June 19-24, 2007 - We drove from Mammoth Lakes, California to
Yosemite National Park, entering the park from the east side. The
Toyota Tundra struggled up and over Tioga Pass pulling our 7,300
trailer. We maxed our speed at 28 mph and barely got going again
after stopping to take these pictures.
We camped for a while at Tuolomne Meadows Campground at
the east end of the park. This area is filled with crystal clear
streams and ponds and has wonderful shear rock mountains.
We stayed up in the Tuolomne area for a few days and then took the rig
down to the campground at Crane Flat which sits at a lower elevation just
12 miles from Yosemite Valley. This made it easier for us to get in and out
of the valley to see the sites. There was only one campsite in the
campground that would fit our rig, and we barely got around the loop
without scraping the trailer on a tree. However, once we got situated it was
a beautiful spot.
Yosemite Valley has a small system of bike paths and we happily rode
our bikes on those paths past the major sights.
There are several
beautiful waterfalls.
Yosemite Falls is very
high and narrow.
Bridal Veil Falls is misty
and the veil shifts with
the wind like a bride's
chiffon veil.
We took a hike to see the
giant sequoias. There
aren't too many, but the
few that we saw are
massive. Years ago, to
attract tourists, a tunnel
was carved through a
massive dead trunk, big
enough to drive a car
through. Word spread far
and wide about this tree
you could drive your car
through, and toursts came
to Yosemite to see it.
Late one afternoon as we
returned to our campsite
at Crane Flat we saw a crowd on a bridge looking into a meadow. They
were watching a bear munching on greenery. We joined the throng to
get some pictures and watch this happy bear. We were told it was a
mother bear and the cub was just out of sight. She had no concerns
about being the center of attention for a very large audience.
After enjoying all the beauty in Yosemite for a few days we
continued our journeys west to the northern California coast.