The Long Walk Home – September 18, 2010

Yosemite has an amazing shuttle system and they encourage you to take it everywhere to cut down on the amount of vehicle traffic. This morning we took the shuttle to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Well, it was Scott and I and an entire shuttle of German tourists. There were others at the shuttle stop, but they were heading to the Yosemite Valley (which is in the other direction) and we told them they had to catch that shuttle at the hotel. They all took off running to catch their shuttle back at the hotel. Little did we know that the shuttle actually stopped at our stop as well. Oops.

Waiting at the shuttle stop with an entire bus load of German tourists.

Once we got to the Grove, which was just about six miles up the road from our hotel, we purchased tickets to ride the guided tram to the Upper Grove. It’s about a 1,400 elevation gain from the lower parking area to the Upper Grove. We decided the tram would be the way to go. The tour was interesting and we got more out of the trip by hearing the history as we went.

Riding on the tram, listening to the history of the grove

Looking up at the giant trees

This tree was carved out so that people could drive through it with a stagecoach full of tourists

Scott standing by the root ball of one of the fallen trees

These trees are so huge it's hard to get a full picture

After the tram tour, we decided that instead of taking the shuttle back, we would walk back to our hotel. It’s an easy 6.3 miles the tram driver said. Yeah, it an easy 6.3 miles from the half way point up to the Upper Grove. We were pretty much committed at that point. So we hiked up to catch the trail to begin the long walk back to our hotel. Up to this point, we were pretty disappointed with the amount of wildlife we had seen in the park. We have more wildlife in our backyard at home, or so we thought.

I know this is blurry, but it's not on any kind of zoom.  This guy came this close to Scott and his camera.

This litte guy followed us for a while during our hike back to our hotel

Of course, our hike is the longest one on the list

Shortly into the hike, a coyote came out of nowhere and crossed the trail right in front of us. I stopped and stared as Scott yelled at me to take a picture. It didn’t click in my mind what he was saying until the coyote was almost gone. Once you reach the actual trail, it’s pretty much all downhill. A couple of miles into this downhill journey, Scott noticed a nice sized black bear eating just off the side of the trail below us. Great! All these things are flashing through my mind. There is no way that I can run the two miles back up the hill. There is no place to go off this trail. We obviously can’t get past the bear without him moving. I have lunch in my pack (which I now believe was a strategic move by Scott from the beginning!). What does Scott do??? He picks up a giant rock and throws it at the bear!! I am pretty sure that isn’t the best way to let a bear know you are there. At this point, I backed up behind a dead tree and waited out most of the events. As I understand it, the bear looked up and Scott and started down the side of the hill, stopping a few times to check him out. I didn’t emerge until the coast was clear and I knew the bear was gone. Needless to say that made the hike even longer knowing that these guys could pop out at any time.

My shot of the coyote right before he got away

This guy is trying to figure out who is throwing rocks at him

Scott was quick to find all of the bear tracks along the trail on the way back

This is me not waiting around.  I was ready to be off this trail and back to our room.

We got back to our hotel and sat around until dinner. The hotel has it made because there is no place else to eat for 20 miles. This was our third night of eating in the dining room. Not the best night. We do really enjoy the piano player who sits in the lobby in the evenings and tells stories while he plays songs. A lot of his songs have to do with Yosemite and camping. We have learned more history from him than anyone else. By the way, he has a CD you can buy at the front desk if you are interested.

In case you are wondering how we are posting to this blog.  We drive about 5 miles up the road from our hotel to a place that rents cabins.  They have free wi-fi, you just have to get close enough to the building.

Posting a blog