Miles Travelled: 4,029
Miles Hiked: 71.2
Current Location: Merced, CA
We were hurting this morning after yesterday's hike but we still got up at 5:30 am, made tea and oatmeal on the Coleman stove and went to the park. After seeing Yosemite and Bridalveil Falls yesterday we decided to visit the park's other two main waterfalls, Vernal and Nevada Falls, today. They are on the same trail which is longer than the one we did yesterday but the general opinion from the people we spoke to was that it was easier overall. However after a somewhat tough first mile we hit a nearly two mile section of stairs like these that brought us around the base of Vernal Falls. You can see LD in the mist about 50 steps up.
At one point I tried to count consecutive steps up but I lost track at 344. I can't give a great estimate of the steps but I would say that it is in the 1000's. As we neared the top of the falls LD snapped this picture looking down.
Here is the view from the top of the falls.
From there we continued on to Nevada Falls. It was really impressive but hard to get good pictures of. We took this one about half way up the trail to the top.
As I have noted a couple of times we have had great luck when it comes to being in the right place at the right time. Such was the case as we left the park on Day 3. After doing 7.2 miles yesterday, today's hike added another 8.5 giving us 15.7 in 2 days so we were spent and just wanted to get back to the campsite to relax. As we were leaving we noticed some people pulled over taking pictures and surprisingly there was a bear in the meadow by the road.
We pulled over and jumped out of the truck to get some pictures. It was very exciting but I have to say that as more and more people pulled up it became kind of sad. The park is full of conservation information about bears and basically once they become used to or unafraid of humans they are first re-located and then eventually killed if they continue to return. People were crowding the bear like you would not believe. I would say that some people got as close as 20 yards away. Some people were trying to get the bear's attention by waving their arms and walking in front of the bear. In a situation like that it is only a matter of time before the bear acts out. I have to admit that I was somewhat hoping to see the bear maul one of the more obnoxious people and then escape into the woods but no such luck. We left as a park ranger arrived, presumably to tell people to get out of the area. It was still an exciting end to a great day
Click here for the full Yosemite Day 3 photo album
We left the park, returned to the campsite and had turkey sandwiches by the campfire while we discussed our upcoming plans. We originally intended to spend one more night in Yosemite and then leave for San Fran spending Friday night in a hotel. However that would leave pretty much no time to do anything on Friday because getting in and out of the park is not easy and there is a lot of driving still to do. With that in mind we decided to head out.
Only problem was that we were originally going to stop Friday morning to see some of the sequoia trees located in Mariposa Grove in the park. We did not want to skip that so we put that hiking gear back on and drove down to the grove. We were already tired so we were not thrilled to find out that the road is closed so we had to hike 2 miles to even get to the grove (and then 2 miles back out).
It turned out to be worth it as we saw a couple of amazing trees on our short hike through the park. This is LD in front of the root base of a dead tree called Fallen Monarch.
Neither of us had ever seen a sequoia tree so it was a great experience. The main attraction of the grove is a tree called Grizzly Giant, the 25th largest tree in the world. This picture does not really illustrate the size of the tree. One amazing fact is that the tree has branches which are 6 feet in diameter.
Another great sight in the grove is the California Tunnel Tree. Aside from the fact that you could drive a small car through a living tree, the coolest part was that the bark is growing inward in an attempt to cover the scarring caused by the tunnel.
The walk back to the car was tough. Seeing the trees was enjoyable but it tacked on another 5.8 miles of hiking, bringing our total for the day to 14.3 miles (21.5 miles over two days while sleeping in a tent with no hot water or electricity). We did however get to see another great sunset.
And on the drive back to the campsite we got a great view of a herd of deer in the meadow by the campground.
Click here for the full Mariposa Grove photo album
Yosemite was wonderful. Best park yet. Yosemite Falls was the best part of the trip and that hike was the toughest and best of the trip. The drive out of the park totally kicked our ass. Almost 100 miles of steep, winding roads in absolute darkness. We made it to Merced, CA and booked a Hampton Inn. We will regroup for a day here and then head to San Fran.
