Yosemite National Park

Hello all,

We’ve had a wonderful first day. We arrived at Curry Village around 10.30pm last night and checked in. I stayed here in 2005 with Mum, Dad and Adam, and just like we did then, Rob and I are staying in a tent cabin. However, ours has a heater this time (thank god!). In 2005 we didn’t have one and it was freezing. We ended up switching to a cabin the second night! Curry Village was opened in 1899 by two teachers who wanted to provide an affordable and authentic place to stay for travellers. Apparently it had seven tents to start off with. Today there are hundreds!

The journey from the car to find our tent cabin was a bit precarious. It was pitch dark and 2 degrees, and the path was muddy and snowy. We eventually made it and settled in. The tent cabins are basic but have all that you need - a heater, some shelving, a place to sleep and a powerpoint. Outside we also have a bear locker, so you can store any food, toiletries etc so that bears and other animals don’t want to come inside your tent cabin. If you read my blog yesterday you’ll recall I have some of Nan and Pa’s ashes with me to scatter later in the trip. They had a cold night last night in the bear locker! 

Rob went to sleep right away, but it took me a while. We both woke around 7am. I went and had a nice hot shower in the shower block and the views from camp were stunning. Driving in in the dark we had missed all of that so it was a nice surprise this morning!!

After we had both showered we got a coffee and some fruit from the on site cafe. The exchange rate is already killing us, those two items cost us $15 Australian. The smallest coffee was huge so we got one and shared.

We then got ready and set off for a walk around Yosemite Valley. We were treated to stunning views of the famous Half Dome with barely a person in the shot. We continued into the town and went into the visitor centre where we watched a film about Yosemite. We learned that it’s part of the Sierra Nevada, a huge expanse of rock that is 400 miles long and 80 miles wide. In the 1850s a man named Galen Clark arrived here and fought for protection of the park over the years. In 1864 Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant which secured protection of a small region, which later grew to a region of around 1200 square miles, today’s national park. 

We had a quick stop in the museum which was about the First Nations people in the area, before heading to the cemetery where we saw Galen Clark’s grave. From here we continued on to Yosemite Falls. We saw some beautiful birds as we walked and remarked that we were impressed with how well the national park is run. There is a shuttle bus service available, lots of clean toilets and accessible pathways. We enjoyed a loop walk here where we could see the upper and lower sections of Yosemite Falls.

I should explain at this point just how lucky we are to be here, let alone be seeing these falls. Yosemite had its highest snowfall on record this season. Up until March 17 the entire national park was closed because the snow was so high it was up to the roof of the buildings here. Our campsite only just reopened last Wednesday, and apparently the snow has only started to melt two days ago and before that the waterfalls weren’t flowing at all. Someone is definitely looking over us! 

We finished up our loop by checking out the Yosemite Chapel, which is the oldest structure in the valley built in 1879. There was an Easter Sunday prayer session taking place. We then walked back to camp along a very snowy path. Rob had fun making and throwing his first snowball! We couldn’t believe how many cars and people were around near Half Dome when we returned. 

We bought some rolls, cheese and salami at the local shop and ate lunch in the sun back at camp. Afterwards we met up with Rob’s friend Simon and his wife Lindsay, their kids and Lindsay’s uncle, aunt and dad (Lindsay grew up in Portland, Oregon). We had a lovely time chatting to them before heading up to ‘Tunnel View’ as per Lindsay’s uncle’s recommendation. 4pm was the perfect time to go as the view was gorgeous and sunny, and we even saw the sun light up Bridalveil Falls with rainbow colours!

We drove back and then did another loop of the valley, and all of a sudden noticed lots of people pulled over. While cursing at them for parking dangerously we noticed what they were looking at - a black bear in the distance!! By the time we parked safely and ran back, I saw it walking into the forest. But we caught a proper glimpse of it from the car even seeing its face. A good mental photo! However, I had been telling myself so far not to be worried on our walks as surely the bears would be hibernating. I suspect I’ll be a bit more nervous walking around now….!

Tonight we are having pizza at the campsite.

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox