Yosemite National Park

On my way from Lake Tahoe back to San Francisco, I stopped for the night in Yosemite National Park.

The drive in from Lake Tahoe through the seasonally closed 10,000 foot pass entrance was a great way to wind into the park. I stopped for a snack at the best gas station restaurant I’ve ever been to, better than the roadside buffets in France. Thanks for the recommendation from the guy at breakfast. It’s just a Mobil station, but it has chefs with white jackets. I think the persistent Yosemite-bound traffic keeps this place going. From there the drive was at least 40 miles down to about 4,000 feet. I passed through several climates from above the tree-line with snow to the redwood, oak, and pine groves in the valley.

I spent the night in the Housekeeping Campground in a canvas sided structure pictured below. The granite peaks and domes that surround the Yosemite Valley are amazing. From the valley below they are several thousand feet tall on all sides. Unlike the claustrophobic feeling that can arise in a city with tall buildings, the distance away gives a feeling of safety and protection. I took a walk for a couple of hours around the valley crossing several streams and stopping at Mirror Lake.

On the way out I stopped in the Mariposa Groove for my first experience with the Giant Sequoias. As the biggest trees in the world by volume, these are real giants. This grove of trees numbers in the hundreds and yet is very isolated. The tour, on an open-air trailer, was a great way to experience these giants without having to navigate (or climb uphill). The tour was proud to point out that the idea for a National Park System comes from this grove of trees and an important naturalist whose name escapes me.

This is definitely a place I will return on a long weekend next year.