Lodging accommodations in National Parks

People who travel a lot tell me it's important to plan ahead, making hotel and shuttle reservations early!  Karen and I decided in August that we were going ahead with our plans to tour three national parks in early October -- Yosemite, King's Canyon, and Sequoia.  Karen did all the internet searching, consulting with fellow hiker Margie, google mapping, and phone calling necessary for our 12-day trip.  Neither one of us really like all the work that goes into planning a big trip, but we knew we had to have reservations. We made our airline reservations on August 14th and she booked all the lodging and a rental car shortly after.  The following pictures outline our sleeping adventures even though it's the "off season."

Our first two nights in Lee Vining, in a cute little cabin with a gas stove.  We were toasty warm.

We loved our rental, a Jeep Renegade, especially after cancelling the first reservation of $700 and getting a $300 deal instead!

We went from a nice cabin to 4 nights of tent camping!

 Karen came prepared with her own little propane heater!

Simple furnishings, bed, sheets, two blankets, and a pillow.

We had to travel to community bathrooms and showers in the dark.

The little heater was not enough to keep Karen warm, so she layered her body and her head with five different layers. The propane only lasted about 5 hours per tank.  The two tanks she bought in Lee Vining were soon gone and she discovered none were sold in Yosemite!  

We brought our breakfast, lunch and happy hour food - home made granola, Coastal Cheese, salami, coconut oil peanut butter, bread, fruit, nuts and crackers.  We bought milk, pickles, tomatoes, wine, and ham.  For $54 we figured we each had 4 breakfast and lunch meals, and 4 happy hours!

After our bike-riding day we enjoyed happy hour in the guest lounge at Yosemite, a place with heat and electric plug ins to re-charge our phones!

The dining hall at Curry (tent) village reminded me of a snow ski lodge.  We enjoyed dinners and (not bad) pizza here, along with hundreds of 7th graders on field trips!

One morning a nice employee built a great fire for us to enjoy.  He told me his dad taught him the railroad tie method.  Criss-cross small logs on the bottom of the grate and the large ones on top.  "This sugar pine is so dry, you barely need butcher paper to get it going."  It was in front of this warm fire that we met a couple from California who longed to live in Montana.  She practiced some form of psycho-therapy and was not sure Montana had a reciprocal agreement for her license.  Conversations about mental health and social justice came next.  I wish I could remember all these great conversations which were opportunities to learn more about other human beings.  

Peter, an 87-year old man who invited us to share a table in the sunshine near the Visitor's Center, told us to stop at Big Trees Lodge on our way out Yosemite.  Peter lives in Santa Barbara, worked in research and development for the Aeronautical industry and loved his job because every day was different.  He and his wife came to Yosemite for years, stayed in the Majestic Lodge, hiked and viewed all the beauty in the park.  "She could not come with me and I could not find a room in either of the lodges so I'm staying at the Big Trees Lodge, a lovely place with a great piano player. "

 So thanks to Peter we enjoyed a lovely dinner, mine a pot roast and mashed potatoes!

We gave up our last night of tent camping for a lovely Best Western in Oakhurst!  Had real beds, water, heat, showers, coffee maker, and refrigerator.  We were so happy we even did all our laundry.

 And truly a gift to run into this woman from new Zealand also doing laundry.  She worked as an administrative nurse and quit her job over the phone.  She rented an apartment on an island six years ago, for just three months.  "I'm still there and I love my life."  The landlord has never increased my rent so I'm going to stay as long as I can.  She was traveling with her family and recently visited Yellowstone National Park and she remarked, "it looks bloody well like New Zealand, only on steroids."  She made our day!

Our next stop, the John Muir Lodge in Grants Grove, King's Canyon National Park.  Lovely old lodge and fire in the stone fire place!  Rocking chairs inside and out. We had our happy hour outside and met an interesting man, "city slicker" who first hiked to Half Dome when he was nine years old!

 We lingered by the fire and contemplated the painting of John Muir!

 We spent our last two nights at Wuksachi Lodge in the Sequoia National Park.

We enjoyed our time in a lovely room with a "mountain view."  Karen insisted that our last dinner there was my birthday dinner.  The lovely waitress brought us creme brûlée cheesecake with berries "on the house."

 It was at this dinner that Karen presented me with a book, "John Muir, In His Own Words."  It's full of his quotations and wisdom.  She gifted me with 12 days of wonderful time, in nature, with words of encouragement at every ascent, especially when my heart rate increased and I gasped for the next breath.  Her generous gift truly filled my heart with joy.  Muir's poetry says:

       "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in, where Nature may heal and cheer         and give strength to body and soul.  Every day opens and closes like a flower, noiseless, effortless.  Divine peace glows on all the majestic landscape, like the silent enthusiastic joy that sometimes transfigures a noble human face."

The hike of a lifetime

Karen said to me before we went to bed on Monday night, "we are going on the hike of a lifetime tomorrow, we'd better get to sleep."  She visited with our friend Margie who suggested that we take a shuttle bus to Glacier Point and then hike the Panorama Trail, about 8 miles back to the valley floor.  Karen fussed about the shuttle for days because we were scheduled to ride the 10 AM shuttle and she was not sure we'd make it to our destination before dark.  Gratefully, we learned there was an earlier shuttle and we were able to change our reservations.  We left Yosemite Lodge around 8:30 and arrived at Glacier Point an hour later.  The views were stunning and we walked around, took pictures and videos, and just marveled at God's amazing creation.  Even that took awhile and I think it was almost 10:30 when we began our hike.

Words truly cannot describe this incredible view of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and many others

We still look good because we've just been sightseeing, not hiking yet.

The blue spot in the middle of the picture is the pool at Curry Village.  Notice all the tents!

We studied this view a long time, realizing we would be hiking to Nevada Falls, barely water visible to the right of Half Dome and directly below Half Dome, Vernal Falls, appears to be just a trickle.

We'd probably hiked down from Glacier Point about 1500' at this view of Half Dome.

The rocky descent from Nevada Falls, nothing but rocks to walk on.

Karen never stopped smiling all day.  

Karen's picture of Vernal Falls.  The section of the trail is called Mist Falls because hikers get drenched by the falls in the spring and early summer.  

The evening sun on Half Dome, just above this rocky stair step.  I think we were at this place around 5:30 and still had two miles to go!  My feet had just about had it at this point, but then I'd look around and see that family from Israel with the four children and I'd say to myself, "if a 5 year old can make it to Happy Isles (the bottom of the hill) so can you."

It was almost dark when we got to the bottom.  We met a man who looked like he might not make it.  He told us he was 57 years old, had been training to hike Half Dome for three months and he'd never do it again.  "I ran out of water and all physical energy."  He needed to tell us his story even though he could barely breathe.  "My brother's done that hike dozens of times and I felt up to the challenge, but I'll never do it again."  We did wait for our shuttle bus in the dark and by the time we got back to Curry Village the cafeteria was closed so we had pizza and beer!  The magic of the day did not diminish with my tired, aching feet.  My feet accomplished a greater feat of hiking 8.5 miles, with a 3200' change in elevation.  Most of the time I experienced nature as John Muir wrote, “Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

Steve Lyman, a Lewiston native,  painted this picture of Vernal Falls and named the wilderness phenomenon, "Dance of Water and Light."  I remembered that Steve Lyman died while hiking in Yosemite in April, 1996.  It was his 41st trip to the park.  After my trip I snagged Duane's copy of Into the Wilderness, a coffee table book of Steve's art and photography.  Mark Mardon, wrote this about Steve, "perhaps the simplest way the artist can explain his high spirits is to recognize his intense attraction to mountains and all the living things that abound in them, much like John Muir, his spiritual mentor."  

El Capitan and Mirror Lake

Karen and I spent the first day in Yosemite Valley finding our bearings and exploring a little around the park.  We tried to get to the Visitor's Center, but because of road construction, we could not get close so we decided to explore on our own.  John Muir quotes and stories abound in his beloved park.

 Believe it or not, this is a picture of the high Yosemite Falls, without water this time of the year. We were happy to be in the park this time of year because there are not millions of visitors, but we missed out on spring and early summer waterfalls.

We were able to climb up huge boulders and sit on driftwood where water might normally be spilling over.  

The squirrel seemed to be someone's pet, posing for pictures.  When we stopped to use the restroom Karen discovered she had good phone service!  We took time to read a few Emails, return phone calls, and post some pictures.  Honestly, I learned how addicted we are to modern technology, because being without it for a few days caused some frustration for us.

The famous ElCapitan on a cloudy day.

If you look close, in the middle of the picture, and see the rock climbers and their ropes.  Visitors line the highway with binoculars and telescopes to get a closer look.  We visited with two men who were packing up their car after days of mountain climbing.  No pictures, but they had so much gear spread out on the road to load into their car.  We later realize all that gear was either on their back or attached to ropes that went with them.  These guys sleep on ledges!  They told us about Tom, who writes a daily blog.  "You'll see him, there in the meadow, with his camera and telescope all set up."

 www.elcapreport.com

http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-10416

We did visit with Tom briefly and he told us how long he's been sitting in the meadow, after years climbing mountains.  He takes pictures and sells them to the climbers, in addition, to giving them feedback about the technical aspects of their climb.  I was sad to read, that he's retiring.  

ElCap Report 10/8/16 Submitted by Tom Evans on Sat, 10/08/2016 - 15:23

ElCap Report 10/8/16
By Tom Evans
Yo…My long running project, The ElCap Report, has finally come to an end.  For me, it has been a path far different from that I had foreseen.  I have had many great moments recording the events on ElCap and I have had some of the worst moments of my life.  I want to thank all you readers and supporters who have made the Report possible.  I will continue with my photography, so you can find me, like always, down at the ElCap meadow.  Since I will still be shooting, for the rest of this season, and in the future, you can still get your photos from me.  The website will remain as a contact point for those of you who need to get in touch about pics or copies of the Reports.  I will still be around for special events, important climbs and such that I will be covering.  So you may see things from time to time on the Report but not the daily climbing I once covered.  If you have a special shoot you would like me to do then contact me and we will try to work something out.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you and my best wishes for an interesting and productive life.
So that’s the way it is, on this Saturday, the 8th day of October, 2016, the end of the ElCap Report era.
Signing off… Capt. Tom.. still at the epicenter, of the center, of the universe… El Capitan!

You may have noticed that All the past Reports have been reinstated on the Report.  I was going to sell packages of them but have decided that they are too valuable a resource for the climbing community at large to take down for some small profit I might gain.  So I am leaving them up... enjoy!

This is one of Tom's pictures from his blog!

 After lunch, we hiked from our tent in Curry Village to Mirror Lake.  We were actually on a paved trail all the way up to the lake.

We decided to hike another way back and ended up at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, formerly called the Ahwahnee.  Allan told me when the new vendor change resulted in the name change.  I found this article from NPR:

The Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Big Trees Lodge.

Visitors to Yosemite National Park could be forgiven for not recognizing those hostelries' names.They used to be called — and were famously known as — the Ahwahnee and Wawona hotels."It's just really surreal," said Monica Hubert, a former manager of the Wawona. "I mean, it's a National Historic Landmark."The hotels and other Yosemite landmarks have been renamed because of a contract dispute.The outgoing concessionaire, Delaware North, lost its bid for a new contract to manage the properties to Yosemite Hospitality, LLC, a subsidiary of Aramark. Delaware North sued, saying the bidding process was unfair.As the case progressed, it came out that Delaware North had trademarked many of the names of properties it managed."When we used the Ahwahnee Hotel in marketing, we always put a little 'R' by it," said Dan Jensen, who managed Yosemite properties for Delaware North. "The existence of the fact that these names are protected and trademarked is just not a surprise to anybody. It wasn't sneaky."Delaware North wants Yosemite Hospitality to pay for the trademarks and other property, which the company says are worth more than $50 million. No thanks, says Yosemite Hospitality — and the National Park Service. They put the value of the assets at just $3 million.This week Yosemite Hospitality took over and all the signage is being changed. The dispute has created a huge uproar."We strongly believe that the names of these facilities belong with them, they're historical," said park spokesman Scott Gediman. "They belong with the facilities and ultimately belong to the American people."The National Park Service maintains the name changes are temporary. Meanwhile, it's asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to nullify the trademarks.The former Wawona manager, Monica Hubert, said that would make sense."I mean those names are all oriented towards the [Native American] tribes that were in Yosemite," she said. "There's reasons why they're actually named those things."

We decided not to have dinner in this gorgeous space, instead settling for a $12 each glass of wine from the bar.  

We drank our fine in front of this huge fireplace that actually had seats one could sit on to get warm.  Karen loved it!  We met a family who had booked their room at another hotel in January, stating how important it is to plan ahead for any adventure in the park.  They told us how tickled they were to watch us sitting on the expensive couches, discussing how we might talk a server into a free cookie.  The hotel had a late afternoon tea party for their guests and we watched people show their key cards to get free coffee and cookies.  I wasn't deterred!  I struck up a conversation with the server, telling her about our trip for my 70th birthday and how much I enjoyed all the beauty in the park, including this lovely hotel.  She gave me two cookies, pulling out a new tray of oatmeal raisin when I asked what if she had any cookies other than chocolate chip!  Kinda made up for those expensive glasses of wine!

Yosemite National Park Hiking, Part I

Pictures and words cannot touch the deep experience of being in a majestic place like Yosemite National Park.  Karen and I took hundreds of pictures and we made sure we were in some of them so future generations didn't toss out all the travel pictures!   I appreciated being with Karen and her encouragement of me as we hiked, most often just five miles/day.  She said to me on the trail, "Oh, I just love the warm feeling in my body when my heart rate goes up and warm blood fills my veins."  Well, I don't share her sentiments.  I've done very little exercise over my almost 70 years that got my blood pumping harder and faster.  I actually do not like the feeling.  I usually feel out of breath and a bit constricted by my back pack.  Karen often let me lead the way so the pace was comfortable for me.  She does admit to the joy of stopping for pictures or just to admire a tree, moss, a mountain, or listen to the water running in a small creek.

We entered the park at the Tioga Park Entrance, Highway 120, which was built in the 1960's over Tioga Pass.  The road is closed in the winter because of snow.   Cathedral Lakes became our destination for Day one.

 I love John Muir's quote on this sign, "This I may say is the first time I have been to church in California."  

 This lake is in the area of the park called Tuolumne Meadows.  We learned Californians loves to come to this area because it's not so crowded.  We met expert hikers who were experiencing this trail for the first time, just like we were.  The trail is actually part of the famous John Muir Trail and walking on it caused me to pause and think of all the other people who've tramped on it.  

Day two we drove further on Tioga Pass, toured Tenaya Lake. Olmsted Point, and hiked to May Lake.  Here we saw the remnants of a High Sierra Camp, where backpackers and hikers stay during the summer, in canvas tents.  

 The Olmsted's ensured that the park's landscape remained a place of beauty and his designs are apparent all over the park, especially at this turnout, named for them.  

 We enjoyed our views from Olmsted Point, quite certain that the peak in the background is Half Dome!  It didn't seem that far away "as the crow flies" but the drive over the pass and down into the valley took several hours.

View of Mt. Hoffman, 10850', one of the highest peaks in the Park, with May Lake in the foreground. 

And this view greeted us as we walked from the parking lot to our tent in Curry Village.  

All the wide world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go....The spot where we chance to be always seems the best!  John Muir