3rd Annual Yosemite Camping Trip Journal
For the third year in a row, I went camping to Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with my aunt (Maria), uncle (Darrell), cousin (Krystal), and John (Krystal’s future husband). I treated this trip a little bit differently than the past two trips, for one of my cousins, Amanda (Krystal’s older sister), was unable to make it this year, due to enlisting in the National Guard, and she normally is the person I was able to do many things with during the trip since she didn’t have other things she had to do. Every night I stayed up past everyone else and wrote down what happened that day and things I was feeling. I have decided to type these journals’s out and post them for my blog of this year’s trip. This trip is the only week in the entire year I mostly disconnect from the outside world, which included internet, using the phone, news, work, 4-H, and other day to day responsibilities.
Day 1: May 31st, 2009
I slowly woke up to my phone alarm at 6:30am in my room at the Radisson Hotel, Sacramento, and prepared to leave for the three hour drive to Yosemite Valley. By the time I packed up the car and checked out and hit the road, it was 8:00 am. I took the business 80 to the 99 south bound till I got to Manteca, where the 120 highway exit is located. I got off the 99, stopped at the Cheviron gas station, and made a few phone calls. Within 15 minutes, I was back on the road, with nothing but the rolling foothills before being in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As I got closer to the park entrance, I noticed that hundreds of monarch butterflies where everywhere to be seen!
At the park entrance, I made a pit stop and noticed that hundreds more of these butterflies where flying in all directions and resting on the bathroom building. After a few minutes, I headed back to the car, and continued the drive being egger to get into the valley. Ten minutes south of the park entrance, near Hodgdon Meadow Campground, I was driving at normal speeds when I noticed traffic beginning to slow down, and as I turned around a hill, I noticed a ranger patrol vehicle with its lights on. Right away, I think a car accident has occurred, but as I moved closer to the ranger vehicle, I noticed tons of people on the right side of the road pointing and taking photographs of something that was in a small meadow in the middle of the forest. Traffic stopped for a few moments, which allowed me to look over to see what everyone was so amazed about. On the south side of the small meadow, I noticed a mother black bear and her cub was chillin in the meadow, looking for food. Right away, I begin looking for a parking spot, so I can grab the camera and snap some photographs of the two bears. Sadly, since we were in a area in the middle of nowhere in the park, there wasn’t much parking (everything was taken), and two park rangers where yelling to not stop, and to keep driving. I was unable to stop to get some photographs of the bears, but I was very glad to have seen those bears.
25 minutes later down the road, I arrived in the valley, and parked in the day use parking in Curry Village while I wait for Krystal and John to arrive. While waiting, I decided to eat lunch at the pizza deck, and then went back to the car. After waiting for a little while, I decided to see if I could go to the campsite and unload my supplies. The ranger at the North Pines Camp Ground Kiosk allowed me to go to our campsite. Right as I left the Kiosk, it began to rain (mildly) with thunder roaring throughout the valley. I drove around, and got to our campsite, #531, and chilled in the car for a few moments till the rain stopped, then I began unloading my gear. While I was unloading, John and Krystal drive up in front of my car, and they too began unloading their gear. We set up out tents, put our stuff in our tents, then drove off to Curry Village, where John’s truck and my Pontiac Sunfire will be parked for the entire week. John and Krystal drove up two of the five dogs, Holly and Scarlett, and we walked with the dogs from the village to the campsite, just .5 miles away.
When we arrived back at the campsite, my uncle and aunt had arrived, and already put their trailer into position. After helping my aunt and uncle set up, we chilled and prepared dinner (take and back pizza Krystal and John got from a place in Fresno). While dinner was in the oven, uncle Darrell’s brother, David, and his wife, Paula, arrived. They decided that they would come up and chill for one night in the valley, with making some other stops along the way.
After dinner, everyone decided to walk down to Curry Village for some Ice Cream, but Paula and I was too full from dinner to have Ice Cream, so we headed to the meadow across the way from the village, and took our cameras with us. She had a Nikon D40 DSRL, and I have a Nikon D90 DSRL camera. She was new to photography, so I gave her a few quick lesions on photography, mostly dealing with the rule of thirds and camera settings. While walking out into the boardwalk in the middle of the meadow, we noticed that 5 deer where in the middle of the meadow grazing. Paula learned it was way too far to take a good photograph, but I taught her that one thing about getting a good shot is being there at the right times, and sometimes you have to be patient to allow for the right time to come. While waiting, we took some photographs of the moon being over Glacier Point, and after a few shots, we turned back around to notice that the deer had moved right to the board walk. Slowly we moved towards the five deer to take some photographs. It was very hard to get some good shots, for the sun was way gone, and the night in the sky was too low to take any good shoots. After watching the deer for awhile, we walked back to Curry Village, where we ran into everyone else, and walked back to the camp site to have a camp fire, talk for a while, and go right to bed. The past two years, Amanda and I shared a tent, which her tent had a wall thing that could be put down to give us each out own space.
This year, I had to bring my own tent, which my parents got when I was three years old. It was a nice 4 person tent, with lots of room. It sucks not having anyone here to talk to for a little bit before heading to bed. I figure that is why I am writing down this journal, to keep me busy till I get tired and fall asleep. I hope that not having someone to chill with and do things with on this trip won’t end up having me be alone and bored. Only time will tell. As of right now, I still feel real stressed, and not really in vacation mood. Let’s hope that will change in the morning.
Day 2: June 1, 2009
The morning started out with the waking up to the sound of tons of birds chirping in the valley forest, and the warm sun light filling up the tent. It took me 30 minutes to finally get out of the warm sleeping bag, and out of the tent. As I get out of the tent, I notice that everyone was already up and waiting for breakfast to be finished cooking, which we had blue berry pancakes (homemade). After breakfast, we planned out what was going to happen in the morning. At first, everyone was going to take the 1.5 mile walk down to view Yosemite Falls, but a small issue rose for Paula and David needed to leave at noon, and they would most likely just get to the falls by noon. I decided to go ahead of the group with Paula, and take the free valley shuttle down to the falls, so she has more time to view different parts of the valley. David decided to stay behind and go back to sleep so he would be well rested for the drive home. Paula and I took the shuttle down to Yosemite Falls, and first took some photos of both the upper and lower falls together before taking a short walk to the lower falls viewing area, where more photos were taken. While at the lower falls, you can feel the pure power of the hundreds of gallons of water falling and crashing down into the valley below, creating a powerful cold wind that messes up your nice hair for the rest of the day. You could fly a kite 24/7 with the wind from those falls, until the water level drops to just a small stream near the end of the summer into the fall.
After enjoying the massive power of the Yosemite Falls, we headed back to the shuttle, and headed to the other side of the valley to Happy Isles, where the Merced River roars in a long line of cascades down to the valley floor, just after Vernal and Nevada Falls. In between the river cascades, there are islands that you can walk on with towering trees with green moss growing on the trunks, and big boulders with miss and lichens on them. In fact, when you walk though many parts of the forest in the entire valley, it is the same thing, which makes one very beautiful scene. They are really cool islands to explore. Another cool part about Happy Isles is that with the large amount of water rushing down to the valley floor, the temperature drops due to how cold the water is, which the water is fresh snow melt from the higher elevation. After exploring the cascades and islands, I took Paula to the Nature Center, where she learned about the wildlife, natural disasters that are normal in the valley, like rockslides, floods, and fires, how the valley was created by large glaciers during the ice age.
My plan after Happy Isles was to take her to Mirror Lake, but it was time for her to head back to camp and to head home, so we took the shuttle to the stables and walked over to the campsite, where her and David packed up their car, and left to go home. I was now alone, and decided to eat lunch, and wait for the others to return. They returned 3o minutes later, and I chilled with them while they had lunch. In the afternoon, they wanted to rest from their long walk morning, and I really didn’t want to just sit there, so I tried to see if someone wanted to go to Mirror Lake with me, but no one was interested, so I ended up going myself. I took the 1.2 mile walk kinda up hill to Mirror Lake. During this walk, I started thinking about the trip, and many different aspects of my life. I arrived at Mirror Lake, and chilled there for awhile, shot some photographs. After doing a little exploring, I decided to just sit and relax on the north side of the lake, with the view of half dome, Mount Watkins, North Dome. Normally while at Mirror Lake, you can see the reflection from North and Half Dome, but today I couldn’t, for the wind was causing the lake to have a rough surface. While I was sitting there soaking in the majesty of the beautiful vista, I hear extremely load thunder being amplified many times louder than normal due to the 4,000 high granite walls of the valley, which made the thunder roar at the loudest I have ever heard thunder. Since I love thunder and lighting, it made even more relaxed and calm. It was at this moment that the stresses of the normal world withered away, and I became at piece, for the first time in a very long time. I am starting to think that it is nice that I don’t have someone with me up here, for I can just completely disconnect.
After relaxing for about 30 minutes, I decided to leave Mirror Lake, for more people where coming to my area and making the experience less enjoyable, and I was afraid it would begin to rain, so I wanted to get back to the camp before it began to rain. Walking back, I just took in all the fresh air, and the sounds of the water rushing, the air blowing in the trees, the ton of green for miles to be seen, no people in sight, and nothing to worry about. My vacation has officially set in. While walking back, I scoped the forest for any wildlife or any opps for photos, I came across a wood pecker on a tree, and snapped a real quick photo with my point and shoot cannon digital camera, then took out the Nikon D90, but before I can get a shot, the bird flew away. I arrived back at the camp, and we had dinner, and enjoyed each other’s company around the camp fire while drinking alcohol. I hope I could have a good sleep tonight. Since fires have to be out at 10:00 pm, everyone went to bed. I am used to going to sleep around midnight, so trying to fall asleep before hand is kinda hard, but I actually feel tired, and all this writing is making me tired so I am going to stop for the night. I am glad how today went, and I hope tomorrow does nothing but improve my mood.
Day 3: June 2nd, 2009
I woke up once again with the sound of hundreds of birds making their normal morning songs, and the sun light warming up the tent, and thought it was the perfect time to get up. I checked the time, and noticed it was 7:13 am, and I wasn’t all too happy, for normally I wake up 8:00-8:30. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was unable to. I got out of bed, and I got out of the tent to notice that once again, everyone else has already been up for a few hours. I guess they are used to waking up early for they are farmers, and they have to wake up early to do things before it got to hot in the day. I woke up not knowing what I was going to do, for John and Krystal where going on a hike to the top of Yosemite Falls, which is the second to first hardest hike in the entire national park, and I knew I would be unable to make it, so I didn’t join them. Instead, I chilled at the campsite with my uncle and aunt. We walked the dogs, and did some clean up.
After a little bit, we decided to take a drive out of the valley to go to see some giant sequoia trees in the Tuolumne Grove which is located at Crane Flat, about a 20 minute drive out of the valley. When we got to the parking lot, we learned it was a mile hike to the entrance of the grove. Little would we know that it is all downhill though a canyon. We first asked a ranger if the dogs are allowed, and they dogs could be on the road, so we began our walk. At first the walk was flat, then it started downhill into a canyon. After a few turns in the road, we were thinking that we would just turn around, due to Scarlett (the 17 year old dog) would never make it back up, and Sierra (the German Sheppard) was having problems with an elbow, and would be unable to walk up hill. Instead of everyone walking back, my uncle decided to take the two dogs, and my aunt and I would take the three remaining dogs with us down to the grove. Around this time, clouds began to cover the sky, which made it a very nice cool day. We continued on our walk down to the grove. As we got closer and closer to the grove, we noticed that a large amount of Dogwood flowers where all though out the canyon. I took this opportunity to take tons of photographs with both my cannon camera (which was better for the macro photography, since I didn’t have a macro lens for my Nikon yet), and took other type of photos with my Nikon. The downhill hike seemed to get steeper as we went along, but at the time, I wasn’t even thinking about the hike, for I was constantly snapping photos as we walked along, at this time, I was getting back into the same zone and feeling as I did while at Mirror Lake.
We finally got to the entrance sign, and from the looks of the road, we still had a long way before seeing the trees. We decided to turn around, for we have seen those type of trees before and we didn’t want uncle Darrell waiting forever. This is where we wished we turned around at the time uncle Darrell did, for the steep hike back was a hard one to make. I have to say that this was the steepest I have ever hiked in the park, way far worse than the John Muir Trail on last year’s trip to the top of Nevada Falls. When we reached the half mile mark, it began to sprinkle with rain drops. Right away, I get my rain protector for my camera case, so that the cameras would be safe from the rain. Luckily, the rain didn’t come down hard, and it stopped after about 10 mins. We finally got back to the parking lot, loaded up the dogs into the dodge, and headed back to the valley, where we ate lunch, chilled for awhile, and waiting for John and Krystal to return.
For the rest of the day, thunder roared all though out the valley, and had small amounts of rain though out the afternoon. We took the dogs for a small afternoon walk, and then came back for dinner and a campfire. I am not too happy that we didn’t do anything in the afternoon, but there wasn’t much I could do. I was in the mood to do something, but I didn’t want to do it alone. Sadly, I had no one to do anything with me, so I ended up being here at the camp the rest of the day. Just sitting here writing about today makes me want to have someone here in the tent with me tonight to talk to and have fun with. The main thing we did in the afternoon at the camp was play uno, which was fun, but I didn’t want to do that for the entire afternoon. I understood that Krystal and John where extremely exhausted from their hike, so I wasn’t going to bug them to do something with me. Well, I guess I have nothing else to write, and nothing else to do but sleep. Well, now that I think about it, the only other thing we did was stop off at Yosemite Village on the way back to camp, so that my aunt can look at the shops. I sent some mail out of the post office, and I bought a few things at the store, and that was it until we went back to the campsite. I did want to go out to valley view to take some photographs, so Krystal did go with me out there at sunset, and afterwards, we drove around the valley with a big spot light searching for bears. We didn’t get to see any. Well, now that is it, so Good Night!
Day 4: June 3rd, 2009
Today was a slow morning. John and Krystal was resting this morning, still recovering from their long 8 hour hike, and my uncle and aunt just walked the dog and did some things, so I decided to venture out on my own, but didn’t feel like riding my bike, so I took the valley shuttle to Yosemite Village to do some things like send some mail, and look around. My main goal was to go to the Ansel Adams Gallery while in the village, since I didn’t have time to go yesterday, so I went, and I bought a book on wildlife photography. There are lots of stuff in the book I already know, but it has some things I don’t know, so it was a good thing to buy. Today was another cooler, cloudy and rainy day with showers all though out the day. While I was on the shuttle heading back to camp, the shuttle driver said that it was a very perfect day to spot any bears, for they love this type of weather, and rather be out in it than sleeping. When I got back to the camp, I told Krystal, and she and I decided to walk behind the campsite on the path the mules and horses take to Mirror Lake, and look though some back meadows and forests where there would be no people around. We saw a deer, but nothing else, unless you want to count the hundreds of squirrels.
We took an old path, which was a back way to the Ahwahnee Hotel, in hope of seeing bears, with no luck. Right before we headed we got to the hotel parking lot, we passed the Royal Arch Cascade waterfall, and right away, I scoped out the place for photographs. I decided that I would go back later in the week when there is less light in the sky to take some photos. Right before heading back into camp, we checked out one more meadow one more time, and we ran into my aunt who was talking Turbo (Amanda’s Dog), which shocked us. After some more exploring, we headed back to camp where we had dinner, another camp fire, more alcohol, and had smores.
Day 5: June 4th, 2009
Today was going to be another day of relaxing at the campsite, which was a simple day. Main reason was for the cloudy rainy weather. In the morning to early afternoon the sun came out, so we decided to inflate our rafts, and go rafting though the valley on the Merced River. Uncle Darrell and I was in one raft, and Krystal and John was in another. My aunt drove the truck to the spot we had to get out to pick us up. My aunt and I went last year, so this year it was my uncle’s turn. The river was full, flowing at a good speed, and it was perfect. It took us about 25 minutes from the time we got onto the river at Stoneman Bridge, and rafted down to Sentinel Beach. Some of the best views of the valley is from the Merced River. You get a great view of Yosemite Falls and the meadows, and also great views of half dome from the river. After about half way, we decided to bump into each other’s rafts and have some paddle fights and slash each other with freezing cold fresh snow melt water. After having some fun, taking some photos, and video, we finally arrived at the beach where we had to get out. The only part of the rafting, which wasn’t fun, was when I was not paying attention, and we went over a big rock, which hit my right knee. Man that hurt like a mother fucker. I just yelled in pain and curse words for a good min after that. My uncle was just sitting there laughing the entire time as well as Krystal and John. After rafting, we chilled for a little while at the camp site, I headed off to Curry Village to do some more shopping. After dinner, Krystal, John, and I went over to Yosemite Lodge for a Moon light tour of the valley, which they only do during the full moon. It was a very beautiful tour, the moon light lit up the entire valley. At the stops for valley view and tunnel view, I took out the camera and try pod and did some time exposure shots, which turned out really good. Some of the photos look like they were taken during the day. When we stopped at tunnel view, they gave us hot chocolate to keep us warm. What surprised me was that the sky was clear for the entire tour. We got back to Curry Village at 11:45, and it was midnight by the time we walked back to the campsite. We all went to bed, and as I started writing about what went on today, one very loud lightning bolt hit the valley, roaring louder than anything else in the valley. After that lighting bolt, it just poured rain. It didn’t start with a sprinkle or any warning, it just let lose. At first it was a mild rain, but now it is getting extremely hard rain. I am not sure how I am going to sleep. I love the sound of rain against the tent fabric. Man I hope my tent doesn’t have any leaks, because my night will be a bad one if it does. Well, I guess I shall try and sleep, but the noise from the extremely hard rain is so hard, I don’t know how I will be able to sleep. We shall see.
Day 6: June 5th, 2009
I woke up to the sound of rain, not as hard as it was last night, it was a good steady rain. I stayed in my tent until around 9:00 to see if the rain would stop, but it didn’t, so I got up, went to the bathroom, then headed over the trailer where the dogs and everyone else was to keep dry. We had breakfast, and chilled. John left to go home this morning, for he has to work the next day. After he left, we played Uno spin (Uno game that has a wheel you spin), and then ate lunch. After lunch, Krystal and my aunt went to walk to Happy Isles, which I thought was crazy because it was raining. Uncle Darrell and I chilled in the trailer all day. I decided to start reading the book I bought at the Ansel Adams Gallery. It was perfect. Me reading a book on something I love, a warm cup of coffee, and rain. My uncle slept for most of the time that they were gone. He decided to wake up and baked some chocolate chip cookies. One reason because they needed to be baked and the second so that the heat from the oven would heat up the trailer. Krystal and my aunt came back, and we played some more Uno Spin. After awhile, my uncle, Krystal, and I went for a walk with the dogs, going the same path past the Royal Arch Cascade Falls. I took my camera and tripod with me. We got to the falls, and I tried to take some shots, but it was too bright. I told my cousin and uncle to continue without me, and they did. I was there a total of an hour and 30 mins waiting for the light to be just right. While waiting, I just chilled and enjoyed the sound of the rushing water. It was overcast, and it could have still rained on me. As a dark cloud covered the sky, I took the opportunity to take the shots until the light came back. At that time, it was 6:30, and the mosquitoes came out, I had no water with me, and I was afraid of it raining on me, so I took the .8 mile hike back to camp where we had dinner, our last alcohol drinks, and smores. After writing this, I was going to start packing since we leave tomorrow, but I feel tired and too lazy to do it right now. Thank god I didn’t have too much to write today. A part of me is glad to go back home, for I miss using my computer and not having internet. It has been 9 days since I have left home, for I had an event at UC Davis before this trip. Im ready to go home. I am going to sleep. I hope I can sleep in. It sounds like it is sprinkling a little bit outside right now, lets hope it isn’t raining tomorrow, cuz it would suck to pack up the tent in the rain.
Day 7: June 6th, 2009
I am writing about this day from home here on my computer, this is the only day I didn’t write anything since it was the day I went home. I woke up at 6:00 that morning to the bright sun. I wasn’t too happy about waking up that early. Right away, I woke up, and began packing my things. By 8:00, I had everything packed, and my tent completely down. All I had to do is bring my car over from Curry Village, and pack the stuff in the car. I did so after helping my uncle and aunt and Krystal pack up. Then I brought my car over, parked in the campsite next door, and quickly packed up my things and drove back to Curry Village. When I arrived back at the campsite, I helped them finish up packing, and helped my aunt with the dogs while my uncle took the trailer to the dumping station. At the dumping station, I said my goodbyes, and left to go to my car. I went to the restroom and bought some food from Curry Village since I didn’t eat breakfast, and headed off home. I drove the 140 down to Merced, instead of heading south though the park into Fresno. I figured it would be easier since that road is all downhill, and fallows the valley out to central valley. When I got to Merced, I filled up with gas, and had lunch, and left. I got home about 4:00 that afternoon. I was very very tired, there were some parts of the trip I caught myself closing my eyes and almost passing out. If that continued, I had a plan to pull over and sleep for awhile. I didn’t have to, I made it home, went out for dinner with the family, and went back home to go to bed. This trip wasn’t the same this year, mainly because Amanda wasn’t there, but I still enjoyed it, and now that this was the third time being in Yosemite for an entire week, Yosemite is feeling more like home when I am there, and hopefully, will have the change to go back in June of 2010.
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