The Piece de Resistance – Yosemite Valley

September 28^th, Yosemite, CA 

This day had us waking up early again after resting very well.  Our campsite was so comfortable with the exception of the arrival of a bunch of rowdy college age kids partying into the wee hours.  I was kind of surprised no ranger came by and told them to cool it since they spoke with such strictness about the rules and regulations such as quiet hours starting at 10pm.  It would seem that park rangers are not in the campgrounds through the night.  Perhaps it is the night air but even though we couldn’t help but hear them in the clear air we still managed to get decent sleep that night. 

We lingered again for a bit over the morning coffee and campfire but we had a lot of ground to cover. Aside from the sightseeing of the famed valley we were desperate for our first showers in a couple days. 

The showers were only located within the valley which was an hour away from our campsite so the plan would be to do our sightseeing and before leaving go to the public shower and then head back to camp.  We knew we’d be making dinner at dark but we had planned ahead and our meal that night was going to be simpler.  Off we headed and I could feel the excitement of seeing what Joyce called ‘my favorite place in the world’.  This coming from a woman who has traveled all over the world and much of the US.  I was psyched for sure. 

I wish I could describe how incredible it is seeing the Yosemite Valley with the massive granite rocks towering over the beautiful valley meadows and trees but no words can do it justice. 

The size of towering cliffs around us is a shock and hard to get perspective until I used my binoculars to catch sight of a rock climber fixed onto the sheer rock face of El Capitan.  I couldn’t actually make out there was a human being there but the tiny speck looked to be a makeshift cocoon of high tech colored nylon against the mottled slate grey of rock.  That anyone would put themselves willingly in that position escapes me but it did give me a realization of the massiveness we were looking at. 

The colors and contrasts were striking.  There was an achingly blue sky that the cliffs towered against and tall evergreen trees, some ponderosa and some sequoias, which filled the valley along with massive boulders strewn among them. 

Along with the blue, grey, green colors was the golden hue of meadow grasses in the center of the valley.  A riot of color that we hoped we could do justice to with our photographs.  This valley is stupendous in every way.  I can see why so many artists painted it.  I knew that the moment I saw Yosemite and the Sierra Nevadas depicted in the Hudson Valley style by artists like Albert Bierstadt that I wanted to see all this for myself.  It has been a dream to see this in person and nothing could prepare me for the reality. 

Joyce and I spent a couple hours exploring the valley and even managed a little side trip into the gorgeous, high end Ahwahnee Hotel for a cold beer at their bar.  It was an experience to walk around and tour this beautiful hotel with it’s incredible architecture and décor.  Nice place for a little relaxing in the afternoon before our showers and drive back along curvy mountain roads to our campsite. 

Our hopes of ranger intervention with regards to the rowdy neighbors were realized when we heard one of the culprits shushing another of their group when he began talking too loudly around 10pm.  That was good news for us as the next day would have us breaking camp and on the road again for a long drive to Death Valley.  We were tired and needed a good night’s sleep which we thankfully were able to get.  Our next destination for Sunday night was a room at Furnace Creek Ranch in the heart of Death Valley.  Onward and now after almost three weeks….eastward for a change.