Yosemite

Having some vacation days left before his terminal leave, Jeremy was able to take three days off for us to make a long weekend trip to Yosemite National Park, a beautiful and dramatic, and very popular, oasis in the Sierras Nevada mountains. Our travel out there did not go as planned, thanks to US Air having "mechanical issues" on not just one, but both of our flights: to Phoenix and Fresno. We ended up getting to Fresno 7 hours later than planned, and we were well past midnight getting to our cabin in Wawona. Poor Jeremy had to drive very windy, dark, unfamiliar roads for a good hour, way past our bedtimes. He was a champ, as was Hunter. I would have never imagined just 6 months ago that I would enjoy traveling with Hunter so much. I was much worse behaved in the airport than my baby was.

After traveling most of the day Thursday, we spent almost all of Friday in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, after an indulgent breakfast buffet that we ended up having all four mornings at a nearby resort. We got there after our late breakfast, and Hunter was asleep by the time we hopped a quick shuttle to the grove. We recently bought an Ergo carrier, so I packed him up with a hood on, and we walked uphill for a couple of miles, wandering through 2000 year old sequoias. I felt like a miniature person around those giant trees, and I mentioned to Jeremy that visiting giant trees while living in the desert is perfect timing. I am impressed by just the smallest pines -- the ones whose trunks are a mere 5 feet in diameter. One particular branch of a giant sequoia was 7 feet in diameter. It was apparently an exhausting day; Hunter slept 14 hours straight after that, which is just shy of his PR.

 Sleeping in the Ergo

 For some reason, he just wanted to lie on the ground and look up at the trees!

Saturday it was time to venture into Yosemite Valley, after I took a little jog by Chilnaulna Falls and the adjoining Merced river trail. We parked and hopped a shuttle to Yosemite Falls, where we played under the blooming dogwoods and got misted on by the falls.

Next we trekked over to the Happy Isles, lying in the middle of the rushing Merced River. Finding a calm little bay area to get wet in was exactly what Hunter needed. Then he needed a change of clothes!


Sunday, I went for a run in the other direction from our cabin and found a trail going up up up the mountain. It became very remote very quickly, which isn't  hard to do in Wawona. They do scheduled burns there, and the scent in the air was of charred pines. That along with the morning fog and blacked tree stumps gave it an eery quality.

 

I ran about 3/4 of a mile uphill (later to find it was ~350 feet in that distance-- no wonder I was so slow), then turned around before I could find any wildlife. I know I'm a little obsessed with mountain lions, but there are frequent sightings in Wawona, and I happened upon a nice track on the way back. Can you see it?

Hunter fell asleep in the car on the way to the Valley, so we detoured up to Glacier Point, which was just recently opened for the spring, since most of the snow has melted. Amazing views surrounded us, as did a crazy person who climbed to ridiculously dangerous spots to take pictures (he offered to take one of us while up there, so we of course allowed it -- I later joked with his wife that it might be a famous last picture after  he fell to his death thousands of feet below -- thankfully we saw him later in the park on solid low ground). We loved seeing the vast valley carved by a glacier thousands of feet below. I mostly looked from a distance and let Jeremy take the pictures.

Based on Hunter's hand placement, I believe it was almost snack time.

After stopping near the tunnel on the highway for a lower view, then hiking to and getting soaked at Bridalveil falls,

we drove back down to the valley and spent a while in a beautiful meadow next to El Capitan, the largest unobstructed granite face in the world. People were climbing it, which I realized, with my slight fear of heights, that I have zero desire to do.

Give me a stick or some rocks, and I am happy!

It was a beautiful trip in every way, from the scenery to the happy baby to the cool cabin in the woods. It was just too short, as vacations tend to be.

 A nice place to ponder in Wawona just before we leave.