Grand Yosemite!

September 26^th, Yosemite National Park, CA

Our ‘fast and furious’ trek to make it to our campground before dark was still a chancy proposition as we entered into the late afternoon.  We passed through the eastern gate of Yosemite National Park with about three hours until dark.  According to GPS we had more than two hours of driving within the park itself before reaching camp but now we were seeing one gorgeous view after another.  I was thankful that Joyce had chosen to drive since this was my first glimpse of this incredible park and my head was swiveling constantly. 

The road was perched oftentimes on the edge of mountains but still a very nice highway.  I could see deep canyons and forests of pine everywhere.  It’s really hard to describe the kind of grand and magnificent scenery we were passing through. 

Most of the talk is about the Yosemite Valley but the whole park is gorgeous.  I knew at the first drive through that we didn’t have enough days to cover so much ground but I was going to enjoy what we could see.  The Tuloumne Meadows area was beautiful but the famed Valley would have to wait for another day.  It took us about 2 hours of driving on a curvy mountainous road to reach the Wawona campground where we had a reserved site for four nights.  And we made it before dark!  We were so relieved. 

Our campsite was really lovely with towering ponderosa pine trees all around and the Merced River babbling away next to us.  There were 3 loops to this particular campground and our loop was the last and we thought…the quietest (Friday night would prove that to be wrong).  There are only flush toilets and sinks plus a large outdoor sink for washing up cookware and the like.  That’s it…no showers.  I tend to be someone who really likes a nighttime shower before bed but the closest showers were an hour away up in the Valley.  This would be quite a test for me.  I had made sure to pick up a large package of thick cleansing wipes but still…hoping I could deal. 

We set up our campsite and decided to go with an easy dinner since dusk was approaching fast.  We had hot dogs on long skewers over a fire, humus and crackers and red wine….not fancy but easy and no cleanup.  After all the driving we were both whipped and ready for our sleeping bags before 9pm that night.  We made sure everything, and I mean everything, was put into the bear proof food locker provided by the camp.  Even our toiletry bag with toothpaste had to be put in there.  The park had strict rules about these things and I hoped that other people would stick by them as well as us.  I had heard about the bear problems in Yosemite in the past and was on alert for a while in our tent. 

Long before 10pm (quiet hours) the C Loop area was mostly quiet and dark had fully set in around 7:30pm.  The temps that day had been around low 70’s but when we were slipping into our tent for the night the temps had dropped around high 40’s.  It would eventually go down to low 40’s that first night but we were totally snug and comfortable in our Marmot Limelight 3 season tent (highly recommend this tent).  We had not really tested what we could withstand regarding colder nighttime temps while camping but our first night at Yosemite relaxed our concerns.  We slept great.  Luckily we had found some of the only cold weather sleeping bags that will zip together to create a double bag so combined body heat really helped keep us warm and toasty.  I was starting to feel pretty good about this camping thing.  The sleeping pads we picked up were insanely comfortable and my normal low back pain was almost non-existent.  We were in one of the most beautiful national parks camping under some big Ponderosas and next to rushing water….life truly was good.