We finally arrived in California on September 20th and immediately got into our rental car and drove to the mountains of Yosemite National Park. We arrived at our campsite at Wawona campground at 8pm, long after the sun went to bed for the night, and set up our tent while the rain fell around us and we fell into bed exhausted from the travel and time change. How wonderful to sleep under the big trees of Yosemite (at least I imagined they were grand since it was dark when we arrived).  The next morning we woke up to a clear beautiful day. We were hoping and ready for a hot breakfast and coffee except there was no firewood to make that happen so granola it was and some coffee from the store up the road and we were good to go exploring. From the moment we stepped out of our tent that morning we marveled at our alpine forest surroundings. What a change from the dry, barren rolling sometimes flat lands we drove through the day before. I was excited as we drove closer to Mariposa Grove, a dream was about to become a reality for me to see the Giant Sequoia of California.

The Redwood forest lay ahead of us and all around us. At Mariposa Grove we saw Bachelor and 3 Graces, Giant Grizzly and California Tunnel Tree. We were awestruck in the presence of these magnificent trees, spellbound by their enormity. We wandered around the couple mile trail admiring the beauty of these giants and the “lesser” sequoias near them. Lots of pictures were taken that day in case the memories in our heads ever fail us!

After we had our fill  (haha, yeah right) we got back in the car excited for our first glimpse of the much researched, much talked about, much respected, Half Dome. We got our first look at the mammoth rock at Glacier Point. We were awestruck again at its magnificence and couldn’t seem to get enough of it as we gazed out across the great divide of the valley at the hunk of granite. Beauty. Ruggedness. Adventure. These words belong to that rock protruding from the earth below.

Finally we somehow tore ourselves away from the dramatic views of Glacier Point to get a closer look and set up camp in Yosemite Valley. Our first glimpse of the valley was at Tunnel View. Wow! Talk about dramatic suspense, the road to Yosemite Valley takes you through a tunnel and spits you out in the middle of giant granite sentinels that compel you to throw back your head to take in. It was a bout then that we wished we had a convertible or bikes to ride through the valley. Instead we stopped frequently and jumped out to feel the enormity of all that was around us and the smallness of our bodies in this drama in front of us. The weirdest part was seeing Half Dome in the valley way back far away, it looked so little compared to its fellow valley inhabitants. We peeled ourselves away and set up camp in the North Pines campground. We spent the evening under the shadow of Half Dome readying ourselves for an epic climb up that shear granite monster. We went to bed early to wake up before the sun the next morning. That night we dreamt of the memories and adventures to be had the next day.

Half Dome was the next day and there will be a separate post just for that adventure. Too much to put in one post here.

Love,

The Smuckers