Leslie and David's Wanderings: 19 October 2019 Yosemite National Park

Today was our first foray into Yosemite. Being a weekend, we expected big crowds, even though we are well past peak season. We were not disappointed. It was busy but not horribly so. Our first stop was the Mariposa Grove, which is one of the three stands of Giant Sequoia Trees in the park. The road to the grove was closed last year to cars, and we had to park at the base and take the free shuttle bus up to the start of the trails. We stopped in the store/Ranger Station at the bus depot and collected our 55th Passport Stamp. Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove were set aside in 1864 by President Lincoln in the Yosemite Land Grant. The Grant was turned over to the state of California to run and protect. After Yellowstone was made the first national park, the push was on to set aside more land around the Yosemite Grant. In 1890, a thousand square miles of land around the Yosemite Grant was made into the countries second National Park. It was not until 1906 that the Yosemite Grant was transferred back to the federal government and incorporated into the National Park.

It was only a 10-minute Bus ride to the trailhead.. We reviewed our trail options and decided to take the Grizzly Giant Loop Trail (2.4 Miles, 433 feet of elevation gain, 604 calories burned). The trail took us away from some of the crowds, and back to the massive Grizzly Giant Tree, which is estimated to be one of the oldest living things on the planet. It is huge (25^thlargest tree in the world)! The base has to be at least 40 feet in diameter, and even though the crown has broken off, it is still hundreds of feet tall. Some estimate it to be between 1900 to 2400 years old! Continuing down the trail brings you to the California Tunnel Tree. This is actually the second California Tunnel tree, the first being at higher altitudes near Wawona, which fell over in 1969. This one was carved in1895. It is believed to have been carved to handle winter visitors since it was at a lower altitude. After the tunnel tree, we headed back to the shuttle bus and back to the Behemoth.

We then drove to the Wawona area and had a late lunch in the historic Wawona Hotel. The Wawona visitor center was unfortunately closed for the season. We will have to go to the Yosemite Valley visitor center in a couple of days. Following lunch, we drove to Glacier Point, which overlooks the entire Yosemite Valley. The views from the point are Gorgeous!!! We could see Half Dome across the valley from us. Yosemite Falls was dry but we could see Nevada Falls and Vernal falls were still flowing. It’s a great view and well worth the drive. We spent close to an hour moving from one viewing point to the next. We could not get enough of the view. But we needed to head back to the Wanderer to take care of Etta. So we pulled ourselves away and headed back to Oakhurst.