Family Trip to Yosemite, May 1997

Second trip to Yosemite, July 1997

If you live in California, you have to visit Yosemite at some point. Between the fires and the floods, you have to be quick. Also, when you get there before June or after November, you'll find over half the park is inaccessible to vehicles due either to snow in the mountains, or anticipation of snow in the mountains.

You can get exact conditions and information about the park at any time from: http://www.YosemitePark.com/

Yosemite is actually a beautiful place. In one of the most beautiful spots, made familiar by Ansel Adams photos in f16 clarity, so you think you've been there, there is a plaque showing where John Muir met with Theodore Roosevelt and the two agreed that this spot should be preserved for future use of all mankind. The trouble is, they built a road and put in a gas station and some toilets and now all mankind it seems is in the park on any given day. The park is just too beautiful for its own good.

On a drive through, once the stunning euphoria of the waterfalls in stereo had worn off, we began to realize why we had avoided the place all this time. We had snatched a camping ground on the outskirts of the park, and a look at the crowded conditions in the main valley made us glad it had been impossible to get a reservation. Of course, staying in the main valley, you could easily walk up and out and away from the madding crowd, and this would be a good reason to spend time there. However, Dusty wasn't up for the 1000 meter altitude gain, so we made a few short hikes on the valley floor and drove around finding all the road closures, and in the morning headed out of the park for a cave called Natural Bridges, which I had learned about on a recent cave trip.

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Last updated: November 14, 1997

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