Vacation Day 10: Toulumne Meadows


We started fairly early with breakfast up at the lodge.  I got the biscuits and gravy along with Rich.  Rick went for the French toast, which looked good, too.  We had Michael again.  Not too bad on the service this time.

We headed up the very winding and hilly road to the park.  This time, we took the Toulumne Meadows road out to the other side of the park.  We headed for the Toulumne Grove with its large sequoia trees.  The hike was on the old exit road out of the park.  It was in service until 1996 when they put in the nice 2 lane road we had been using.  It was pretty much a downhill hike with some switchbacks.  It was 1 mile down and then it would be another mile back up.  I dreaded coming back up.

We got to the tree grove.  You could walk through the single tree that was hollowed out to let traffic drive through it.  On the nature trail, there were several sequoias.  They weren’t as big as the trees I knew we see in Sequoia National Park though. 

We climbed around and took pictures.  We came across those grade schoolers again.  Their teacher said they were from Sacramento.  I still didn’t envy those adults.

So the hike back up took some time.  Rick didn’t need to rest so he went straight to the top without stopping.  Me, I had to stop and gasp for air now and then.  My lungs burned.  I decided that I prefer going down with my legs hurting than going up with my lungs on fire.  We finally made it up.  We walked back up with a couple from Florida having the same trouble Rich and I were.  He said that it was because they only have flat land in Florida and not these long, tall hills.

We drove up and over the mountains to Olmstead Point.  From there, we walked .2 miles out onto the rock to look into the valley.  This time, we were on the backside of Half Dome.  It was like completing the other half of the picture from yesterday.  A rockslide in 2009 had cut off the path from the base of Half Dome to this side of the valley.  We couldn’t see it, but we hadn’t tried the path yesterday.

I sat down on a step of rocks to enjoy the view while Rick and Rich ambled over the rock face.  I figured I’d be safer than falling off the rock face.  They found several places where the granite rock was smooth like you would find on your counter top. 

Climbing back up the stairs, we continued on to Toulumne Meadows for lunch at the grill there.  We had hot dogs with and without chili and one sausage with marina.  Not bad for a temporary place in the summer season. 

The meadow was pretty much a marshy land around the bottom of some domes.  The guys decided to hike Pothole Dome.  They took off around the rock and disappeared on the back side.  Pretty soon, I didn’t see them from the car.  I waited and watched other tourists arrive and leave.  There were some guys rappelling down the side of the dome and coming back to the top to do it again.  No sign of my guys though.

Pretty soon, I saw them come around the side and disappear again.  Then I saw them walking top for a while.  Before I knew it, they were coming around the side of the dome and headed back to the car.  Turns out, they got lost and followed an animal track for awhile.  They didn’t see the way up to the dome until they were coming back!  Still a nice walk though.

We arrived back at the Evergreen Lodge around 4:00.  I figured this would give me time to do some laundry and I wouldn’t have to do anymore on this trip.  I set the washers and went outside to write my notes for the day.  A squirrel was out there wrestling with a McDonald’s bag and not having much luck.  I decided to take it away from him and put it in a bear proof trashcan.  I figured the campers who were close by didn’t want a bear coming to check it out.  About the time I reached down for the bag, the squirrel got the remaining hamburger out of the bag and took off!  He was quick.

While the laundry was drying, Rick and I explored the compound some more.  There was a really cool kids playground in the middle.  They had taken some tree stumps and built a deck around them.  Inside, they built another deck with stairs.  The entire thing was decorated with branches and netting.  It was pretty cool.  They had also built a spider web out of thick boat lines.  Rick could climb in and lie down in the center without touching any of the sides.

Laundry finally finished, we had dinner.  Rich and I got the angus burger, which was really good.  Rich had his with truffle fries.  Rick went for the duck breast on barley with figs.  It was awesome!  Of course, we had to help since we were paying for it.  Dessert was the crème Brule with fruit.  Then I was stuffed.

Rich and I took a quick walk out to the sunset deck to check it out.  The sun was already just below the trees, but the mosquitoes were horrible.  We headed back to the cabin.  Rick and I took a quick dip in the hot tub to loosen some muscles.  But the mosquitoes were bad there too.  We didn’t stay too long.  We took showers and settled in for the rest of the night.

There was a Trivial Pursuit book in the game basket in the cabin.  Rick didn’t know anything about this game.  Could he be my son?  I love Trivial Pursuit!  I had Rick read through some of the questions and we tried to answer them.  We actually did pretty well between me and Rich.  Then it was time for bed again.

This is the restaurant and tavern at Evergreen Lodge. This is like a resort in the middle of no where. It was so much more than I expected.This is cabin C5. The C stands for Cedar. Each grove is given a different name. We were right outside of the pool area and not far from anything.
 
 
 

This is cabin C5. The C stands for Cedar. Each grove is given a different name. We were right outside of the pool area and not far from anything.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The pool was built and just opened the week before. It was so nice with a great big hot tub. There was an even a bar serving draft beers.
 
Pacific dogwood were in bloom. There were scattered throughout the forests.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Toulumne Grove of big trees was a hike. You had to go down the original road for about a 400 feet drop in elevation. Walking back too a lot of time for me.
 
This is the drive-through tree that some of the original tourists to the Yosemite Park would have come through when they entered the park.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the back side of Half Dome. We were under it yesterday when we went to Mirror Lake. We got to see both sides of it.