Day 42 – May 15

Having slept with the windows opened the night before I was awoken by a chorus of bird songs. A very pleasant way indeed to start ones day. Although we were headed for Yosemite, and in the absence of any reservations we were pretty sure that we would be staying at some private campground outside the park , it was a pretty leisurely morning start up. We were treated to a visit on the crest of the nearby hill of a small herd of Tule Elk. Once a herd numbering half a million head ( that’s 2 million hooves, if you’re counting) in the 1850’s that expansive herd was brought to the very verge of extinction having been reduced to two surviving animals by 1875 due to excessive hunting and loss of range habitat. According to our guide book the surviving herd still only numbers 40 so our sighting was even more special.

We were wheels rolling before 11:00 and on the road out of the park we spotted an even larger herd of Tule Elk, numbering 12 to 15 head (do your own math this time). The first part of our drive took us through an agricultural region with crops as varied as corn, olives and oranges, all of which thrive due to the extensive network of irrigation ditches and pipes that criss cross the landscape. Roadside stands offered large baskets of fresh cherries for $1.

We stopped at the Vista winery along the road for a quick wine tasting. The group left with some wine, cheese, an apricot/jalapeño jam, some home made cookies, a couple of fair trade baskets and some Yosemite tour advice. We stopped in Mariposa for gas and ate our lunches in a picnic park. Again, as so many times before, short distances travelled can result in dramatic changes in the landscape. As we began to climb towards Yosemite the grass covered rolling hills changed to tree covered mountains. Our road paralleled the Merced River which was a beautiful clear fast flowing river. In 41 days this is the first river I have crossed that I wanted to stop and do some serious fishing.

Merced River – I know there are fish in there

Once we passed into the park boundaries the information centre is about a half hour drive. the scenery started to get out of control. I regret my previous use of superlatives to describe scenery. Possibly it is my affinity for the classic black and white photography of Ansel Adams that was taken in Yosemite but as we passed through those vistas it was hard not to imagine them in black and white. Each corner presented a new stunning view of the mountains. Rounding one turn the Bridal Veil Waterfall came into view. Suddenly happening upon one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world is a neck wrenching experience.

Our lack of registration for a camp site proved to be a bit of a complicated problem to resolve. Jane and Ike had left Mariposa before us and had had an opportunity to get the lay of the land. Cancellations became available at 3:00 on a first come first served basis. They had been there at that time but only one site had become available.

In the wisdom known only to men of long term stable relationships we took a back seat to the accommodations negotiations. After visiting an information centre, the visitors centre, and the Curry Village registration centre we found that we had a couple of options. Firstly there were no campsites available. One option was to leave the park and stay at one of the campsites we had passed on the way in. Another option was to stay at what are called housekeeping sites. We put in a reservation for these sites and then drove over to inspect them.These are concrete block structures not dissimilar to what you might see in a Hogan’s War rerun with a tarp roof, a metal frame bed and a plastic mattress and a tarp screen, with ties, for privacy – all for the outlandish price of $100 a night per couple.

Although far from ideal or reasonable we wanted to be on site so we decided to make do. After a bit of discussion we decided that it seemed silly to set up camp in bunkers when we had perfectly fine comfortable RV’s parked along side. Now there was some issues with regulations in this plan as it was not allowed to sleep in your vehicle. I’m sure that is a good rule for a good reason but in light of the sleep in the bunker option we chose to ignore it – with some subtlety of course.

After a hastily prepared supper of beans and wieners we retired to Sean and Carla’s bunker where Sean had set up his computer (there was electricity in the bunkers) and watched a movie – The Shawshank Redemption. After the movie we all quietly retired to our respective vehicles.