Finally forcing myself to catch up with my LJ since I’ve spent the day being lazy-productive by getting all my pictures from all my trips finally organized and edited. I cannot believe September is almost over. Where the hell does time go? Memorial Day Weekend: Yosemite C and I hit the road for Memorial Day weekend. We wanted a fairly relaxing time in Yosemite, with potential boy encounters. Rather than camping (too solitary) or staying in a nice lodge (too expensive, and because we were late as usual to plan, also overbooked), we decided to stay at a hostel-type place known as “The Bug” where the food was “surprisingly good.” There were only 3 beds available at the time we called, and C and I booked 2. Scary…but we thought…it could be interesting. As we drove into Mariposa, the sun began to mingle with the low-laying grayness of the clouds, creating a spectacular drive through the valley. By nightfall, we arrived into Mariposa, just 15 minutes away from The Bug, and stopped for dinner at a random Chinese restaurant (actually decent). After, we continued on to the road to Midpines…except…it was closed.
Turns out that a major rock slide had occurred earlier that day, closing the one stretch of road from Mariposa to Yosemite — approximately 25 miles. C called the hostel and asked them what we should do. They informed us of an alternate route – at detour that would take us 2.5 hours South – around the park, and then back into Yosemite via the Southwest entrance. I quickly turned around on the dark road, and tried to regain my bearings. After crossing the intersection, I noticed some flashing lights behind me. Fuck. Cops. I pulled over, said I was lost, was informed by the cop that one of my lights was out. I played dumb (I forgot about that) and he gave us directions. After the cop pulled away, C and I looked at each other, “he was pretty hot.” “Um…hell ya he was.”
Hopefully this was to be a good sign of things to come.
The 2.5 hr detour sucked. Once we got through all the small towns with winding roads, we entered the park. It was as dark as dark could be, and to make matters worse, a thick, soupy fog made it impossible to see. We drove slowly and tentatively, arriving at the other side of the rock slide at about 1am.
Again, we drove according to the directions given us, only to be stopped again. Frustrated, we pulled into a lodge and called The Bug. They told us that if we had driven just a bit further, we could have reached the hostel. Thanks for telling us now. Basically we were trapped with no place to stay. Both C and I were also so exhausted. Thankfully, the lady at the front desk took pity on us and gave us a room for a winter rate (still expensive).
Our plan was to stay here the night, and then find more budget-friendly lodging the next few nights, so we set to work in the hotel room, looking through the phone books for motels to call. First off, the phone book was dated 2003. Second, when we looked for “hotels” in the yellow pages, there was a listing that said, “See motels and hotels.” So we turned to the ‘H’ section to look for “hotels and motels” and realized that there was nothing. The pages for hotels and motels were either missing or didnt exist. Finally we just gave up and enjoyed the TV (the first rule of staying at a motel is to turn on the tv) and soon fell asleep to the sound of the air conditioner.
Next morning we got up early and went to the lodge up the street. I’m not sure what the plan was, but once we got there, we just decided to stay for the rest of the nights. We just did not want to mess around. With that settled, we drove into the park.
May in Yosemite is just when the park starts to open up, and the snow starts to melt. It’s pretty warm for the most part. I say most part bc we began the day wearing short sleeves and short pants. Again, we didn’t have a plan – we just drove into the valley, did a little driving tour, ate lunch at the general store. It began to sprinkle a bit as I stood in line to purchase hamburgers. And then…it started to hail. At first, it seemed as if it were snowing. Then the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees within the hour, as the hail became larger and larger. People were buying “Yosemite” sweatshirts by the dozens. C and I contemplated it…instead we scurried back to the car and turned on the heat. And continued our driving tour.
It’s not as if it were our first time to Yosemite, so it was nice to enjoy it without the fuss of camping and roughing it and hiking crazy hikes. As we saw it, we had nothing to prove. We drove back to our lodge, picked up some groceries (our room had a kitchenette), then had dinner at this bizarre 1950s diner/bar. Then back to our rooms, tv on. We sat around for a while and then enjoyed the hot tub despite the super annoying jumping kid. When the tub got too hot, we went back to our room, enjoying the refreshing chill of the night air.
Next day = late start again. We dillydallied as we made breakfast and watched tv. By about 2pm we had made it to the the trailhead – this time we had overstuffed our backpacks with all sorts of layers in the event that it snowed or hailed on us again. By about 3pm, we were on the trail to upper yosemite falls–an estimated 6 hr roundtrip.
We weren’t really prepared for the intensity of the trail — it was more or less steep ass switchbacks, about 200 meters of downhill, and then more steep switchbacks uphill. C and I complained the entire way up (and most of the way down). The top of the falls, however, was stunning. Absolutely breathtaking. Being up there, away from all the annoying memorial day crowds — all the families wearing jeans who will never leave the valley — made me reconnect and fall in love again with Yosemite.
Not many people were up there by the time we arrived – just a few stragglers here and there. There was a group of guys up there who said their hellos. They were pretty damn cute. C and I ventured further, walking all around the top of the falls until we reached the actual stream that spills over the cliffs to create the falls. From that point, there is a very narrow stairway, carved into the stone, with a dinky rail on one side, that you can take down to the edge of the falls. Naturally, C and I shimmied along this path until we reached the falls. Some strange hippie dude, who had hiked up the falls in Doc Martens and carrying a gallon jug of water said hello to us. “First time?” “Um…first time up these falls, yah.” “Isn’t it great?” “Uh huh.” Then he disappeared into hippieland or wherever hippies go.
C I and continued exploring, crossing a bridge across the stream and then stopping to have a snack or two. As we were coming back, getting ready to descend the trail, we ran into a very lost and confused Asian guy. He asked us if we knew how to get down, and we pointed him in the right direction. Before we knew it, he was following us – not in a creepy way, but in a lost puppy sort of way. Apparently, he had been hiking with his friends on this trail, when they decided to turn back. He wanted to continue, so they left him – without food, water, or a sense of direction. C gave him some trail mix, and I offered him some water, and then he accompanied us on the way back down.
We were so anxious to get off that mountain that we were practically running down. I would find shortcuts through the woods and take them rather than use the switchbacks. C ended up twisting her ankle a bit on the way down, as did I. But we were glad to get down to the valley in record time. 6 hours? I think not. Try under 5.
Afterwards, we changed into flip flops (best feeling in the world) and made our way to Curry Village for dinner. We just slipped into the cafeteria in time to take part in their buffet. The food was pretty subpar, but you couldn’t beat the value. Plus, we were starving. C and I ate 3x our weight in food, we were so hungry. I had at least 4 cokes.
And then, back to our lodge, which C and I decided was the best decision ever. More Tv. More hot tub. We had some ben and jerrys waiting for us in the freezer, so we enjoyed that as well. There is just something about eating in a motel room while watching tv that is just so fucking perfect.
Our last day in yosemite we drove to glacier point. We were surprised to still see so much snow and ice in May, yet we were able to comfortably wear short sleeves and flip flops. Neither of us had spent much time out of the valley, so to see Yosemite from Glacier Point was absolutely amazing. No pictures can do it justice. We spent a lot of time there just taking it all in, not wanting to leave. Finally, in the midst of all the chaos–the rockslides, the hailstorm, the crowds and crowds of people, the traffic–we had found our moment of peace.
And then, to celebrate, we went into the gift shop and bought ourselves t-shirts. Matching, of course.
