Northern California

My first trip to San Francisco didn’t disappoint.  We managed to cover a lot in the 10 days we were there – a cable car ride to downtown San Francisco, a ferry ride to Sausalito, getting lost in Golden Gate Park, the huge redwoods in Muir Woods, the beautiful scenery of the Napa Valley, the friendly town of Nevada City, stunning Yosemite, chilling in Pacific Grove and seeing our first sea otters.  We stayed in some great B&Bs and made new friends.  We learnt more about American culture and the flora and fauna.  The highlight for me was Yosemite, which I guess proves I’m a country girl at heart, although I grew up in a town!  And Yosemite is where I will begin my blog post.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

My first view of Yosemite was from the roadside as we joined all the other motorists who had stopped to take photos of El Capitan.  We descended to the valley floor where the visitor centre is located.  This is where the problems started – there were so many people doing the same thing that it was impossible to park the car.  This seemed odd given that we were in an area of outstanding natural beauty.  As the temperature rose so did tempers!  Finally we found a parking space and waited at the bus stop for one of the many shuttle buses that transport visitors around the park. As the bus overtook the line of traffic we felt quite smug!

“If you only have one day in Yosemite” the guidebooks say, “then you must visit Vernal Falls.”  So we did; along with many other people who were obviously following the same advice!  Still, the crowds did not detract from the beauty of the place and, because of the many warnings about bears and mountain cats; I had a feeling of safety in numbers!  

We were short of time, but also decided to take the track to Mirror lake.  There were a few people (it is on the bus route) but nothing like the crowds we had seen previously and we wished we had had more time to walk around the whole lake. But it was nice to sit and ponder on a rock. 

Catching the bus back to our car was no mean feat.  Everyone was doing the same.  All the buses were full and the valley floor was one big traffic jam.  In the end, we decided to grab a bite to eat and then walk back to the car, feeling slightly disconcerted by the sign saying we were in a mountain cat area! Earlier, we had seen Chinook helicopters whizzing overhead and heard rumours that President Obama and his family were due to visit Yosemite that weekend to mark its 100^th anniversary.  Having finally left the traffic behind, we made it back to our B&B, the delightful Blackberry Inn, just before dark!  

The next day we decided to steer clear of the visitor centre and instead go even higher.

Following the windy, but good road we were soon above the snow line.  There were no crowds here.  This is what I had imagined Yosemite to be.

We parked the car at Tuolumne Meadows, the trailhead for several walks.  Tuolumne Meadows is a sub-alpine meadow and is a contrasting lush green, against the rocky landscape.  At 9,000 feet the air was thinner and fresher.  We did two spectacular walks - Dog Lake and Lembert Dome – and hardly saw a soul.

Our visit to Yosemite was far too short and one day we hope to return.