Picks and Pans – In and Around Yosemite National Park

Very clean, pretty cheap and about as close as you can get to Tioga Pass without going over, these showers were just what we were looking for.

Unfortunately for us, the parking lot at Saddlebag Lake was so snow-filled we couldn’t maneuver Arvin into a spot and we had to turn around before taking advantage of the backcountry trails into the lake-dotted mountains around Saddlebag. Hopefully, we can return and explore in sunnier times.

We entered Yosemite in style, over Tioga, the highest pass in California. The long climb up the Sierras slowly clicks by before bringing you to the top of the pass and then dropping you in a rush of over 3000 feet into the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Yosemite Park. It’s a roller coaster of a drive.

Once we got over the pass and into Tuolumne Meadows, we were eager to get out on the trails, so we set off for Cathedral Lakes. The 7 mile hike took us right beneath Cathedral Peak, into a meadow woven through with silver threads of crystal clear water and eventually to the granite bowl holding the smooth dark water of Cathedral Lake.

Sean says: We didn’t manage to hike to May lake, but the hike around granite domes looks really cool and reports from some French hikers were very positive.

Going back into a national park heralded our momentary return to paying for campsites, and, in the usual national park fashion, we were willing to shell out the cash ($14) so that we could be close to the action. We also got running water, flush toilets, a picnic table and our own personal bear locker — a necessary amenity, we discovered the next day when we witnessed a bear nonchalantly hanging out in a tree in the Curry Village parking lot, with no apparent fear of humans. It had to be chased off by rangers, but was sure to return later under the cover of dark for some plastic wrapped goodies. Additionally, on our last day in the park,  as we were walking the trail to Lower Yosemite Falls, we nearly stepped in a huge pile of bear scat that waschockful of people food wrappers. Keep Yosemite bears wild, my butt. These bears haven’t been wild for generations.

Hidden in an unmarked building in the maze of Curry Village, there is a haven for the wi-fi addicted. It is not advertised and, even upon walking in, only those acutely attuned to a wi-fi presence will whip out their computers to eagerly search for unlocked networks. We are among those acutely attuned and were happy to be able to charge up the laptops and get a post loaded on to a blog in the most unexpected of places…Yosemite National Park.

Maybe Yosemite has more money than they know what to do with, but, even so, the fact that it is actually difficult to find someone to pay for a campsite in the Upper Pines Campground seems a little negligent on the part of the parks system. We arrived at the campground after 5pm and found a list of empty campsites and instructions to pay either the attendant (at 10am the next morning) or the reservation office at Curry Village (at 8:30am the next morning). Given that we were planning to leave for 14 mile hike at 6:30am in the morning, neither of those options were palatable. Had there been self-registration envelopes we would have gladly given them our cash, but, since it was such a pain in the butt to pay, we could only assume that Yosemite just didn’t need our money that badly. The campground itself is centrally located in the valley, within walking distance of Mirror Lake and well-equipped with bear lockers and bathrooms with running water.

A pleasant walk from our Upper Pines campsite brought us to Mirror Lake, where we experienced for ourselves just how the spot got its name. The calm, shallow waters create a flawless surface on which the majestic face of Half Dome is reflected every evening at around sunset.

Although hiking Half Dome would have given us some serious Yosemite street cred, this hike had us climbing 4100′ up the granite walls of the valley, took us past three gushing waterfalls and gave us grand views of Yosemite Falls and Half Dome for nearly the entire day. We started out early in the morning,  hiking the 4.6 miles and 3200′ to Glacier Point and then continued on the 8.5 mile Panorama Trail toward Illilouette Falls, Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. It was one of our most spectacular days of hiking on the trip.

Even a full night’s sleep didn’t give me enough energy to tackle another big hike after our day on the Panorama trail, so Sean conceded and we started our day with the very flat and short trail to Lower Yosemite Falls. We thought our early morning arrival at the trail might translate to a relatively solitary viewing of the falls, but we failed to notice the large white tour bus parked down the road. Said large white tour bus was apparently carrying many, many enthusiastic, photo-snapping Japanese tourists, who felt it was their honor-bound duty to pose in as many inventive, and, yes, ridiculous positions as possible. Cue: older woman with head tilted and hands next to face, a la the smarmy school portraits lurking in everyone’s past. Next up, guy in designer suit crouching, elbows on knees with his best GQ face. But the winner of the morning: young woman in mini skirt, stiletto boots, and electric blue rabbit fur bolero. She didn’t even have to pose because, really, what says I’m in a national park better than a blue rabbit fur bolero. Japanese tourists aside the falls were just as you might hope, magnificent, and misty with sunlit rainbows. Plus, we were fortunate to be there early enough in the morning to hear the night’s worth of ice from Upper Yosemite Falls come thunderously crashing off the granite wall and into the pool below.

You might think that in the middle of one of the busiest campgrounds in the busiest national park in the country that the showers would come with a hefty fee…s o imagine our surprise when we walked into the 24 hour shower area and found FREE hot showers complete with complimentary soap and shampoo. Pure, post-hiking joy.

One of the most photographed views of Yosemite Park, Tunnel View is located just a few miles up the Wawona Road from the valley. We pulled into the vista point’s parking lot to find the same busload of Japanese tourists taking the same posed photos that they were taking when we met up with them at Lower Yosemite Falls. But even a bus-ful of tourists couldn’t obscure this iconic view of Yosemite’s grand granite walls.