TRI to keep it WILD - Raising funds for Nature Conservancy of Canada

Monday, August 9, 2010

Yosemite Weekend

Yosemite in the summer. Hmmm.... we made a valiant effort to avoid the hordes of people and I think we did pretty well, especially since we planned our little weekend getaway at the last minute. You can't deny it's amazingly beautiful, despite the zillions of people showing off their flabby bods draped in expensive gear as they shamble around in the parking lots.

Bridge troll at the base of Wapama Falls. That's Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the background.
You can see that my preggo-belly (23 weeks) is not that impressive yet.

This time they were releasing water downstream of the O'Shaughnessy Dam instead of from its face. The water spraying up from below looked crazy. Check out the picture from our last visit to Hetch Hetchy when Scott's sister and mom and Michael were visiting to see that (scroll down once you click).

Our own little sitting area at our front door was a good spot for happy hour and watching chipmunks and marmots.

We snagged one of 4 wooden cabins at the White Wolf Lodge off Tioga road. Heat, bed, private hot shower... ahhhh :) Otherwise the "lodge" consists of canvas tent cabins and a campsite. We met lots of REALLY interesting people during breakfasts and dinners since you sit at big tables with random people instead of getting your own table in the dining room.

A quick 15-minute stroll from the lodge Friday evening brought us up close and personal with a stony-looking black (but actually brown in color) bear sitting right in the trail. He must have been in a food funk after raiding someone's campsite.


We hiked out to North Dome from Tioga Road (a pretty easy 4+ miles one way). North Dome is directly across Yosemite Valley from Half Dome. There were great views! Here's the valley looking west from the top of North Dome. See the Merced River and the river of cars and buses down there?


We could pick out (er... got smacked in the face by views of...) Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Glacier Point, Illilouet Falls, and the valley from North Dome! You can only see Half Dome in this picture.

Next we're off to Wisconsin and Ontario. Hooray for vacation!