To get to the Yosemite valley we need to drive nearly 30 miles to the park entrance and then another 70 miles before reaching the valley.
Once we come off the main north south California highway which to the south ends in Los Angeles, we take a left turn up onto Big Oak Flat which was originally a wagon trail between Mono Lake and the Yosemite valley.
The road is steep and quickly rises though several thousand feet - but the views from every direction are spectacular.
Once on the top of the long incline we reach Tioga Pass where there are huge lakes of crystal clear water surrounded by snow covered mountains.
But the snow is deceptive because the air temperature is still around 80°F.
And this is where the Yosemite Park officially begins.
Yosemite Park as it is now known has been occupied by humans for tens of thousands of years - but it is only in the last 150 years that vast numbers of people have come to gaze at the natural wonders formed over millions of years.
The Ahwahneechee Indian tribes lived here for generations (or Native Americans as they are now known) and since 1850 Europeans have lived and explored the mountains and valleys.
However to put the volumes of people passing through in perspective - between 1850 and 1865 only 650 people made the trip in what was then very difficult and dangerous conditions.
Today the park is visited by 3.5 million people every year.
It is really hard to appreciate the scale of the mountains and valleys in the photographs that are here on the blog but I will do my best. Unless you have something to put the sheer size in perspective they can look quite small, but above you can see some people approach one of the "baby" peaks.
The long relatively flat plateau along the Tioga Pass has mountains on either side and lovely clear lakes where the blue of the sky and the blue of the water seem to merge into one.
Other visitors, much more energetic than us, were rock climbing up the smooth granite slopes.
If you look at the two pictures below, the first is the overall mountain view then the second shows a zoomed up image of the mountain climbers clinging perilously to the same mountain side.
As I mentioned the lakes are crystal clear and the colours so rich in the pure air of these high altitudes.
These pictures are of Tenaya Lake which is formed from the melt water of the snow on the mountains on either side of its banks.
The mountains on either side of Tioga Pass are granite and in the bright sunshine look quite white in colour.
There are many viewing areas along the road to look along to the mountains of Yosemite Valley - below you can see one of the landmark mountains "Half Dome" in the distance.
As you can see from the picture it is aptly named as one half of the mountain was sheered off as glaciers moved through this area millions of years ago.
We decided to climb up one of the shallower peaks along the smooth granite to get a better view of the scenery.
At this point we are 10,000 feet above sea level and the thinner air makes even moderate climbing a bit more difficult.
Although the climb up is not too steep it is still quite a hike to get to the top of the mountain, but the view from the top is spectacular and the colours of the mountains, lakes and sky are quite breathtaking
Back down to the Chevy Suburban and off further along the Pass.
The road winds up and down, sometimes climbing or dropping several thousand feet as it follows the contours of the mountains.
There are hundreds of places to stop and every one of them has spectacular views.
We decide to take a break where one of the many rivers cascades down the mountains over the rocks.
Despite being at 10,000 feet with snow around us - it was a better and warmer day than we have had in Scotland for all of 2011!
And finally after several stops and much climbing we reach Yosemite Valley which we see for the first time from high up in the mountains.
Now it is at this point that we have a change of plan.
We decide that we would like to visit the giant Sequoias in Mariposa Grove which is part of the Yosemite National Park, but actually slightly further to the south of where we had originally intended to visit today.
So rather than consult the map that was given to us as we entered the park, we would rely on Chief Navigator Carolyn to enter our new destination into the satellite navigation device supplied with our Chevy and let it take us there.
And so began the biggest detour of the holiday so far.
Unknowingly our driver (me) followed the instructions road by road, mountain by mountain, up and down thousands of feet on inclines and declines on the way to Mariposa.
It was a road that had lost the spectacular charms of the route we have been taking all morning and so naturally lost the attention of my passengers who promptly fell asleep one by one.
Diligently I followed the instructions to Mariposa eagerly looking forward to seeing the Giant Sequoias that would be towering above us.
Eventually after 1 1/2 hours and some further 60 miles our SatNav lady announced that we were less than a mile from our destination.
My four lady passengers finally graced me with their waking and on seeing a Burger King ahead, determined that coffee and cokes were urgently required.
This was fine because we were of course but a stones throw from the wonderful Sequoias and after a brief refreshment stop we jumped back in our Chevy to make the short journey to the park.
It was at this time that Chief Navigator Carolyn announced that we should not to pay too much attention to the exact distance previously announced on the SatNav because rather than enter an exact address into the machine, she had just entered into the device "Mariposa" and "centre."
Now the writer of this blog is a patient man but on discovering that Mariposa town (which is a small non de-script truck stop on the highway to nowhere) is about 50 miles south and 6,000 feet below Mariposa Grove home to the ancient and majestic Sequoias - well I think you can imagine the scene!
And so with a new Chief Navigator immediately appointed and a re-programmed SatNav we began the long and winding road back up to our intended destination.
But it was worth it...
The Mariposa Grove is a protected area where these Giant Sequoias have grown for centuries.
Giant Sequoias are the largest living things known to humans.
They can grow to nearly 300 feet from the ground and being among them feels like visiting a land of the giants.
The picture below shows a tree known as "The Fallen Monarch." However this has not fallen recently - it has layed here intact for over 100 years and although effectively dead, the same properties that keep these trees free from pests and poisons throughout their incredibly long lives, somehow keep the tree from decaying.
The tannic acid in the tree suppresses the growth of all bacteria from breaking down the wood and so it lies here years after it fell.
To prove my point, look at the picture below which was taken in 1899 where a cavalry troop even had horses on top of the fallen tree.
Back in 1861 a man called Galen Clark came across this grove for the first time. He was a homesteader who had arrived in California about the same time as the Gold Rush but was suffering from tuberculosis and at the time he came across this grove had been given 6 months to live.
He decided to spend the rest of his days showing people around these trees and ensuring that they were protected. He worked so tirelessly at this that after many letters to the US Government, in the middle of the US Civil War President Abraham Lincoln passed a law to protect the Yosemite area and entrust it to the state of California "for all time."
Thus the provision to establish the first National Park in any western country was formed and in 1890 became enshrined in law.
Galen Clark who had been given only 6 months to live eventually died just 4 days short of his 96th birthday in 1906.
Was it all his time living amongst these trees that can live for centuries that saved him?
Again it is difficult to convey the scale of these huge trees in photographs but this one of the girls beside a middle aged specimen gives you an idea.
This picture show another visitor standing between three trees and although doesn't show their height, it does show how thick the trunks of the trees are.
The picture below is of course referring to one of the park's most famous specimens and not that other Grizzly Giant standing beside the sign.
Well I had just had to detour over 100 miles - I'm allowed to be grizzly!
It is thought (although nobody knows for sure) that these trees can live for about 3,000 years.
That makes many of the trees in this grove the oldest living things on Planet Earth.
The girls are standing inside "The California Tunnel Tree" which was cut in 1895 to allow stagecoaches to drive through as a tourist attraction.
Now even though the tree has a huge hole in it, it has actually not stopped it growing because in this type of tree the centre is actually dead and all the growth comes from the living bark and outer rings.
This tree is estimated to be 1,700 years old and countless millions of people have stood in this spot - but most of them only in the last 100 years of this trees long life.
Here are the girls back at The Fallen Monarch tree.
From the picture below you can see Kay standing beside the roots of this fallen tree which has been lying here for well over 100 years preserved by the tannins in the wood.
And so we finish our tour of the Mariposa Grove (nowhere near the town of Mariposa for any potential future visitors reading this blog) and make our way back to Mammoth Lakes some 100 miles to the north.
Tomorrow we will visit the Yosemite Valley and try not to get lost....
2 comments:
In my defence, well how was I supposed to know that Mariposa Grove and Mariposa were not two of the same and I can understand that you were not too happy when you realised, that we were originally only 3 miles short of Mariposa Grove when we embarked on this 100 mile (1, 1/2 hour) detour, but I really feel that I have been punished enough - will you please allow me back in the car again - there is no view from the boot of the chevy.
This would never have happened if I were with you. I should have been chief navigator!
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