Visiting Yosemite National Park

View of Yosemite Valley at tunnel entrance Highway 41
View of Yosemite Valley at tunnel entrance Highway 41

It’s time I spent more effort on some good times rather than focusing on the bad.

When my children were small we traveled to Yosemite National Park or Sequoia National Park for nine years in succession. The first time when our first child, a baby boy, was about 1½ years old. We may have skipped a year after our baby girl was born.

It was an opportunity to get away from the city. Camping with small children is work. Still we enjoyed the change of environment.

Our favorite camp site were the Housekeeping tents in Yosemite Valley. Housekeeping Camp units consist of three concrete walls, a concrete floor, double canvas roof and a fourth curtained wall. The curtain separates the sleeping area from a covered patio area with a privacy fence that’s furnished with picnic table and bear-proof food storage containers. Each unit also includes a campfire ring with grill grate. There are public restrooms with toilet stalls and sinks. Showers are available for a fee. Electric lighting is limited to a single box near the bed racks and there is limited access to phones. You must provide your own linens and so most people bring sleeping bags. The tents are an upgrade from a conventional tent. A nearby general does have basic food supplies.

The Merced River adjoined the Housekeeping Camp area and in 6 minutes and .2 of a mile you could walk to Curry Village. Besides stores and a restaurant that is the heart of daytime activities and nighttime campfire events provided by park rangers.

There are tram tours of Yosemite Valley, bikes for rent, horseback riding, and hiking trails that even your grandmother can handle.

There is always the possibility you will see a bear or some deer. You will never forget the scenery. As you enter the park from Los Angeles through Fresno there is a grove of Redwood trees. A tram ride through that grove is worth your time. The ride to Glacier Point overlooking Yosemite Valley is equally exciting  with a view that is spectacular of the valley below and Half Dome.

Housekeeping Cabin
Housekeeping Cabin
Housekeeping Cabin in the evening
Housekeeping Cabin in the evening

 

Upper Yosemite Falls

Upper Yosemite Falls

Lower Yosemite Falls in a dry year
Lower Yosemite Falls in a dry year
Half Dome from Glacier Point
Half Dome from Glacier Point
Open top Tram
Open top Tram

 

Uh oh: Yosemite. 8,100 feet. February. No snow

The Los Angeles station of the weather service tweeted that the hamlet of Sandberg, in the Tehachapi Mountains of LA County on the old Ridge Route, is sixteen degrees above normal for February. While Los Angeles receives its water from the Eastern Sierra, San Francisco receives its water from the Hetch Hetchy system that has its source in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite at 8,000 feet

The National Weather Service station up in Hanford, CA posted this photo on February 19.

The Los Angles DWP has not put the city on water rationing but perhaps they should start that now.

Snow Pack