I don’t know about you all but I am sick of writing about Yosemite by now! So, here is the last post about Yosemite before we move west to the Bay Area for the next phase of our vacation. We actually look forward to getting back to civilization!

One thing about bus trips in Yosemite is that you can almost chat with anyone. People are so friendly, especially people with cameras … and I find that Canon users are friendlier to me than Nikonians. LOL! So, there I was on the bus and there was this friendly guy with some kick-ass “L” lens who also spotted mine. We chatted about photography and he told me he had been travelling from one national park to another for the past 4 months. Some people are so lucky.

Well. he told me I must get to Glacier Point. To him it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. I just gotta share with you that one panoramic photo from Glacier Point first … click on the picture below but I gotta warn you that it’s a 2.7MB file. I hope you like it … it certainly made my jaw drop when I first saw the view. If there is only one place you visit in Yosemite, you must make your way to Glacier Point … and don’t forget your camera.

There are two ways to get to Glacier Point from the Yosemite Village. You can either do a 4 mile major hike or you can take an almost 1.5 hours drive. At our fitness level, driving is certainly faster. Moreover, we’re just gonna drive to Glacier Point and then move on to Santa Clara immediately. We had a stop by a waterfall … can’t remember the name now.

We also drove past the tunnels one last time …

… and although we pass by this spot several times already, we always stop and just gawk at the majestic view.

Although it’s quite a long drive, the view is beyond description. Glacier Point basically overlooks the Yosemite Valley below. From this point, we can make out …

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We certainly cramped a lot into the second day in Yosemite. One of the places we wanted to go see is the giant Sequoias at the Mariposa Groove. It’s located at the very south western side of the park and involves over an hour drive from the Yosemite Village. By the time we got there it was already quite late.

It is here in Mariposa that you will see two of the largest 50 Sequoias in the world.

Just slightly off the car park area was the Fallen Monarch. This tree fell over 300 years ago and even despite all these years, it is still pretty much intact. Almost everyone who walked through here will take a picture with the upturned roots.

A bit about Sequoias that we learned. Sequoias are the largest trees in the world in terms of volume but not in height. These are the trees that are so large that people have bored holes into the trunk large enough for a car to get through. There was one such tree in Mariposa but fell due to heavy snow back in the 1960s. Are there any such trees in the world right now that is still standing?

The reason why they are so bulky and large is that they are extremely resistant to fires and disease. The oldest known Sequoias is about 3200 years old. The oldest here in Mariposa is the Grizzly Giant.

Note that large fire scar on the base of the Grizzly Giant. Despite that large scar, it did not kill off the tree.

It was quite a long uphill walk to reach this point. We had enough and decided to turn back.

As hardy as the Sequoias are, the one weakest link is their roots. Their roots does not grow deep and is as shallow as inches from the ground surface. So, they are susceptible to root damages that brings them down. Most of the trees here are now protected by fences so people do not go right up to the base of the tree. (more…)

I always have a fixed sequence when visiting new, unknown places like Yosemite. Obviously, the first thing is to get orientated, decide on what you want to do and find out how to get around. Food is secondary in this case. There are no better way than to get to the centre … in this case, the Visitor Center in the Yosemite Village.

Despite the immense size of Yosemite, most people would only see the few square kilometers within the Yosemite Village. Yosemite Village is like a small town and is the most developed part of the National Park with its own bus service, fire station, post office, clinic, stores, restaurants, and even a court! This is also where the park HQ is located.

Like all other national parks, there is an auditorium where you can catch a film about the area. It was showing an award winning documentary called The Spirit of Yosemite which described the stunning splendor of the park.

There is a scale model of the valley in the Visitor Center which give an excellent overview of the valley and the high sierra. Until now, I have only seen the view of Yosemite from the valley floor.

BTW, do you know that Yosemite is an Indian word that translates to “they are killers”? Apparently there were a lot of bloody disputes for control of the valley and the surrounding areas many many years ago.

Just next to the visitor center is the Ansel Adams Gallery. I am a fan of Ansel Adams work. Wanted to buy a few prints but I knew they will not survive the rest of the vacation.

Behind the Visitor Center is a reconstructed village of Ahwahneechee tribe. We spent some time walking around the small village. We always enjoyed learning about how people lived in this area. The indigenous people lived in tepee-like huts made of wood.

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Yosemite is beyond what I could imagine. Click on the picture below and see what I mean. I did not plan on doing much in Yosemite because I initially thought it’s just a big park. The more I learn about it, the more I wished that I had planned for more than two nights here.

We stayed in a place called Curry Village which is located just right smack in the middle of the Yosemite Valley. I only started looking into booking accommodation just a week prior … I’m just a big procrastinator. By the time I started looking for a booking, the only available place is Curry Village and it’s a tented accommodation. I guess I had no choice and being so close to the vacation dates, I had a lot more planning to do. I placed my booking and hoped for the best.

You know, after coming from Las Vegas, it was pretty depressing — we simply hated the place. Although we knew it was a tented accommodation, we had no idea how rough it was. It was not that we cannot deal with this but it’s just that we’re so ill-prepared.

Firstly, by the time we got to Curry Village and checked in, it was already dark — and I meant pitch dark (that picture below was taken the day after). We can hardly see anything.

Then we were made to sign papers saying that we will not have a single morsel of food or drinks (even bottled water!!) in our tents and cars. You see, we were told that this is bear country and food draws bear. I am a cynical person — I think they’re doing that more because they wanted us to buy food from them … and they are not cheap.

It was pitch dark right? Well, we had to walk all the way back to our car, bring all the food & drinks to the lockers (below) only to find that it was so dark we cannot see which is ours. Anyway, over the course of the two nights there, I have learned how to count the location of ours … I can still remember … count nine from the left and ours is the bottom one.

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This is so, so amazing. Just an hour outside of Death Valley, we are confronted with scenery like these. I wanted so much to make stop every 30 minutes or so to take pictures but we are running quite late already. I had planned to get to Yosemite before 5PM but by 6PM I was still miles from Yosemite.

Most people would get into the Yosemite National Park through the western and southern entrances. There is only one way to get into Yosemite from the east. That is the Tioga Pass.

Because of the high elevation, the Tioga Pass is closed during winter months. Some years, it could be closed for up to 9 months. If you plan on taking this entrance into Yosemite, especially in spring or early summer, you better check if it is open to traffic.

At the entrance to Yosemite, I was somewhat shocked to find out that it will take another 1.5 hours to get to the Yosemite Village. I had no idea how big Yosemite was and frankly, I was ill-planned for Yosemite.

The Tioga Pass is a mountain pass that winds through the Sierra Nevada mountains. The elevation is almost 10,000 feet from the sea level. To think of it, we were just hours ago in the Death Valley of which some parts were below sea level.

I lost track of the distance along the Tioga Pass but I think it is about 10km or so of winding roads. Although the road is generally clear, there were quite a bit of rocky debris on the sides of the road.

The view along the Tioga Pass Road is simply breathtaking. (more…)