Yosemite

Transferred from Wordpress:
April, 2012

Yosemite was fabulous.  First time I've ever been there.  We stayed at a hotel in Oakhurst and then drove into the park the first two days.  We did a technology fast- meaning no phone and no computer (I still read my kindle though!)  The first day we got a late start because Dennis still had not switched his sleeping pattern over from working the graveyard shift.  I was really pissed off that first day because of our late start and also there was a crap ton of people at Yosemite!  Spring break and all.  I felt like I was at Disneyland there were so many people.  Once we got past the little piddly sites, the people thinned out and we had a nice wilderness experience.  The weather was also beautiful and sunny with a high of 60 on that day.  We ended up hiking 4 Mile Trail the first day:  http://www.yosemitehikes.com/yosemite-valley/four-mile-trail/four-mile-trail.htm.  It was a steep climb with short switch backs. We stopped to rest many times on the way up!  Pico (our chihuahua) got tired pretty quickly so we alternated putting him in his sling carrier and letting him out to hike more.  The views were amazing!  We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the way back down.  It was about 5pm by the time we were done so we headed back to Oakhurst.  We had Round Table pizza that night and it was SO good!  We earned it.
Day 2 we headed back up to the park (about an hour drive from Oakhurst) after our hearty complimentary breakfast of waffles, sausage, eggs, pastries, and coffee at the hotel.  First we went to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias:  http://www.yosemitehikes.com/southern-yosemite/mariposa-grove/mariposa-grove.htm.  It was frickin; packed with people and no parking!  We ended up hiking both the lower and upper groves.  Once we got out of the lower grove there was hardly anyone so we had a nice remote hike and were there for a few hours.  Dogs are not allowed on this trail but we took Pico on it anyway.  We passed Rangers and they didn't say anything.  I heard lots of comments around us though from people who sounded like they weren't sure about the dog.  The weather was very chilly with highs of 40-45 so Pico wore his sweater.  Next stop was Happy Isles but we got stuck behind an accident and sat on that little two lane highway for about 45 minutes.  Once we made it to Happy Isles it was awesome!  There was hardly anyone back there and we hiked the trails that run paralell to the Merced River:   http://www.yosemitehikes.com/yosemite-valley/happy-isles/happy-isles.htm.  Next we hit The Mist Trail that goes up to Vernal and Nevada Falls:  http://www.yosemitehikes.com/yosemite-valley/mist-trail/mist-trail.htm.  Dogs are not allowed on this trail either and since it was a more treacherous hike than the others, Pico stayed in his sling the whole time.  Dennis, Simone, and I took turns packing him.  The trail was actually closed due to rock falls about .3 miles from Vernal Falls but we skirted the gate and continued up anyway.  It was late in the day and we did not go all the way up to Nevada Falls.  After the Mist Trail, we called it a day since we had put in about 6 hours of hiking and we were pooped!  We went back to Oakhurst and had dinner at Todd's BBQ, which we had been looking forward to all day.  The reviews on Trip Advisor were all very good but we ended up not liking the place at all.  The service was snotty and the food was mediocre at best.
On Day 3 I had a hike I wanted to try that was located in Oakhurst so we didn't drive up to Yosemite that last day.  Lewis Creek Trail is located just 7 miles out of Oakhurst: http://www.yosemitehikes.com/not-yosemite/lewis-creek/lewis-creek.htm.   If you take the left fork in the trail, it will take you to Red Rock Falls.  The right fork in the trail takes you to Corlieu Falls.  We did both and were out there for about 3.5 hours. This was a beautiful hike and we saw only a couple people the entire time.  LOVED it.  Simone twisted her ankle on the way back in from Red Rock Falls.  She just sat down in the middle of the trail all of a sudden.  She has bad ankles and twists them at the drop of a hat.  She was able to shake it off and continue but her ankle was swollen later that day.  Pico hiked this whole trail himself because the terrain was more rolling and forgiving. We went back to Round Table Pizza for dinner since it was so good and we didn't want to try anything new since Todd's BBQ didn't work out so well.
I will post some pictures when I get them downloaded.  It was a wonderful time!