NORTH TO ALASKA! – US National Parks Tour – Washington, Oregon & California – Yosemite National Park

TRIP DAY – 84, 85, 86

DAILY MILES – 247, 2, 2

TOTAL MILES – 10,383

9/6- Left the campsite at 7 AM and crossed the road to the Tahoe Lake shore hoping to catch the sunrise that beat us by just a few minutes.  The California 89 highway side of Lake Tahoe reminded us of the Aspen area with little village towns overlapping around the lake.  Most of the lake front cottages looked to be from the 60’s to 80’s era with very little modern influence.  The beauty coupled with the higher altitude temperatures makes this a perfect spot for wealthy Californians to spend their summer months.  


Lake Tahoe

We then headed for CA 49 where we left the Cascade Mountain Range and headed into the Sierra Nevada for the next 200+ miles.  This was another hard day of narrow, curvy, mountain road driving as the east entrance to Yosemite NP where we hoped to enter was closed due to the wild fires.  This took us clear to the other side of the park and along much smaller state roadways.  Finally, we entered CA 140 and the Yosemite Valley where we were in awe of the beautiful scenery.  I see why John Muir made such a big deal about wanting to protect this environment as a natural area.  He is accredited as being the father of the national park system and certainly deserves the honor.  

Yes, we drove through this arch to enter Yosemite.

We are camping in Upper Pines Campground where we lucked into reservations just the day before as all sites in the valley are by reservation only.  Then it was off to explore the Yosemite Village Valley and decipher the complicated shuttle system.  This led us to the Valley Visitor Center where we explored the museum and watched the movie. 

John Muir - Father of the National Park system

9/7-

One old buck, one young buck.

Today we headed to the Yosemite Lodge where we had tickets for a four hour bus tour up to Glacier Point.  We passed most of the major cliff formations in the valley on the way up and could view them from several points along the way.  From Glacier Point you can look down into the valley more than 3,000 feet below.  The scenery was awesome but very scary to one afraid of heights.  I only look from afar.
 

Yosemite is the National Park that Wayne has been looking forward to most.  He has been more than pleased with its ability to measure up to his expectations. 

9/8- Today will be spent doing some Valley Floor shuttle rides and short hikes – Bridalveil Falls and the Cook’s Meadow Loop, where we’ll get great views of Half Dome, Royal Arches, Cathedral Rock, Sentinel Rock and El Capitan cliff formations.  We then prepare to move south inside the park to Wawona Campground where we will explore the Mariposa Grove of big trees.