(Continued from Yosemite: And I Must Go)
Featured Photo: “Dawn Over the Merced River” El Portal, California—2023 |
Just four days before we were scheduled to fly to Fresno, I had a panic attack. Those who know me well, know that I usually prepare a detailed itinerary when I travel, listing the sights I most want to see, and the best days to go, so I don’t waste time figuring out what to do when I’m at my destination. I had done no planning for the trip to Yosemite that my sister and I were taking.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. Four months before we traveled, we were still trying to settle on a place to get together. We thought it would be fun—and worthwhile—to visit a National Park, each of us having recently obtained Lifetime Senior Passes to get into any park for free. I suggested Mt. Rushmore; I’d never visited the massive sculpture, which featured so prominently in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 film, “North by Northwest”, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.
My sister feared there might be little else to do in Rapid City, South Dakota, after seeing the four famous faces of former US Presidents carved in stone. I feared she might be right. She countered that she’d never been to either Yellowstone or Yosemite, and both were on her bucket list. She reminded me I’d been to both parks before: Yellowstone about 30 years prior—I still had memories from that journey; Yosemite from much longer ago—I struggled to recall anything from that trip. We quickly agreed our destination should be Yosemite. She was thrilled when she realized Yosemite contained not only mountains, valleys, rivers, and waterfalls, but also Giant Sequoias—another must-see on her list.
I pulled out the old photo albums I had been looking through earlier—while writing my introductory series of posts for this blog—and flipped to the pictures from vacations out West with my family, when I was young. Sure enough, there were half-a-dozen photos from Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks (my sister had not been along on the trip.) The date stamped on the old prints, when they were developed, was helpful—August 1973. On the backs, in my own awkward, adolescent handwriting (I was 14 at the time), I had specified what was in the pictures and confirmed the timing: I visited those parks in June 1973—50 years before the trip I was now planning with my sister.
In the photo above, I’m with my mom, sitting on a fallen Redwood branch, near the parking lot at Yosemite. I had written that we were “waiting for a tram ride through the park,” and also remarked on the beautiful colors inside the large branch—“white wood surrounding red.” I had also inscribed, “Gift shop in background,” probably due to my family’s inclination to buy souvenirs whenever we could.
If you’ve ever been to Yosemite, or looked at a map of it, you know it is a big park—three-quarters of a million acres—nearly 1,200 square miles. A map also shows there are essentially four main roads in the park—one heading in each direction—with distances to other destinations measured from the central hub: the Visitor Center at Yosemite Valley.
From the Visitor Center (marked with a red X), it’s a 15-mile drive west, out through the park entrance at Arch Rock, on the El Portal Road (yellow line) to reach the town of the same name (where my sister and I would be staying). Starting again at the Visitor Center, retracing part of the yellow line, then turning onto Big Oak Flat Road (green line), it’s a 40-mile drive north to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Following the yellow and green lines, then turning onto the Tioga Road (blue line), it’s 60-miles, one way, to the eastern entrance at Tioga Pass. The fourth route follows the same stretch of the yellow line to the intersection with the Wawona Road (red line), which leads south 40-miles to the Giant Sequoias in Mariposa Grove.
These routes take visitors traveling in cars or buses to the major attractions in Yosemite, but many of the park’s wonders are beyond the roads; hikers and campers see far more of what lies within its boundaries. I was looking at the Yosemite map on the National Park Service website—slowly grasping the enormity of the place—when I panicked about not having an itinerary for the trip. Clearly, it would help to have a plan for our visit—the driving, the hiking, and whatever else we would do—so we could group sights along the four roads in each direction, and hit as many highlights as possible.
So, I got busy. I Googled, “Top Things to Do in Yosemite,” then scrolled past the sponsored search results, past the “Tickets and Tours”, past “Sights You Must See”, “22 Best Things to Do”, “11 Very Best Things”, and “20 Amazing Things”. Farther down the list, I was drawn to one result from a website called Local Adventurer, with an intriguing title—even better than Must-See, Best, Very Best, or Amazing—it claimed to offer “Breathtaking Things to Do”!
The link took me to a “travel lifestyle blog” with a post describing the authors’ personal experience at Yosemite, although their adventures seemed more thrilling than we were seeking—longer hikes and rock climbing—but still providing a great list of the park’s highlights. I forwarded the link to my sister, telling her it was a good start to our planning. I also pulled out two books—all about our National Parks—given to me for Christmas one year by my wife and sons, and began paging through them for additional guidance about Yosemite.
There was a lot of overlap in the recommended sights and within a day or two, I had prepared a detailed itinerary, neatly typed into a Word document on my computer, ready for printing…
…that listed the days, the directions, and the highlights we would try to see. I also added some flexibility: options for hikes of varying difficulty, but only easy or moderate (nothing strenuous), as I was not sure whether my sister—who is eight years older than me—or I would be able to manage anything longer or harder. And I planned one day—our last day in the park—when we could head in any direction we chose, depending on how we felt once we got there. In the end, we modified the plans throughout our stay, but the itinerary still served as a useful guide.
Of course, the itinerary was not the only planning we did for the trip. Four months before, after settling on Yosemite as our target, we started making the necessary reservations: our flights to Fresno, the rental car, a couple of dinners at the better restaurants in the park, and of course, our stay at the Yosemite View Lodge, opting to spend a bit more, splitting the cost of a room with a balcony overlooking the river. And that’s where I left off in the previous part of this story: as we were coming back into our room from the river view, finding issues with the air conditioner, screen door, and refrigerator.
In the next post, I’ll explain how everything got resolved; for now, suffice it to say, we did not have to move from our original room. Today’s Featured Photo was taken overlooking the Merced River on the first morning following our travel day, from our hotel balcony in El Portal, California, before the sun had risen. My sister and I had been enjoying the view, shortly after waking; we could still see Venus in the sky, along with the first vapor trail of the day—a faint remnant of engine exhaust from a jet airplane, possibly flying out of Fresno or San Francisco. And we felt lucky that every morning throughout our stay, we would be able to enjoy a similar start to each beautiful day.
(To be continued…)
Oh Mark! So fun to read about it and relive what a great trip it was. I personally love ALL the details since I was there! Thanks once again for writing about it and taking me on this magical mystery tour!
Thanks Ann. I am having fun reliving the trip as I write the details for the blog.
I have no memories of that trip in 1973 so I must have been working. Wow, I had no idea Yosemite was so large. I first heard of Hetch Hetchy from Dot as its water flows to SF and read a very interesting book about the controversy of building it. I look forward to the continuation of this story to learn what all you all did as I am sure it is going to make me want to go visit the park even more!
Right, David…I do not think you were on the trip in 1973 either. The dam at Hetch Hetchy seems to have been quite controversial, indeed. I hope to learn more as I research and write about our visit there on our last day in Yosemite. Maybe I can pick your brain about it too!
Finally got on. Will try to get on subscribe page to continue the Yosemite Saga.
Loved the dawn shot! Looked at this from email (Yahoo!, literally). I also liked the old shot of you and your mother. The itinerary planning is interesting. My sister does that on visits, and its problematic (but you have to know her). She starts to get upset when the rest of the family doesn’t follow the plan. I tell her, fine, plan away, but leave yourself open to improvisation, because it will happen. Something will be different. I think you’re open to that. It sounds like you are. I enjoy your combination of images and text beautifully put together. And, of course, I love the NORTH BY NORTHWEST shot. After all, it’s our movie!!
Glad you are enjoying the photos! There are lots more to come! Hope it’s not TOO much. (Remember…you asked for photos from our Yosemite trip. May be a case of “be careful what you ask for”.) Thanks also for the comments on the story. I am having tons of fun writing and piecing together the blog posts. I am definitely open to changes to my itineraries (more so than when I was younger) and you will read later about how the itinerary essentially gets trashed. As for North by Northwest, possibly BEST MOVIE EVER!
Indeed!!
Loved the dawn shot! Looked at this from email (Yahoo!, literally). I also liked the old shot of you and your mother. The itinerary planning is interesting. My sister does that on visits, and its problematic (but you have to know her). She starts to get upset when the rest of the family doesn’t follow the plan. I tell her, fine, plan away, but leave yourself open to improvisation, because it will happen. Something will be different. I think you’re open to that. It sounds like you are. I enjoy your combination of images and text beautifully put together. And, of course, I love the NORTH BY NORTHWEST shot. After all, it’s our movie!!