DAYS 19-26

It's Sunday afternoon here in Oroville, CA. - our third and last day here. Sunny and about 90.

We finally made it to the casino for brunch today and, of course, we had to gamble a little after eating.

I lost $30.00 in 90 minutes plus $20.00 I gave Ellen.  She is on a roll and refused to leave with me.  She was up $50.00 when I left her.  I have no idea when I'll see her again.

Anyway we finally left Yosemite Friday after 5 days without adequate internet service to post pictures (we have a lot of them).  See below for a complete update.

Yosemite, we thought, would not be so crowded after Labor Day.  We certainly were wrong!  It's about 130 miles from the highway to Yosemite Village.  Making the drive last Sunday we faced a steady stream of traffic leaving the park.  We kept thinking how great it was everyone was leaving.

By the time we reached the park entrance - 36 miles away from the campsites in the Valley - it was pouring rain.  Narrow, winding road up the last mountain and down into the Valley with heavy traffic and rocks falling onto the roadway washed down by the rain.  Made it without hitting any.

Got to what we thought was the camping check-in parking lot and ran into a lot of stupid people parking their cars and RV's in the lanes blocking traffic.  It was "nuts" and still pouring.  Eventually squeezed between a tour bus and RV parked illegally and made it back to the road and on to our campsite.  It was under water!
It rains (or threatens to) almost every afternoon in Yosemite (or any mountain area in the West).  Eventually it ended and we got to get out of the RV to have a look around.  People everywhere!
Not sure at that time what we had gotten into.
However, all turned out well despite the crowds.  Yosemite is too beautiful (awesome if you like the word) to describe.  The pictures will speak for us, but even they do not come close to what we actually saw.  5 days is not sufficient to experience Yosemite, but that said, 7 days is the maximum stay.  So it just can't be done in one visit.  We tried to get two more nights but there was nothing available and we left feeling a little slighted as we came so far, had so much more to see, and could do nothing about it.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Lassen Volcanic National Park for several days and then on to Crater Lake National Park.  No idea at this time what cell or internet service will be available so we may "disappear" again for a few days after this post.

Enjoy the pictures!  It will take me at least two hours to post everything and I have to publish the post every so often to save my work.  I should be finished by 6:00pm Elkhart time.  If you view the post before then, be sure to come back after 6 for the entire thing.

Cocktail walk after the rain to check out camp

Views from our camp

Merced River running through the Valley and next to the campgrounds

Our first night campsite.  Rain has stopped and the water has soaked in a little, but look at our campfire ring on the left - it's surrounded by water.

Bridalveil Falls
Next day after the rain we walked about and then went for a drive to get familiar with the park.
Had no idea of the immensity of the solid granite "straight up" walls and waterfalls. (your neck will hurt from looking up) Can't even count how many times we said "WOW", Oh my God! Awesome! Unbelievable!

One of the many lounging areas at the Ahwanee Lodge in the village where we had lunch

Standing inside one of the many gigantic granite fireplaces in the lodge

El Capitan!!!!! There are actually people climbing up this sheer wall! We can see them but they do not show up in the picture.  Just little "dots" in size.  Scary! 

Half Dome in the far upper left.  Upper Yosemite Falls in view.

Another view of Half Dome and a partial of El Capitan on the left

Click on this pic to enlarge. It shows both El Capitan and Half Dome, 2 of the most well known Granite Monoliths in the world and the most photographed

Here is a better view of the two although Half Dome looks distant.  From the Valley floor the loom up like they are close together.  Yosemite Falls can be seen.

Another view of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls (these are the longest falls in North America

Another view of Half Dome as we are driving up to Glacier Point.  We are much higher here and Half Dome does not look quite as "huge" as it does when looking up at it.

This is the back side of Half Dome

At the top of Glacier Point and Half Dome looking like we could reach out and touch it!

Yet another view of Yosemite Valley.  We just couldn't stop taking pictures.  Each view point along the road gave a different look to the incredible landscape.

The green Valley Floor at the bottom is where the thousands of people are (and or RV).  Better view follows.

The valley floor below. Our campsite is somewhere down there

Lower Yosemite Falls from the valley floor drive

Another view of El Capitan as we came down from Glacier Point our on our way back to camp

Morning hike to Lower Yosemite Falls before my horseback ride

Ellen posing up close to Lower Yosemite Falls

Mandatory picture of Jim doing the same.

Upper Falls, Lower Falls, and Ellen all in one picture.  Can it get any better?

Yes!  Upper and Lower without Ellen.

Sunset pictures of Half Dome taken from our campsite. WOW!

More pictures of El Capitan. They are not in order, but are worth a look.

These are good pictures of El Capitan, but we missed the "money shots" by not getting a picture at sunset like we did of Half Dome.  Dammit!

Getting ready for a 4 hour ride. I was expecting a horse but, we all road mules (there were 6 of us on this ride). Actually, we were told that mules are larger and sturdier, less skittish, and smarter than horses and better on the trails that we would be riding. And they were right. I did not take one picture the whole ride. We did over a 2,000 ft ascent up to a 10,000 ft point over very steep and very narrow, rocky terrain! It was incredible! Chincia, I wish you had been with me   :-) 

Our last day at the park we took a drive through Yosemite to the east entrance of the park. The terrain changes quite a lot from valley and areas around it. Absolutely Gorgeous and not as hectic as the valley.  Here we see the Tuolumne River.

Of course, that's Ellen in the picture.  But that's the back side of Half Dome on the far right.  Yosemite Valley is "way" over there on the other side.

We are still tolerating each other.  Can't you see it by our smiles?

Our very patient Isabelle who "tolerates" us constantly getting in and out of the car.

Zoomed in view of the back of Half Dome

Road over Tioga Pass

Lunch stop at a lakeside picnic area

Mono Lake at the East end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just out of Yosemite East entrance.

We packed up the rig and Isabelle and left camp very early to do a last hike before heading out. Parked along the side of the road pointed towards the "exit".  We hiked to Vernal Falls and these are some of the views along the way to the top of the Falls, one very steep and wet hike but what a view at the top.

Boulders in the river bed left by glaciers

The start of 600 stone steps to get to the top of the falls at the end of the trail. Man, was it steep

Still going up but getting closer

and closer

almost there

Are we there yet?

Unbelievable!  Still smiling.

Mist from the falls made everything wet and very slippery.

More steps?

At the top looking down, the falls are just to the right but out of the picture

The Merced River getting close to going over the falls

Vernal Falls
At the top looking over the railing. There is lots of water as you can see but after the record snowfall and run off the water was over the railing the last few months before we got here and unfortunately 3 hikers vanished over the falls because they climbed over the railing to get better pictures. They have yet to be found... tragic, but there are warning signs for a reason.
More info can be found on YouTube if you do a "Vernal Falls" search.

Ellen wondering what it would be like to "go over".

It's a long way down.

Captured a little rainbow at the bottom of the falls

Much bigger smile now that we are going down.

"Studly" hiker coming back down the trail. We hated to leave Yosemite for we barely scratched the surface. It would take a lifetime to see the whole park and a younger body to do all the hikes. (over 800 miles of trails) Hope to come back again