Central California National Parks: Yosemite or Bust!

 Thursday, May 16

Yesterday my California National Parks Adventure began.  I worked half a day before flying out to San Jose.  My flight from Wichita to Las Vegas was wonderfully on time.  We were out of the gate before our departure time.  It was glorious.  However, after arriving in Las Vegas, I found that my connecting flight to San Jose was delayed by a little over an hour.  Bummer.  I did what I do best...I wandered through the whole airport taking it all in.  It has been a few years since I last flew through Las Vegas and they were doing construction last time.  It seems to be done, though as an irregular traveler through there it is hard to say what changed.

The special surprise I made for my friends' son.

After arriving in San Jose, I headed down to pick up my bag.  It was one of the first bags off the carousel which was nice!  I then headed across the street to the car rental place where I proceeded to wait around 45 mins in line.  Then once I got up to the floor to pick up my car, it ended up being another 20 mins or so wait.  All of this was costing me time!  My schedule had me swinging by my friends’ house to pick up some things from them and then setting out so I was 1-2 hours down the road.  By the time my car finally showed up there was a change in plans, though.  It was decided that I’d spend the night at my friends’ house.  I wasn’t supposed to be staying there until after I got back from exploring.  But it was nice to spend the evening with my friends.  I got to meet my goddaughter, which was special.  She cried.  But then I got to hold her for a while after she decided to fall asleep for a bit.  

I set off this morning, bright and early.  I was on the road before 7 and managed to beat all that Silicon Valley traffic.  Turns out most of them don’t wake up that early.  I didn’t hit any stop and go traffic and only experienced a few slowdowns the whole way.  

San Pedro Lake

On my way to Yosemite, I passed through land that is full of fruit trees.  I think they were cherry trees, based off the signs I was seeing saying, “PICK YOUR OWN CHERRIES!”  Along the way I stopped for some breakfast before rolling into the north gates of Yosemite around 11:30.  After a quick stop at the information center and bathroom, I headed to my campground which was just a few minutes away.  I was able to get my tent set up, which only took about 20 mins, which I don’t consider too bad considering I have done that in a year.  After getting water, I then set out for Hetch Hetchy.

Hetch Hetchy was not part of my orignal plan.  My original plan was to take Tioga Road today, but that road is still partially under snow and isn’t open to the public yet.  But Hetch Hetchy ended up being a good choice for my first day.  Hetch Hetchy is actually a dammed up reservoir for the San Francisco.  John Muir had a thing or two to say about that when it happened, but he lost out.  I took the trail out across the dam to Wapama Falls.  Wow!  I don’t think I’ve seen a waterfall with that much water since Iceland.  And really, probably outside of Niagara Falls, it is the most powerful one I’ve seen in the US.  It is still fairly early in the year and snowmelt is still adding a lot of water to the falls.  Signs said that later in the summer and fall the amount of water coming over the falls is drastically reduced.  The hike out and back was around 5 miles.  Upon coming to the first set of falls (Tueeulala Falls), if you wanted to continue to Wapama Falls, you had to take your shoes off and wade across the rushing water from the first set of falls.  The water was fairly chilly, but felt good at the same time because it was definitely a warm day for hiking (somewhere in the 80s).

Just a little water to wade through.

Wapama Falls at Hetch Hetchy

After getting back to camp, I spent some time trying to figure out the camp stove I borrowed, but eventually got it working.  I made myself the post-hiking Supper of Champions!  Velveeta Shells & Cheese.  I had to.  If there is one thing that makes me think of the few times we went camping when I was a kid, it is Shells & Cheese, because that was one of the few times we ever had it, so it was special.  

Skyward view from camp

Tomorrow’s plan is to head down into Yosemite Valley.  Lots more hiking, some waterfalls, and seeing El Capitan.