Today we decided to leave our little piece of paradise as the temperatures in Yosemite Valley were forecasted to remain in triple digits. We headed for Tioga Pass on the east side of Yosemite NP with the hope of snagging a campsite at Tioga Lake campground.
Along the way we stopped at the Tuolumne Grove to see the giant sequoias there. We’d recently been to the Mariposa Grove with Jim and Nadine, but Dena and Jordan hadn’t seen the big trees yet.
The hike is pretty easy, 1 mile down a road, and then there are some really large trees. Stunning, really, although pictures don’t begin to impart the reality. The highlight, I think, was a large downed sequoia log that one could crawl through – Jordan and several other small children had fun there – and I had to follow them, of course.
Jordan has become pretty predictable – at the beginning of every hike, he’s “too tired” or “hates walking uphill / downhill” but we know once he gets engaged things will be OK.
Before we started climbing out, I shared an energy bar and some nuts with him. Then I asked him if he knew about the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Yep. So I was Mr Tortoise and he was Mr Hare and we raced back to the parking lot. Unlike in the fable, this time Mr Hare won (Mr Tortoise was really glad he won).
We had water and oranges and rehearsed what we’d say when the others showed up. We settled on “What took you so long?” and “Where have you been?”.
Then we went on through Yosemite, stopping at Olmsted Point along the way. We did get lucky and got a primo camping spot at Tioga lake. It was nice and cool, being at about 9700 feet in altitude.
It’s a beautiful spot and Dena and Jordan seemed to really enjoy themselves.
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