The Second Day in Yosemite

We had two choices today.  We could drive 3.5 hours to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, or we could return to Yosemite.  And as badly as we wanted to see the other two parks, we decided to return to Yosemite for a more leisurely day.  We knew tomorrow might be a big day on the road, and a lower-paced day suited us better.

Since the sky was blue, we returned to Yosemite Falls to take better pictures of them, and then we went to the Wawona Valley.  There is a tunnel on that road, and right before the tunnel is an overlook.  We took this picture from there.

Nice, huh?  That is Bridalveil falls on the right, Half Dome toward the back, and El Capitan on the left.

The road to Wawona is as twisty as any we had driven, so the 35 miles took us about an hour.  We had planned to eat at the lodge there . . . older than Ahwahnee but not as grand . . . but the dining room had closed about fifteen minutes before we arrived.  So instead we went into a little store, bought some items and had a picnic lunch next to a beautiful, clear river.

We explored the pioneer village for a few minutes, taking pictures at the lovely covered bridge, and headed back down to Yosemite Valley. Wawona has a golf course, adirondack chairs are set up on the lawn, a tennis court is down the hill.  It is a sleepier part of Yosemite . . . 

We noticed that the rain was coming in, and when we arrived at Tunnel View we had to retake the above picture.  I thought it was beautiful in a different way!

We decided to then go to Tuolumne where we would see a small sequoia grove.  The bigger grove, Mariposa, which is in Wawona, is undergoing restoration, so this one would have to do.  The road to Tuolumne was equally twisting, and the elevation change even higher.  When we arrived, we got out of the car to rain and sleet.  But we decided that once we were there, we should go ahead and make the two-mile walk . . . with the dogs.

The way to the grove is entirely downhill (which meant we had to come back uphill).  The further down the hill we went, the foggier it got.  Don felt the fog made the walk more authentic.  When we saw the first sequoia tree, there was no mistaking it.  Some of the Ponderosa Pines were as tall as the Sequoias, but the girth of the Sequoias was two to three times the girth of the Ponderosas.  We learned that once Sequoia trees get taller than the surrounding trees, they do not grow much taller, in contrast with Redwoods that continue to grow.  We took pictures of one of the trees that had been cut out (many years ago) so people could walk through it.

The mile walk back up was not so bad, but Jordy and Nelson wanted to play.  The tumbled and rolled as we walked up the paved but still dirty path, so that when they got in the car, they looked like this:

What muddy messes!  We were glad we took the walk, however, because although there were only 25 sequoias in this area, they were quite impressive.