Day 14 - The unscheduled Yosemite

Mileage = Dunno. Too pissed off.
Elevation = 3000ft or so
Song of the Day = "It's Raining" by Irma Thomas

I wake up at 3:40am, disoriented. Yep, in the car. Alone in the desert. Cold. Wind is still blowing. Wait, WTF? I left my little solar powered radio playing to help drown out the wind... and it's playing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I slam off the radio and go back to sleep.

Sunrise over the desert

Sleeping in the car sucks. I'm up at dawn, sore, tired and extremely grumpy. And today I drive to Yosemite. I didn't originally have it on the schedule, because every time someone tells you how beautiful it is, in the next breath they tell you how crowded it is. However, multiple people have told me to at least go see it, so I called NRRS (the centralized reservation service for the National Parks Campgrounds) and scored a site in Lower Pines Campground on the Valley Floor for tonight. Last site available, according to the rep. Of course, the "National Geographic Guide to (Driving Through) the National Parks" contains zero information on where in the park this campground is, so I call my sister to look up directions online.

I will spare you the details from the drive through the San Jaoquin Valley - long, boring, grumpy, and I still have Rick Astley stuck in my head - but will mention  that there were multiple wrong turns, an inadvertent trip to Barstow, and lots of traffic.

As I head toward the South Entrance from Fresno on Rt 41, I am NOT in a good mood. It's very cold. The cars coming down from Yosemite are covered in snow. "If I get there and there is f-ing snow on the ground, I'm f-ing turning around and heading straight to San Francisco," I mutter. Higher and higher we climb; it's starting to spit snow. Yep, lots of snow on the ground. "I'm taking one f-ing look at that campsite, and then I'm leaving." I drive through the Wawona Valley, which might have been pretty if it wasn't fogged in, then along what I can only assume is the ridge above the Yosemite Valley. I can't see a thing - I can barely see 10 feet in front of me on account of the cloud I am driving in.

This might be pretty, but I can't see anything. This sucks.

I pass through the tunnel, and see blue sky for the first time. Then suddenly, one of the most beautiful and most phographed landscapes in the world is directly in front of me. I crank the wheel and slam into the Tunnel View parking lot (I think I might have said "Holy shitballs!").

"Okay, I got it," I say out loud to myself. "Wow".

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View

Brideveil Falls

I drive on to Lower Pines Campground (Site 42) still not expecting much. The campground is located in a pine grove. The trees are huge - my entire house would fit comfortably under the lowest branches on these trees. Unfortunately, this means that there is no privacy; you can see the entire campground. Many of the sites are flooded and people are camped in standing water. Luckily, mine is not flooded but still rather wet. I decide to cook dinner, then make a decision on whether or not to stay. Then I sit down at the picnic table and look up at this:

Half Dome at sunset

I think I'll stay.