The Funky Site - Yosemite

Yosemite

Created 14th August 2008, last updated 14th August 2008.

After visiting San Francisco, our next stop was the famous Yosemite National Park. Heading east from San Fran it was about a five hour drive to reach Fish Pond Camp near the southern entrance to the park. At least it would have been had we not been led astray by our trusty Tom Tom. I'm still not sure whether we put the wrong address in or whether Tom Tom was flawed but it took us up Chowchilla Mountain Road as the shortest route. As Google maps clearly shows, it is indeed the shortest route - if you're in a four wheel drive. If not, you ain't gonna make it. We drove for about an hour on an road which went from tarmac to rough gravel to sandy to even more sandy and it got to the point where we were worried about stopping in case we couldn't start again. After meeting a jeep coming the other way (who informed us in no uncertain terms that we wouldn't make it through) we turned around and took the main road. In hindsight a nice little adventure and one that some advise against and others have taken before us...

We stayed at the Narrow Gauge Inn, a lovely place (referenced in Lonely Planet) about a five minute drive from the park (TripAdvisor reviews). While our choice of location meant it was an hour's drive to the most popular part of the valley (Curry Village and the Yosemite Visitors Centre) it also meant we were very near the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoia trees which was our first stop that afternoon.

Narrow Gauge Inn

Outside the park

Ed by a Sequoia

Batchelor and the three Graces

General Grant

Mariposa Grove

Driving from the southern entrance towards Yosemite Valley, you drive past the Tunnel View panoramic viewpoint, a view plastered on countless numbers of postcards. The view is indeed magnificent, and is probably even more so in spring when the waterfalls are in full flow. As it was summer and each day was around 95 degrees the water was drying up and the waterfalls were more of a trickle! Reaching the valley floor (which is itself still at 4000ft) we were inspired - lush green grass, soaring granite peaks and crystal clear waters running through the valley in the form of the Merced river. Pretty much paradise! None of our photos really show the scale or grandear sufficiently - those granite walls rise about 8,000ft high and are some of the largest granite rocks in the world.

Tunnel view postcard

Tunnel view again

Yosemite valley floor view

Yosemite valley meadow

Yosemite valley

Yosemite valley floor view

El Capitain

Yosemite valley floor view at midday

Yosemite valley floor view

On our second day in the park we headed towards Tuolumne Meadows, an alpine meadow at 8500ft. It's an enjoyable two to three hour drive from Yosemite valley along a winding, scenic road with numerous stops along the way. The view from Olmsted Point is another stunner, and rivals Tunnel View. You can see all the way down the valley to Half Dome and beyond.

Driving to Tuolomne meadows

Olmsted Point

The view at Olmsted Point

Lake Tenaya

The view at Olmsted Point

Only a few minutes drive from Olmsted point is Tenaya lake. This hardly got a mention in our Lonely Planet, but was a beautiful lake and even though it was high season, it was surprisingly not too busy. We settled down by the clear water's edge and soaked up the sun for a while - I couldn't imagine being much more relaxed.

Lake Tenaya

After chilling at the lake, we figured we should do at least some exercise to burn off the huge meals we always seemed to be eating in the US. Just to the east side of Tuolumne meadow is Lembert Dome, another hugh granite rock which rises 800ft from the meadow. A three mile fairly strenuous walk took us to Dog Lake, yet another beautiful lake. Yosemite is just full of these kind of places, and we barely touched on the vast size of the park.