Yosemite National Park, California
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 24 Aug 2012 23:20
On the way we paused at various view points, including the Stanislaus National Forest Rim of the World viewpoint, the Tunnel View and various others.
Our cabin was at the end of a road of cabins, it is like being on a small housing estate, some of the cabins in the area are lived in year round, and some are holiday lets. One thing you do notice is how quiet it is, and at night how dark it is - there are no street lights or anything here, even in the cabin it is pitch black dark.
The first day we visited Yosemite Valley, right in the centre of the park. The first stop was Bridaveil Falls, this is a small waterfall which, on account of it being summer, was almost dry apart from a small amount of water blowing around at the top. John and Georgia ventured further up the stream bed, while Frankie and I waited at the bottom with the camera poised for action shots of the 2 adventurers!
Further into the valley is Yosemite Village and from here you can walk to the Yosemite falls, the tallest waterfall in Northern America. Again we found this to be dry as well, but we had a very pleasant walk and a picnic in the sun. On the way back to the car park, we stopped for photos at the foot of Half Dome Rock.
The second day, we headed south to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia Trees. The trees themselves are famous for their size, but surprisingly, they are not the oldest or tallest living things - they do however have the biggest volume. The trees, although they are huge, have small roots which are quite shallow, so they can get water easily. They are not easily damaged by low level fires or pests and can even survive without their central core as this is simply a support structure. As the trees get taller, the lower branches die and fall off as they become shaded by the upper ones. Fires are often started deliberately by the park rangers as these clear the forest floor, creating the necessary nutrients and space to allow the sequoia seeds to germinate. The heat from the fires causes the sequoia seeds to 'burst' from the cones, showering the newly cleared land.
There are some very famous trees in the forest, such as the Grizzly giant, a tree which is over 1,800 years old, the Faithful Couple, two trees which have fused together at the base but remain separate at the top, and the Clothespin
Tree, so named because numerous fires have caused a natural tunnel to form, wider than a car, and it looks like a clothes pin.
One thing you need to be careful about here are the wild animals, this is real bear country! There are rules regarding bears, largely relating to food, as this is almost certainly what they will be hunting for. You can't leave food outside the cabin after dark or in your car, and there are bear clips on all the bins. The advice, if you see one, is to make a lot of noise and scare them off! They also have mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, and bald eagles, most of which are active year round. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have seen none of these!
After 3 days here we leave to go to Los Angeles for a complete change of pace!