end of Yosemite Valley from a smooth rock with just a couple of trees stuck on the top. The wind was blowing in gusts but the sun was also blazing, we were over 8000ft and we could tell from our shortness of breath.
A sign informed us that at that point the snow could reach 9m in depth, the road is closed for 9 months of the year, and usually takes about 4 weeks to clear of snow because of frequent rocks that fall with the ice and snow melt onto the road.
From that point we could see the bright blue of Tenaya lake further down the road. We stopped at the lake and it was at this point that we noticed the complete absence of any animal or bird life. The water was freezing but crystal clear and the rocks around the lake edge were smooth like ice from the endless cycles of snow, ice and melt.
Further on again we came to a meadow at 8600 ft. It was covered in brown grasses and small ground hugging plants interspersed with pine trees and small shrubs. On the shaded side there was a fair covering of snow; I presume left over from last year since we had been told there had been no snowfall for months when we enquired about the state of the road before we left the valley. There were also fantastic icicles where dripping water had formed stalactite formations.
We stopped to go for a walk across the meadow (this wasn't allowed just anywhere as they are trying to ensure that the alpine plants are not trampled), and we took a path that lead us over the Tuolumne River on a wooden bridge built in 1915 to visit what was called a Soda Spring, this was an area where water and bubbles were coming up through the ground leaving a red stain around where the tiny eruptions took place. A slight smell of sulphur was in the air but the water was freezing cold. Celso decided to taste the water and he said it was fine but with a slight sulphurous taste. You will see that all the views were just fantastic... I've run out of superlatives!
Not much further on we reached the highest point in our journey at the Tioga Pass at 9945ft, at this point we exited Yosemite and started to descend down into the High Valley between the Sierra Nevada Mountains (that contain the Sequoia, King's Canyon and Yosemite National Parks) and the White Mountains that separate California from Nevada. At Mono Lake, an enormous lake with islands in the middle in the centre of a completely dry and barren looking region, we turned south. We drove between the mountains with snow capped peaks to our left and right, the landscape changing dramatically between pine forest and open hillside with scrubby small bushes. We don't know why the trees grow in some places and not others... one theory is that the treeless places were logged long ago and have never recovered, but we don't know.
We have stopped for the night in a town called Bishop and plan to move on to Death Valley tomorrow.