Yosemite - Part one: Getting There and Slowing Down

After a few more laughs and a fond farewell we took off from Kevin and Rita's place high on the hills in Oakland and headed across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco again. This time in the van and Geoff at the helm. (Still trying to find the right name for her. Anita? Parker? Beulah? Annie? I dunno...) We had unfinished business with the Golden Gate Bridge. The drive over was stellar, the sun was out and barely a cloud in the sky. By the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog had rolled in and you could barely see the bridge standing right next to it. Sooooo, I STILL didn't get my pictures I wanted but we DID drive across the bridge in our awesome home on wheels. After crossing the famous bridge and bay we couldn't see, we set our sights on Yosemite National Park. What better way to spend the 4th of July than seeing a few of America's most iconic manmade and natural sites!

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge. Slightly Foggy... Classic.

Kevin and Rita check out the van with Geoff while I amuse their Golden Retriever, Keely (probs spelled that wrong)
Thank you for hosting us!! - Oakland, CA - July 4th, 2016

Side mirror view of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA

The drive from San Fran to the west entrance of Yosemite took around 3.5 hours. We stopped along the way and got the bread maker and ice maker going to take advantage of the abundance of solar energy. We got cherries, peaches and nectarines from one of the many farmers stands along the route and laughed at the lack of traffic leading into the park and the slow moving string of cars heading home after a holiday weekend in the busiest National Park in the nation. On Memorial Day Weekend the park saw 25,000 people in Yosemite Valley alone!!

The flat lands turned into rolling hills. The hills turned into steep valleys and cliffs and the plains gave way to forest scarred by fire. The forest fires that swept through here in 2013 blackened the ground leaving nothing but giant toothpicks standing where there were once tall pines and lush undergrowth. We started to gain more and more elevation with signs pointing out every 1000 feet we've gained and lost going up and over passes. We finally arrived at Big Oak Flat entrance and picked up our National Parks season pass. The light was fading so we headed straight to Yosemite Valley in hopes of finding a campsite, trying our best to ignore the gorgeous views at every turn. All campsites in the valley were full as reservations are needed with the exception of about a dozen first come first serve sites.

We decided to head out of the valley and up to Bridalveil Creek Campground that sits at just over 7,000 feet in elevation and is considered to be up in the high-country. We pulled into the first site we saw, which was difficult considering it was pitch black, and essentially passed out for the night.

In the morning we switched campsites and before all was said and done we would switch again the following morning due to a screaming child that the parents had no interest in consoling or disciplining. But seriously... please don't let your child scream and cry and yell from 8:30pm (when we returned to our site) to well past 11:00pm in a campground full of people. If your child's screams are echoing around the area you're doing it wrong.

Our big bad van nestled in Bridalveil Creek Campground in the high country of Yosemite National Park.
This site we only stayed at one night due to a screaming child and shitty parents.

SOOO glad we splurged and got a screened in canopy. The mosquitos up here could carry off a small child!
Bridalveil Creek Campground, Yosemite National Park. 

On switching and settling for the third and final time, Geoff went wandering around the empty campsites looking for abandoned wood for campfires. He was called over to a site occupied by what was to become the start of a good friendship. Phoenix and Tyler were packing up and heading out to try and get a wilderness permit, which are free and allows you to hike out at least a mile from the roads and camp outside official campsites, and after talking for about an hour, Geoff had a brilliant idea! We'd share a campsite! And so we did for two nights. We offered to share our site with them and ended up staying up far too late, and sticking around the campsite far too long in the mornings, making friends. It's always awesome to find like minded people in the most unlikely spots and situations. After parting ways on Phoenix and Tyler headed east to the Tioga Pass entrance and Mono Lake area and we headed south to the Wawona entrance and on to Fresno, CA.

But enough about all that. What you all want to see is pictures right? The gorgeous vistas Yosemite is famous for. You got it. I'll go over the different parts of the park we visited over 5 days in the next post. For now I'm sitting in an air conditioned Starbucks in Fresno, CA while Geoff is trying to fix the blower motor for the A/C and heater... yea. That happened half way through our stop in Yosemite, on a day reaching 100 degrees. Brilliant.

So here is a picture of one of the incredible meadows in Yosemite that are just coming into bloom this time of year. Well done, you earned it.

One of the many meadows coming into bloom in the high country in Yosemite National Park.
Just down the road from where we camped! 

Till next time, Fair Winds my friends!

Marsha (and Geoff.. somewhere...)