Travelling Diaries
2017 US Great Adventure / Day 2 - Yosemite
Previous and next: Day 1 - Travel to San Francisco / Day 3 - Yosemite National Park
Day two was our first full day in the US. As none of us could sleep we got up early and had our breakfast at around 7. We then headed off to buy some provisions and some snow chains. Although we were coming out of winter, some of the parks wouldn’t let you in unless you were carrying chains as there was a lot of snow still on the ground.
We ended up at a local Walmart in Merced. I am always amazed at some of these big stores in the States. Their food section is a series of documentaries waiting to be written (Karen says they are already upon Netflix). They had a small selection of fruit and vegetables, and aisle after aisle of fast food. Cookies and chips alone took up about four aisles and sugary soda and other soft drinks another three.
Walmart’s biggest selling point is that it sells everything. For instance, in their pharmacy section I found over 32 varieties of indigestion tablets, and home cholesterol and diabetes testing kits.
They were out of snow chains.
Not to worry we would pick them up on the way.
Our journey to Yosemite was good. The designated driver had a good sat nav with him and I had bought a dash cam to record the journeys.
We picked up a set of used snow chains from a gas station en route and headed off on our journey.
We arrived at the Yosemite View Lodge where we would be staying for the next two nights. We were too early for check in so we left our bags there and headed into the National Park.
The journey into Yosemite National Park was slow. A landslide had destroyed a road, so there was a long slow diversion in place. Also, California had had its first wet spring after many years of drought, so all waterfalls were spectacular this year. Because of these factors, and because it was a sunny Saturday, their were long queues into the park.
We were used to queuing.
A colleague of Karen's had kindly given us his National Park's pass from last year which still had a few months before expiry. This saved us a lot of money. Once into the park we searched around and finally found a good place to leave the car in Yosemite village and went for our first hike.
Pride comes before the falls
We decided to climb up to see the Upper Yosemite Fall, a magnificent waterfall you could see from Yosemite village.
Upper Yosemite Fall was only 3.5 miles from the village where we parked. But vertical. This was probably a little ambitious as we were all unfit and still suffering from jet lag. But, hey, when will we be here again?
Talking of fitness, I have been looking for ways to improve my fitness for a while. Just over a year ago I bought myself a Fitbit. This records things like your steps taken per day, distance walked and your heart rate. When you set it up via your phone or tablet, you can provide it with your name and then, every time you charge it, the Fitbit will give you a motivational message when you put it back on. As my kids call me Po, that is the name I put in. I then get messages each day like “You can do it, Po” or “Burn it, Po”.
This morning the message had been “Are you ready, Po?”. I was. And now at the foot of this giant cliff I felt motivated and as ready as I was ever going to be.
Twenty minutes in I was shattered. Continuous stepping up wasn't easy when you are as unfit as I was. The climb to the top was not going to be easy.
The route was also very busy. A constant stream of people were going up or down at any one time. I was forever stepping in to allow people to pass, which I didn't mind as it allowed me to catch my breath ("oh, [pant] look [gasp] at the view [wheeze]").
It was disheartening to see how fit some people were. Some people were running up hill and there were other people carrying small children on their backs. I struggled carrying myself, never mind another person.
After climbing for about two gruelling hours we stopped for a breather and got chatting to someone who was on the way down. We asked them how much further to go. They said that they had left the top about two hours ago for the journey down. Considering that you are probably twice as fast coming down as going up, this made our hearts sink. I checked the Fitbit. The message was “are yer mad, Po?”
I wasn't going to be beaten by a bit of a hill and so we continued. The views were spectacular.
We carried on for a good bit, but when we reached a particular spot with an outcrop of rock, we stopped again to catch our breath and as a team decided that we had achieved enough on our first day.
When got back down again we stopped to have a snack.
There were strict rules about managing food in the park. There was a real risk of bears so leaving food around was strictly forbidden. For those people who were camping there were special bear proof containers for storing food. You couldn't leave food in your cars either as bears had been known to rip doors off cars in search of food. Also, as they were just coming out of hibernation, they were particularly hungry.
The thought of possibly seeing a bear was something that Laura was excited about. Ever since she was a child she has always had a fascination for bears, probably brought on my the fact that her first present as a baby was a teddy bear from her Uncle and Aunt. She still has that teddy.
After our snack I needed a comfort break and went in search of the restrooms. They consisted of cubicles with a hole in the ground. That's it. The smell inside them was unbelievable. Now, fortunately, I have a very poor sense of smell, but even then, my eyes were watering. I felt sorry for the bears.
Queuing theory part two
The return to the lodge was a slow one. The roads around the park consist of a one way system so we had to make sure we were going in the right direction.
After a slow journey we suddenly got a great view of a giant outcrop of rock known as El Capitan. We pulled in to take a photo as it glistened in the sun.
As we pulled back out we were thinking of heading to see another part of the park and took a wrong turn. Unfortunately, this took us back to the start of the park roads and we had to do the slow circular journey again.
Still it gave us more opportunities to admire the magnificent views.
We arrived back at the hotel and checked in. As there was no internet, although I could write the blog, I couldn't post it.
This meant that there was going to be an unintentional online blog blackout for a few days. But who's reading this anyway?
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