Yosemite is one of those places which needs to be seen – words are just inadequate to describe the beauty and shear majesty of the mountains, the valley floor, the waterfalls, and just the beauty of nature.
Thank goodness for our national parks – a resource to be preserved (at almost any cost!) – but I get ahead of myself.
We departed San Diego early, not long after 6 am, hoping to get a jump on some of the traffic we’d inevitably encounter as we headed northward toward LA. That decision turned out to be both good and bad. We missed any kind of traffic getting out of La Jolla/San Diego, but we were surely in some of the daily morning fog that hugs the coast – so, not much scenery along the coast through Carlsbad. We did avoid some of LA traffic by swinging inland, but that really didn’t save us much. CA traffic is what it is – there’s A LOT of people in California – and it seemed they were all on the road!
Eventually, we broke free of the morning rush, up and over the mountains and into “the valley” – with its impossibly straight and flat roads – nearly 200 miles of them – up through Bakersfield, Fresno, and Oakhurst. Partway through the trip, we began driving through miles of orchards and other farm country, reminding us of the vast amounts of food that we consume – here, just a small piece of our food chain! In Oakhurst, we stopped to gather some groceries for the week, then back on the road, weaving through the foothills, headed on to our destination at Yosemite West Scenic Wonders – a small group of condos located within the park, only about 9 miles south of the Yosemite Valley.
Dropping our gear, grabbing a bit of refreshment and packing some food, we immediately headed out for an evening picnic and the sunset from Sentinel Dome.
One of the (very) attractive things about the condo was its location – in the park itself. Living in the east, it’s easy to forget how expansive the country and some of the national parks really are. We saw it in Yellowstone – because of road construction, we had to detour – 100 miles! Fortunately, no detours while we were in Tetons and Yellowstone, though the drive time to the trailhead was still 45 minutes – and this was close by! And there are no straight roads in Yosemite (ok, well, very few) – as they wind along the sides of the valley walls.
At only 2.2 miles round trip, this hike was probably our shortest ‘hike’ ever, but one that certainly tops the reward-for-effort scales. It was fall so the park wasn’t crowded, and traffic was light – even so, when we arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot was nearly filled – others with similar ideas to view the sunset. It was abit disconcerting to see a cautionary sign about the Plague! Really?!
On the trail, the footing was easy – more like a walk in the woods than our customary (rock-strewn) hikes in “the Whites”, so we covered the distance to the summit quickly, though stopping briefly to get our first taste of what would be many views of the valley and granite cliffs that are Yosemite’s hallmark and attraction.
As we reached “the Dome”, the entire world opened up – even though it was mostly cloudy, the visibility had to be upwards of 50 miles or more. The views were stunning, providing 360 degree views of the entire valley, and the high sierras to the east.
And from there, it only got better – if that was even possible!
As the sun lowered in the sky, the clouds provided the perfect backdrop to reflect the colors – the sky nearly lit on fire. For the next 20 minutes or more, we had a rare treat to a dramatic sunset:
Treated to what draws millions of visitors to Yosemite each year! And when the show was over, we were quick to head off the rock and back on the trail.
We had our headlamps, though the distance back to the car was short enough, and the footing sound, so that we didn’t need the lamps. Back to the condo for some rest after a long day of driving.
