Last week, September 13-17, we had a fabulous time in Yosemite National Park. Sunday we drove up and stayed in Oakhurst near the south entrance. Before heading into the park the next day we ate breakfast at a place where Kelly likes to get chicken fried steak and we went to the local gym. The day rate was only $7 and they had everything one would need to have a good workout. After our weight lifting fix we drove all the way to the north side of the park near Hetch Hetchy Reservoir where we checked into a little cabin at the Evergreen Lodge. I highly recommend staying here if you want to avoid the crowd in the valley and still be in the park. The drive from Oakhurst is so windey I always got motion sickness on past trips. This time I didn't get sick once because we were able to avoid extreme elevation changes. After a few nights in the cabin, we made our way to the valley where we stayed one night in Yosemite Lodge. It was us and all the Germans - I mean all the Germans. It was very crowded and much hotter than when we were up at Hetch Hetchy. Still enjoyable and the restaurant was excellent. The last day we drove the entirety of the Tioga Pass and came out on the east side where we then drove down through Mammoth. Each day we did at least one 3-4 hour hike. Then we spent time just walking around near our cabin or in the room where Kelly made music or we watched movies on my new laptop. Yosemite is definitely one of our favorite places.
drinking coffee with the bowling pin people at Oakhurst's Kountry Kitchen:
in the meadow where Kelly proposed:
making field recordings:
stopping along the Tioga Pass near White Wolf:
hiking to Lukens Lake:
Carlon day use area near Hetch Hetchy:
hiking to Carlon Falls:
ran into a herd of cows on the way back to our car:
after dinner at the Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge:
after our most difficult hike up to May Lake:
