Again it’s been a couple days since I’ve written, so I’ll do my best to cover our time in Yosemite now. After leaving Great Basin we drive across the state of Nevada to Lee Vining, CA. We’d been through the town several times before including a dinner stop there in 2010 but this was our first time spending the night.
With few options in a small town I booked us a room at the city’s #1 hotel, the El Mono Motel. Any time we stay at a place like this the girls and I nervously await Molly’s reaction as we enter the room. We were able to breathe a sigh of relief when she dubbed it “cute” with a mild exception for the bathroom.
While the girls took their turns having their first hot showers in three days I walked across the street to the visitor center to check on trail conditions. Happily I learned that the trail we planned to hike was clear of snow. I also learned something that I was not at all prepared for – Tioga Pass was still closed for the season.
I returned to the El Mono to break the bad, and good, news to the girls and to take my turn in the shower. When we made this stop in 2010 we grabbed dinner at Bodie Mike’s BBQ and decided that it looked like what we needed again. We ate pulled pork on the patio overlooking Mono Lake and made our way through a pitcher of ale.
The next morning we were on the road by 8:30 with a cloud of disappointment hanging over the car. There was no doubt that this was not the day anyone wanted. Our plan had been to drive the 30 miles to Yosemite Valley in an hour and a half or so. The way we ended up needing to go was in the neighborhood of 300 miles and over six hours of winding steep mountain roads.
Eventually we arrived in the valley and were all immediately in awe of the beauty of the cliffs and waterfalls. Our first stop was to check in to our tent for the night. We lucked into one right by the parking lot and made numerous trips between Fred and our bear box to store every scrap of food or cosmetic. Our tent was about 100 degrees so we decided to get out and explore the valley a bit. Before doing so we stopped into the camp store to pick up a cold drink. There we discovered what has to be the best deal in any national park. Cold single bottles of beer for $1.29. Needless to say we returned several times that evening for additional bottles.
We spent a couple hours exploring the valley, stopping whenever we saw a cute spot, then went back to the tent to get ready for dinner. We don’t generally have “nice” dinners during these road trips, but this night was going to be an exception. We’ve eaten at a few of the other National Park lodges and had wonderful food and experiences so we decided to have dinner at the Majestic Yosemite Lodge.
Everything about the dinner was perfect from the food and wine, to our servers Dale and Matt. We spent over two hours talking and enjoying the grandness of the lodge.
The next morning we were scheduled to be on an 8:30 bus to hike the Panorama and Mist trails. We woke up early to reload the food that had been removed from Fred and take the shuttle to the Yosemite Lodge so that we wouldn’t have to take it after the hike. Our bus was about a half hour delayed due to a car fire on the road we were going to be taking. By the time we finished the hour long trip to the top of the cliffs it was after ten and we were all eager to begin the hike. Like everywhere we’ve been the hike was beautiful throughout. There were views into the canyon nearly the entire time. Butterflies were abundant just as they had been at Great Basin. The waterfalls stole the beauty show though. With all the snow that fell here this winter the rivers and waterfalls now are overflowing with water.
The most dramatic expression of the power of all this water came once we had passed Vernal Falls and began our descent on the Mist Trail. Last time we hiked this trail the name was a misnomer in that I don’t think we felt any actual mist coming from the falls. This year it was a misnomer for the opposite reason. You’re in an Actual Waterfall Right Now Trail would have been more appropriate. There was water flowing down the trail we were walking on. The spray from the falls that ran parallel to the trail was creating a “mist” intense enough that if we’d brought soap and shampoo we’d have been able to have a decent shower.
After 7 hours and what the park claims was 8 miles, but we measured at closer to 12 we finally arrived back in Yosemite Valley. We headed straight for the $1.29 beer store and picked up orange pops and ice cream bars for the girls and I and a Diet Coke for Mol.
Of course, since this is a road trip we still had a three hour drive ahead of us. One of the road trip goals for all of us was to eat at In-N-Out and we succeeded last night as we were pulling into our hotel for the night. For some reason I feel like I need to wrap with up with some type of moral like “Pineapples Don’t Wear Sleeves”. I don’t have one, but for all the difficulty Yosemite threw at us this trip it was beautiful and a great hike and dinner.
