My Tree Sons

Yesterday was our last day in Yosemite and we had saved the final stops for the drive on our way out of the park. We checked out of our tent cabin and took a few photos of Zach in his bear hat and hopped in the car for the drive out of Yosemite.

As we headed away from Yosemite Village toward Glacier Point, we made a quick stop at Bridalveil Falls. I had read that when you go up the 1/4 mile trail to the view point of the falls, the climate changes and you are in a cloud of water from the massive amounts of water coming down. Because it was summer and there has been a drought in California, we didn't experience the mist, but it was still a pretty site.  We hopped back in the car and took the hour drive to Glacier Point.

Glacier Point rises about 3500 feet above the valley floor.  When we looked up from Curry Village, we saw the face of the rock that rose to Glacier Point. Now we were at the top and got a great panoramic view of Yosemite Valley. We were able to see the tent cabins in Curry Village, Half Dome, and the different spots we had hiked to the day before. The view was amazing. There are several trails from Glacier Point that you can hike on. Next time we come, I told the boys we could ride the shuttle to the top and then hike the 4.5 miles down to Yosemite Village. I just have to get into better shape!

We left Glacier Point and drove another hour to the Mariposa Grove. This last section of Yosemite was set aside to protect the Sequoia trees. These ancient trees are massive in height and diameter. One of the sites we saw was a large tree with three smaller trees behind it. The name on the placard was the Bachelor and Three Graces, but I decided that we would call it a Mother and Her Three Sons. We made the decision to hike the mile or so to the Grizzly Giant and a little bit further on to the Tunnel Tree. This tree had a thoroughfare cut through the middle of the tree so that a stagecoach could drive through it. This is the second tree that had been cut this way years ago. The first one fell down after a heavy snowfall. The literature states that the tree could have probably lived for 1000 years if the trunk had not been weakened by the damage of cutting through the core. On the other hand, the international attention received by this unusual site, contributed to the preservation of this grove of trees.

Grizzly Giant

When we got to the Tunnel Tree, the trail markers stated it was another 1.6 miles to the clothespin tree which was a naturally occurring tunnel tree. We decided to hike to this tree and the nearby Faithful Couple tree which was two trees that merged into one. Zach led the way up the trail and we faithfully followed behind him. At some point, it seemed that we were no longer on the actual trail, but Zach plowed on following the footsteps in the dirt as the "trail" narrowed, went straight up the side of a hill and over fallen and burned trees. When Zach was a toddler, he was our adventurous one, always choosing the difficult and risky path. Apparently, he never outgrew this trait. As we wandered through the wilderness, we wondered if we'd ever get to our destination. Eventually we found paved road, and followed it until we reached the trees. It was an adventure and despite the ribbing and jibing from his brothers, we had fun. It was another 2 miles or so down to the parking lot and then a shuttle ride back to our car and the trip to Newbury Park to spend the night with Marc and Jackie, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

We drove through Fresno and stopped for dinner in Bakersfield. We were making pretty good time until, my GPS decided to take us a on a random route to save us mileage. We drove through many back roads and took a detour since a ramp was closed for construction. Eventually, we arrived at Marc and Jackie's at 10:50, chatted with our patient hosts, and then collapsed into bed.

This morning we all slept in and were treated to a pancake bar cooked by Marc. Our breakfast feast included bacon, sausage, juice, fresh fruit, and four different pancakes (blueberry, apple cinnamon, banana walnut, and banana chocolate chip). We'll spend the day here with Marc and Jackie and will head home tonight. It's been a fun trip, but it isn't over yet. Jackie mentioned a Stagecoach Museum and we are headed there now!