Day 313 – 10 June 2010: Bear Porn

I wake to the sound of human commotion at first light. I hear someone shout ‘bears!’, and pop my head out of my tent to see a black one wandering about twenty feet from my tent. Later, I see a second smaller one, presumably a female. This is confirmed not long later as the pair begin to copulate. Female bears get a better deal, or possibly a far worse deal depending on their view on the subject, than most animals as the proceedings go on for about half an hour while the human populous of the campsite take numerous pictures. Unfortunately, my mall shop pocket camera couldn’t capture the moment in this pre dawn light.

Even though the bears are ignoring us being otherwise occupied, some campers feel the need to scare them away, banging on pots and making a general racket. The bears don’t care, and wander off on the own accord eventually.

A couple of miles from the campsite is Yosemite Falls, a two tier fall almost 2,500 feet  high from top to bottom, making it the longest measured waterfall in North America. At this time of year, it is also at its most powerful and my camera gets misted up taking pictures at the base of the lower part of the fall.

I was hoping to drive to Glacier Point before leaving Yosemite, as I had been promised it offered the best views over Yosemite Valley. However, there are roadworks on the road and long jams.

There are a series of waterfalls along the way, and I stop at the most powerful looking, Bridalveil Falls. The path to the waterfall is populated by damp and rueful looking walkers, and the surface of the path is combed by water. I find the viewing point at the bottom of the fall to be empty, as it is in a haze of mist with a little rainbow stemming out of it. It is a warm day and I don’t mind getting wet myself, but am worried about my camera. However, having lost count of how many cameras I’ve replaced over the past year, I ask myself ‘why stop now?’ On the platform, I am drenched within seconds, my camera as damp as I dare to get it.

Meanwhile, the roadworks continue and the road up to Glacier Point is at a standstill, so I reluctantly turn around to start my journey to San Francisco. The traffic out of the south exit is also stopped, so it takes me over an hour to get out of the park.

Besides making a few scenic stops, I am on the highway for four or five hours. On entering SF, I find myself on a one way twelve lane entrance to a toll road. Without the necessary $6 on me and with no way of turning around, I apologise to the toll booth attendant who to my surprise says ‘no problem, bro, have a good day...’ This is the last bit of friendliness I will experience on the road today as, despite a laid back reputation, San Franciscans are not the most endearing of drivers. (NB I find a penalty notice for not paying the toll upon my return home a few weeks later).

Uncertain about where to stay, after a very frustrating navigation through the one way system of SF, and an even more frustrating hunt for a parking space, I find the Green Tortoise Hostel, who also run the National Parks tour I am starting tomorrow night. The attendant for the car park next door wanted to charge me a full day’s fee while I checked in, so I park in the first empty roadside space I can find several blocks away, dragging my suitcase and guitar with me back towards the hostel. On the way, I am approached by a frazzled looking man with a very bad hairstyle who asks me ‘hey man, do you play rock’n’roll with that?’ By this time, any ability I have for humouring people has evaporated, so I ignore him and he curses at me. ‘Just f*** off’, I shoot back angrily at him.

At the hostel, I book myself a double bed in a double bunk. Thankfully, the other bed is unoccupied, so I have relatively luxurious hostel accommodation, though the room is very small. Meanwhile, I find a parking space at an over-night car park down the road. The car parks I have come across are run by Asians, who bring Asian practices to their business. This means the fee for over-night parking is negotiable, though I still pay more than the advertised day rate.

Tired, I venture out only to buy some drinks, the liquor store a few doors down offering discounts for hostel residents. I am surprised to find Magner’s cider in the store, my favoured tipple at home. I also sample a couple of take away pizza parlours nearby, which sell pizza by the slice. The first has a tasty pesto topping, but also a thick base, which I don’t like, so overall a 7/10. The second one has a more traditional stone baked style thin base, and is more to my liking (8/10). I had expected American pizza to win my round the world tasting challenge, but it hasn’t yet turned out that way. Could it be that the best pizza in the world is in Cambodia?

run off from Bridalveil Fall coming down the path

 

Day 312 – 09 June 2010: Mighty Yosemite

When I met Natalie yesterday after she came out of the shower room wearing next to nothing, I had assumed that I had caught her by surprise. This morning, with four other people sharing the room with her, she comes out exactly as she was yesterday, with her arm failing to fully hide herself. She goes out the front door of the dorm to pick up some drying clothes on the balcony and announces ‘hello world, here are my boobs!’ I say hello when she comes back in, by which time she has given up covering herself at all. Hostel living does have its perks.

On the drive to Yosemite, I give a lift to Usha and Kasey, the two college girls. The other student, Mike, took off early this morning to do one of the longer Yosemite hikes.

I had no preconceptions about Yosemite, except that I knew there were mountains and woodland. When we get to the park, I quickly realise that this is quite different to anywhere I had been before. The base of Yosemite Valley is a large flat plain of woodland and, with this being the season of the snow melt, marsh land. At this time of year, the waterfalls that fall from the granite mountains that form a wall around the plain gush down at their most fearsome weight. The mountains rise out of the flatland in a way that they don’t seem like part of the ground I am stood on. The North Dome, the peak of which gives it an organic character, stands over the valley like an un-opposable supervisor. This is not to say that it is the biggest with the Half Dome, its neighbour across Mirror Lake, rising 4,800 feet (1.5km) from the valley floor, while Sentinel Dome is the highest in altitude, rising to over 8,100 feet (c. 2.5km) above sea level.

It turns out that most campsites in Yosemite are fully booked in advance in the summer, but there are tent only sites – most campsites in the US being host to large campers – that can’t be pre-booked. To stay in these, you need a ‘wilderness pass’, which are intended for overnight hikers. When I go to the Rangers Office to get one, I am at first refused until I lie and say that I am doing an overnight walk, with the ranger knowing full well that I won’t be. Nonetheless, I am obliged to take one of their bear proof food barrels with me. As it is weighty and I can’t fit it into my backpack, this eliminates any possibility of an overnight hike.

The tent site I arranged to meet Kasey and Usha at is next to a camper van (or RV – Recreational Vehicle – as Americans call them) site, and only a short walk from one of the Yosemite bus stops, so how it must be intended for extremely slow overnight hikers.

Setting up at the campsite, I find each space is equipped with a bear locker. The ranger had told me to keep food in the barrel in the locker anyway, and also to lock it as some bears have figured out how to open the locker doors. However, I find that I need both my hands to open the locker latch, so I am left wondering just how dextrous Yosemite bears have become.

After pitching my tent, I walk for an hour up to Mirror Lake, which is less a lake than a wide bit of Tenaya Creek because the seasonal high waters caused by the snow melt have turned the creek into a hard flowing river. The flow also eliminates much of the reflective quality that gave the lake its’ name, but with the high growing trees and the mountains standing guard over me, this is perfect wilderness scenery.

Some people are swimming in the chilly waters on the opposite shore, which prompts me to attempt to walk across. However, I realise half way that I am actually still on what is normally the bank, and that a few steps further would have me struggling and probably failing to stand up in hard flowing chest high waters.

Yosemite is one of the most extraordinary places I have been, perhaps second only to Milford Sound in its dramatic landscape. However, it is also a commercialised wilderness with asphalt pathways and shuttle buses making the valley floor quite populated, so I regret that I don’t have the time for overnight trekking.

This would be awesome parasailing territory, though with the floor of the valley being densely forested there would be limited dry landing spots. It would also involve hiking up a mountain with a parachute.

Usha and Kasey come back to the campsite late in the afternoon with Mike in tow, having bumped into him on their walk. We spend the evening drinking beer and mingling with some of the other campers, talking about bears and the beauty of this place.

More Yosemite Pictures