Did someone say something about a Bobcat?

Day 22:

    It was an early morning wake-up for us so that we could get out of the city early. However, before we left there was one thing that we wanted to do in the city. We drove up to Lombart Street and drove down it. It is crazy to go down it with all of the zigging and some zagging in there too!! With that done, we left the city by crossing the Bay Bridge into Oakland. Leaving western California behind us, we approached Yosemite National Park. Using our annual parks pass we entered the park. (side note: the pass costs $80 and is good for a year. In 22 days we already used it for $133 dollars worth of park entrance fees!) We got into the park around eleven in the morning and drove into the valley where all of the major sites are. We stopped at a campground there, but it was full. Since it was friday and the park fills up fast on weekends, we decided to skip seeing the sites at the moment and headed for a campground above the valley. Thankfully, that one still had spaces and so we quickly pitched a tent and zoomed back into the valley. The first thing that you are met with when you get into the valley is El Capitan, a massive monolith that defies senses.

I salute you El Capitan!

 From that lookout, we went to Brideveil Falls where we hiked a trail to its base.

Brideveil Falls.

 As we started back down, it started to sprinkle. We managed to get to the car without the heavens fully opening up. By now, Nathan and I were getting hungry, so we parked the car and walked up to where the visitor center and some other shops were. As we started to walk there, the sprinkling became full on rain. The only good thing was that the path had trees lining it so we managed to stay dry by walking beneath them. We were mostly wet by the time we reached a place to eat. As we finished our meal the rains died and we could venture out without fear of getting soaked. In the visitor center I saw a postcard about a fallen tunnel Sequoia tree. I told Nathan about it, and we decided to head up to where it was at as after we saw Yosemite Falls. We hiked a short trail to the base of lower falls. The trail stopped some ways before it though, so we adventured across some rocks to get closer to its base. At one point, I was stepping onto another rock, but it was to slick so that leg dipped into the water up to my shin. Water got into my boot a little bit, but all was still good. I managed to continue on without dipping my other leg into water! We go some pictures there and then head to another trail close by to get a view of Upper Yosemite Falls. There is a trail that leads all the way to the top of it, but with not all that much water coming over the edge in the fall, it wasn't worth it. Maybe if we go back in the spring, we will hike to the top.

Lower Yosemite Falls.

Upper Yosemite Falls.

 We got back into the car and drove out of the fallen towards Mariposa Grove where the Sequoia tree was. The drive up the winding road seemed to take eternity. Eventually, we got to the grove. Grabbing our packs we set out for the two-mile hike to the fallen tunnel tree. Along the way we saw some impressive Sequoia trees.

Giant Grizzly tree.

Looking up at the tree. 

Me standing in California Tunnel tree.

 After seeing those, we kept going toward the fallen tree. It seemed to take forever. In fact, we hadn't seen a sign for it in a little while and we quite possibly thought we were not on the right trail. Finally, as the sun was setting we came across a sign that pointed us in the direction of the tree, but it was still a half-mile to it. Just as we started to head that direction, the wind picked up. Most of the forest that we were in was filled with dead trees from previous fires and they started to drop their branches or giant pine cones. We decided to turn back. We had seen one tunnel tree, we didn't have to see this one. Knowing that darkness was approaching, we quickened our pace down. Soon after we turned around we heard this loud cracking noise. Was that thunder? The cracking sound lasted for a couple of seconds before we heard a TREMENDOUS BOOM! Somewhere in the forest below a tree had decided to fall over!! We kept going down. Soon we came back across the California tunnel tree and we knew that we were getting close to the parking lot. By now, the sun had already sunk below the horizon and all that was left was the lingering light of dusk. With about a half of a mile left to go we came across a group of college students walking down as well. They seemed nervous to be walking in the woods in the dark. One of the girls commented that we had flashlights, so they asked us if they could walk with us down. Slowing our pace drastically so that they could keep up we escorted them down the trail. At one point, I, who was walking in front by a few yards, stopped as a gust of wind came through. I watched a hundred yards away as a pine tree leaned precariously over. It managed to right itself, but some of the other trees near us lost a few small twigs. That put the students on edge. I don't think I helped any, because as we got close to the parking lot and there was almost no light left I spotted something over to my right. I turned around and asked the girl walking behind me, "Would I scare you if I told you there was a Bobcat over there?" I pointed in the direction I had seen it. She immediately said yes and quickly scurried behind me so that I was between it and her. She then asked me where, and I pointed to it. Apparently, she didn't see it and asked again. I pointed again. "Its that machine there." It wasn't an animal, it was just a skid loader! :D Having had my mischievous fun, we continued on the short trek and made it to the parking lot. They thanked us as they headed toward their car and us to ours. Now, we had the long drive of getting back to our campsite ahead. We finally made it there safely close to 10 o'clock. We set about getting ready for bed, which, in this case, meant we had to bear-proof our camp (we got used to that since we did it in almost every campsite) and we also had to bear-proof our car. That was a new one for us! The black bears in Yosemite we very good at breaking into people's cars to get food. So we took anything that looked or smelled like food and put it in the bear box provided at the campsite. That done, we crawled into our tent, ready for the first night in Yosemite.

End day 22.