YOFOLocks and the Three Bears

After leaving the land of big volume trees, we headed up to the land of iconic views - Yosemite. Being a premier park, we didn't get camping in the Valley but were able to get a spot up in the northwest corner at Hodgdon Meadows. This turned out to be fortunate as it led to an epic animal sighting and gave us access to where we wanted to hike. The visitor center up there was super low key and helpful and we didn't have to fight with crowds to ask questions.

John Muir tried to save Hetch Hetchy from being dammed.

Um...that is not a squirrel in that tree!  We tried not to make eye contact as we "casually" walked by... — Um...that is not a squirrel in that tree! We tried not to make eye contact as we "casually" walked by...

We started out with about a half day of daylight remaining and took the volunteer’s advice and headed up to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Part of the Kings Canyon pitch had been “we didn't get dammed like they did” and John Muir loved the HH Valley - so why not! The views did not disappoint although we were surprised that they locked the place down at seven pm (unless you had a camping permit). So we hustled to get out on the trail to the Falls. At this point, unfortunately, we are jaded when it comes to waterfalls. There's a top ten list due, we're sure, but let's just say that Iceland, Norway, Niagara, some of this trip’s sightings...make the waterfall bar pretty high and fall-time runoff-fed falls aren't likely to crack the list. Yet, we persisted. Caught up to a couple toward the end of the trail who basically wouldn't let us pass...fine. We sat at the bridge looking at the scenery and eating a granola for longer than usual to get some space to have the trail to ourselves. (We are spoiled in a lot of ways.) The trail was an out and back along the reservoir, so we were watching the sun get lower in the horizon and looking around - it really is a pretty place. And then we hear a rustling overhead.

Thar's the mama bear. Right there!  She may be getting pissed... — Thar's the mama bear. Right there! She may be getting pissed...

Seriously - that's two bears right there with a third just off camera.  NOT zoomed in! — Seriously - that's two bears right there with a third just off camera. NOT zoomed in!

Just as Dawn is saying that it must be the largest squirrel ever making that racket, we both look up and see...a bear. In a tree. About three feet up. Full stop. Slack jaw time. And then we start slowly looking around. And there’s a bigger bear up in the next tree about 10 feet down the path and maybe 10 feet up and she's sizing us up. We both freeze in our tracks. Dean’s pulling out the phone for “pics or it didn't happen” and Dawn is talking to them in an unnaturally high pitched voice, “it’s okay little critter, we’re just walking here, we won't hurt you” (as if we could!). Now, it’s about 5:15, we have about a 40 minute walk back to the truck, and about 30 minutes of slack before the park rangers start checking for cars in the parking lot. And there are at least two bears blocking our way by trying to have dinner in the branches directly ABOVE the trail we need to go on. There was absolutely no way to go around. Now, the correct thing to do in a bear sighting, especially when you suddenly round a corner and both you and the bear are surprised, is to slowly back away (never run!) and then observe from about 100 meters. So, of course, we gathered up our scrotums (book quote reference), and advanced by calmly walking under the one bear and within about 5 or 6 feet of the momma bear. We get about ten feet past (keeping an eye on them the whole time) and stop and look back to discover there’s another cub chomping away higher in Mom’s tree. Of course Dean wants more pics! But about this time the momma bear chuffs rather angrily at us and starts to climb down several feet till she could look us in the eye. That's all it took for the fearless YOFOers to respectfully and slowly back off...but you can imagine how hard it is to force yourself to move slowly when you have an angry bear trying to outstare you. Unfortunately we forgot the telephoto lens. Fie! Still we got some decent close-ups with the iPhones. And the adrenaline rush was not bad either! Beats the heck out of Oregon’s edibles. Yeah, so that absolutely rocked, especially since neither of us shit or piddled ourselves. Not sure we need to be that close to a bear again, but it was definitely the highlight of Yosemite.

Got up the next morning with a plan to do all the things! So, we drove into Yosemite Valley and hiked up to Glacier Point. Stunning views the whole way, although smoke was definitely in the Valley. From Glacier Point we hiked around past another waterfall and got out to the main attraction waterfalls (Vernal and Nevada). Stunning views again and quiet trails until we got into the Mist Trail. That thing is crazy! We were going reverse of most folks and they aren't kidding when they say about 600 granite stairs. We took the shuttle from Happy Isles to the visitor center and then to Lower Yosemite Falls. Low water and flows, but crazy tall.

Third day saw us playing up in the Tuolomne Meadows area. We hiked up Lembert Dome - great views of the Cathedral Range - and continued to Dog Lake. We didn't see a single person until after our second breakfast at the lake! Came back down and put kayaks in at Tenaya Lake. Dang was the water cold! Times it so thatva tour bus watched us shove off (no pressure, gulp) and could see folks with cameras getting us into their pictures for scale - it's tough to describe the relief up there. Did the same taking some climbers’ pictures as they hung on the rock faces nearby.

The iconic sights were worth seeing (even thru the haze) and we enjoyed seeing the park in not peak season. There's a reason this is a bucket list Park - and we barely scratched the surface of things to do and see .