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\u00a0Rich woke up again today!<\/p>\n
The guys tried to sleep in again today, but we had things to go and do.\u00a0 We might be on vacation, but we have limited time that we are here to see the sites.\u00a0 Up, up with you two.<\/p>\n
We went to the restaurant here as usual for breakfast.\u00a0 Lately, we\u2019ve been having Michael serve us.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t seem all that interested in serving, but he seemed to like the tips.\u00a0 I had the blueberry pancakes, while Rich got an omelet.\u00a0 Rick got the biscuits and gravy.\u00a0 The gravy was really good.<\/p>\n
We headed out of the lodge and up the winding road that took us to another winding road into Yosemite National Park.\u00a0 Yesterday, we had scouted what we wanted to do and how to get around.\u00a0 We headed directly to the visitor\u2019s parking at the valley floor.\u00a0 From there, we rode the park bus to the different stops that we wanted to make.<\/p>\n
First up, we headed to Mirror Lake trail.\u00a0 Rich had done some reading and found that you should really go up the back and come down the front.\u00a0 The back was an actual trail of dust, rock, and horses to get up to Mirror Lake.\u00a0 The vistas along the way were worth it.\u00a0 We got to see Half Dome several times and get some great shots.<\/p>\n
A pack from a horse tour came down the mountain.\u00a0 Some of the horses definitely had mule in them.\u00a0 Probably so that they are better to handle on the mountain.\u00a0 Less exciting for a rider than getting thrown from a horse onto the rocky path.<\/p>\n
We shared the path with several other hikers.\u00a0 One guy was hiking his way across the U.S.\u00a0 He started out from Florida.\u00a0 At the Pacific Ocean, he would be done.\u00a0 Not far now.\u00a0 Another hiker turned out to be a British guy touring Yosemite for a few days before his conference in San Francisco.\u00a0 Rich figured it was the Oracle conference.<\/p>\n
Mirror Lake turned out to be a little disappointing.\u00a0 It had been a very warm and dry winter out here.\u00a0 Several of the falls weren\u2019t running.\u00a0 We had heard that Yosemite Falls would probably stop running in a month so since there was so little water.\u00a0 The lake was narrow and not very deep.\u00a0 It definitely wasn\u2019t the lake that the tourists had boated on in the 1870s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The carriage terminal was still there where the carriages stopped to let out the tourists.\u00a0 The boat house and the ice house for winter harvesting were gone.\u00a0 The lake was very reflective of Half Dome and North Dome.<\/p>\n
Going down the front was an easy downhill on a paved road.\u00a0 It almost felt like cheating.\u00a0 Of course, we still had to get down the 200 feet incline and then to the bus stop.\u00a0 It was hot out there.\u00a0 Turned out to be 94 where we were.\u00a0 Before we left the park, the temp was reading 97.\u00a0 Thank goodness for camel paks.\u00a0 You need a ton of water on a day like this.<\/p>\n
We hopped the bus again for the trip around to Yosemite Falls.\u00a0 We were only going to hike the Lower Falls.\u00a0 With the heat, it was a good idea.\u00a0 The trail was pretty full of people coming and going.\u00a0 We ran into a group of elementary school kids on a trip with their teacher and parental chaperones.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t look like anyone was keeping them under control.<\/p>\n
We got to the lower falls and could see a bunch of people making their way up the rocks along side the falls.\u00a0 This was not the designated way to get to the top.\u00a0 With the spray from the falls, it was definitely a lot cooler. We headed back down the other side of the trail.\u00a0 We could hear music playing from the lodge at the falls.\u00a0 Later, we saw a middle aged couple dressed up riding the bus.\u00a0 Figured they must have gotten married and that\u2019s what we heard.<\/p>\n
Most of the tourists were actually British, Japanese, or a smattering of others, such as French or German.\u00a0 Not too many Americans yet.\u00a0 We heard in conversation around us that the schools weren\u2019t out until mid June around here.\u00a0 Probably explained why so few Americans here.<\/p>\n
We stopped at the deli in the village for lunch.\u00a0 Some nice sandwiches and cold drinks.\u00a0 The ground squirrels came by to visit a few times.\u00a0 They tried very hard to get something to eat.\u00a0 We heard several different languages and conversations around us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From here, we drove back out of Yosemite to Evergreen Lodge.\u00a0 Just beyond the lodge, we headed to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.\u00a0 This is a valley very similar to Yosemite that the city of San Francisco dammed up to make a reservoir for their drinking water.\u00a0 Back in the day, John Muir fought the politicians to keep this from happening.\u00a0 However, no one thought of preservation back then and only to exploit the resources.\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t happen now!\u00a0 So they lost what would have been the sister half of Yosemite to progress.<\/p>\n
The drive out there was a little harrowing.\u00a0 The road was narrow and very steep.\u00a0 You can start seeing the dam from far away.\u00a0 We arrived and parked.\u00a0 A ranger appeared to be patrolling the dam for anyone trying to do anything to the water supply.\u00a0 There is no swimming or anything that touches that water.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the dam, there was a tunnel used for the train to bring in supplies and provide access to that side of the dam.\u00a0 We walked through it to the other side of the dam.\u00a0 You could see one of the water falls that supplied water.\u00a0 The other one was dry at the time.\u00a0 We hiked a ways over to the waterfall, but the elevation was pretty high and we came back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We came back to the Evergreen Lodge after that.\u00a0 It was only a few miles up the road. \u00a0Rick and I took a swim in the pool that was right outside of our door.\u00a0 After sitting in the hot tub, we got dressed and went to dinner.\u00a0 Rich had the half chicken and I got the salmon with smoky grits.\u00a0 It was wonderful.\u00a0 Rick got the muffaletta sandwich.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After dinner, we wondered up to the Recreation Building to log on to WiFi.\u00a0 The doors were all open, so the mosquitoes were everywhere.\u00a0 Right off the back of the building, the kids were enjoying S\u2019mores in the fireplace.\u00a0 Sounded like a lot of fun.\u00a0 I finished up and headed back to the cabin.\u00a0 Time for some rest before another big day tomorrow.<\/p>\n
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