SATURDAY - We vacated our campsite 15-minutes ahead of schedule at 10:15AM to make our 48-mile trek down and out of Yosemite National Park to arrive at our Army Corp of Engineers campsite that has electricity.
Before we exited the National Park we dumped our waste tanks and filled our 39-gallon fresh water tank until it overflowed, that's because it has to last us for the next 15-days.
There is a 3300' drop in elevation between the two campsites and when we arrived down near Fresno the tempuratures were in the high 90°F. That's something we didn't have to deal with up in the National Park during the last 2-weeks.
We've got just one night here and we need to drive into Fresno (40-minutes away) to take care of laundry, fuel up with $5.84 gasoline, fill one of our propane bottles, retrieve our Amazon packages at Whole Foods, purchase some firewood and if there's time left, we'll try to get our grocery shopping done.
We tried our regular "divide and conquer" strategy to get everything done, but it just didn't work out this time.
First we filled up with gas and then grabbed a quick late lunch at McDonalds. Then I dropped Tricia at the laundromat while I took care of Amazon, propane, drinking water refills and firewood.
We got everything done except the grocery shopping, so that will have to be taken care of on our travel day tommorow.
We arrived at our new campsite at 12:30 and by 1:15 we were headed into town.
After we arrived back at the campground we checked out the boat ramp at Hensley Lake.
Like most of California's ground water the lake is very low and it's been that way for years.
The original boat ramp ends no where near the water, neither does this secondary ramp. Where all those trucks are parked is where the current boat launch area is located.
We arrived back at the campsite just before sunset around 6:30PM.
Our site is plenty big enough to fit ROVER and THE POD.
Plus the bath house with unlimited hot showers are just a short walk from our campsite.
We will try to be off the campsite by 9:00AM tomorrow which will give us time to grocery shop and still arrive at our next campsite on time to properly check-in.
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MONDAY - Today it's time for us to vacate our campsite here in the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park and head down to the southwest corner of the park at Wawona Campground.
It's takes about an hour to drive the 40-miles between the two campgrounds, but today you'll see we hit another traffic delay on our way there.
TRAVEL DAY
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This time we were second in line at the traffic delay, which lasted for a full 30-minutes.
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Workers are thinning out some trees and can't have automobiles driving by when they fall.
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Tricia took this photo when we pulled into the Half Dome Overlook parking lot to allow the 40-50 cars that were stuck behind us at the traffic delay to get around us slowpokes.
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Same spot, just zoomed in.
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We had four rounded tunnels to pull THE POD through today and Tricia captured just how far away I kept from the white line on the edge of the roadway.
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The final tunnel for today is just around that corner at the Tunnel View Overlook.
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There always seems to be a crowd at this location and not just at sunrise.
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A quick over the shoulder photo before we enter the Wawona Tunnel.
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This one is a lot longer than the other three we passed through on Big Oak Flat Road.
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Even as you exit the tunnel there is an empty pullout with an exceptional view.
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Soon Yosemite Valley was out of sight and we entered the Wawona Valley.
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We arrived at our campsite only to find another Airstream on the campsite next to us.
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What are the chances of that happening, plus they're from Satellite Beach, FL.
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We are parked heading with the flow of 1-way traffic along our campsite.
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The other Airstream is parked backwards to keep their door off the roadway side. We thought about doing the same, but in the end chose not to.
GOING COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC HERE: You all know how I've been trying real hard to escape the Pacific Coast without having to pay more than $6.00 a gallon for gasoline. Well, that's not going to happen!
We are high up in Yosemite National Park and the nearest town is 22-miles away where the gas is still way above my $6.00 limit. The closest station with gas at $5.99 a gallon is 44-miles away, or over a hour from our campsite.
There are just two Chevron Gas Stations here INSIDE Yosemite National Park, one 8-miles from where we we're just camping and one just 2-miles down the road from where we are camping right now. They both sell gas for exactly the same price, $6.76 a gallon.
So there's really no escaping it! When we pulled into our campsite today the "50-miles to empty" warning light came on. We have to buy gas and the only gas available is $6.76 a gallon. So I threw in the towel and purchased 9-gallons at that price, equal to 1/4-tank or 90-miles of driving.
It should be enough for us to do our sightseeing for the next five days and still get us down near Fresno where the gas is around $5.85 a gallon. OUCH!
TUESDAY - Today we're going to start our exploration of this southern section of Yosemite National Park.
The main attraction for this region is the Glacier Point Road out to the overlook of Yosemite Valley. Unfortunately that road is currently closed so that the fire department has unobstructed access to fight the Dome Fire located on the southeast side of the park.
That leaves the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias as our next best option of something to see. It's located about 6-miles south of our campground and easy to find just inside of the park's Southern Entrance Station.
In order to reach the trails that wind their way through the giant trees you have to ride a FREE shuttle bus between the Welcome Center and the Trailhead Parking Lot. Only vehicles displaying a Handicap Placard may drive up to the trailhead.
MARIPOSA GROVE OF GIANT SEQUOIAS
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At 9:30AM each day there is a 1.5-mile Ranger Guided Tour through the trees.
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Right at the beginning of the trail there is a cluster of six 200' tall Sequoias.
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We arrived just in time to join the Ranger Guided Tour.
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The first of several "named" trees is this one, The Fallen Monarch.
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It's hard to believe these giant trees grow from such a small seed cone.
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When a tree starts to broaden at the base it means the tree will stop growing taller.
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The Sequoia trees are not immune to fire damage, but the are very resilient.
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As you can see this grouping is called The Bachelor and Three Graces.
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This tree has a burn scar that goes clear through to the other side.
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This tree was carved out by humans to become the first of the drive-thru trees.
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Today, the road no longer goes through it, but the hiking trail does.
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It's now known as the California Tunnel Tree.
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The "Grizzly Giant" is the oldest tree in Mariposa Grove. As you can see the top was struck by lightening, but now one of the limbs is 7' thick and 70' tall.
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Time to start heading back to the parking lot.
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Like most trees you can tell it's age by the number of rings. I'm not going to count them!
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It sure makes you feel small when walking among these giant trees.
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Back at the Welcome Plaza a sequoia tree's footprint is shown using tiles in the sidewalk.
WEDNESDAY - Today we are traveling an even shorter distance from the campground. We are still heading south, but only 2-miles this time.
At the intersection of Wawona Road and Forest Drive we took a left and drove 2-miles to the end of Forest Drive where the Swinging Bridge Trailhead is located. A short 3/4-mile round trip trail led us to what else, a Swinging Bridge.
SWINGING BRIDGE HIKE
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The trail itself wasn't anything spectacular, but the destination sure was!
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This bridge is one of only a few that cross over the South Fork of the Merced River.
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The downriver view from the bridge wasn't what caught our attention,...
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...it was the upriver view that we couldn't tear our eyes away from.
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There's something about water flowing over smooth rocks that mesmerizes me.
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Down at the waters edge time appears to just slip away.
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Looking deeper into the Yosemite Wilderness.
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The water will eventually smooth over that stump of rock creating the fountain effect.
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Come on Tricia! We've got more to see and do today.
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3/4-mile up this path we will hopefully find ROVER waiting for us.
Back down Forest Drive towards Wawona Road is where you'll find the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. It doesn't look like much from the parking lot, because most of the good stuff is on the other side of the South Fork of the Merced River.
PIONEER YOSEMITE HISTORY CENTER
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On the south side of the river there's only a large horse corral and a barn.
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There is also some antique farming equipment on display.
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For the second time today we'll be crossing over the South Fork of the Merced River.
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No swinging bridge this time. This time it's a covered bridge.
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On the north side of the river is where all the 1880-1920s buildings are.
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Some of the buildings had signs explaining their purpose.
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Some of them had lead glass window designs built in.
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We got to peek inside the window of this building.
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Some of them were a full two stories tall.
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One thing all of the buildings had in common...
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...was a padlock of the doors and not open to the public.
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It appears they sometimes hold blacksmithing demonstrations judging by all the seats.
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This building was the Office of the Acting Superintendant of Yosemite National Park.
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There are still a few horses and burros on the property, but they too are off limits.
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The Yosemite Transportation Company housed the Wells Fargo Express office.
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This small building was used to temporarilly house criminals.
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Not very comfortable accommodations were they?
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Time to cross back over the river to where we parked the truck.
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Covered bridges weren't really a "thing" out west. This one was built by an easterner.
FRIDAY - Tomorrow we leave Yosemite National Park after our 12-day visit.
Yesterday and today we spent time here on the campsite and talking with our newest friends, Ester and Bruce, the couple in the Airstream behind us.
Wednesday night we were invited to join them at their campfire. Tricia and I can't remember the last time we sat around a campfire. It sure was nice!
Bruce has been having problems keeping his batteries charged. There are no electric or water hookups here in the National Park and we are both heavily shaded by the trees on our sites. Bruce has a nice generator, twice the wattage as mine, however we can't seem to get the power from the generator into the batteries.
Generator hours here in the campground are from 7-9am, 12-2pm and 5-7pm. That's only six hours a day and at the minimal charge Bruce was getting it barely kept the refrigerator running.
Between the two of us we managed to improve his charging capablities, but not bring it up to where it should be. They have several more weeks before they return home to Florida and I hope they get the problem resolved before then.
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
