California 2022, 1/3: Yosemite valley
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 59.03 mi
- Elevation gain
- 5,410 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 5,410 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,299 ft
- TrailRank
- 32
- Min elevation
- 3,821 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 8 hours 20 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3931
- Uploaded
- October 8, 2022
- Recorded
- May 2022
near Sequoia, California (United States)
Viewed 135 times, downloaded 0 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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Hike through Yosemite Valley from Big Oak Flat (one of the park entrances)
Made with Bob's gravel: paved route, except for the end of the track to reach Mirror lake
Preamble : "Shit happens" , 💩 John told me when I arrived at San Francisco airport (where he had "embarked" me by car, directly for Sierra Nevada, without wasting time).
"I don't know what, but I can tell you shit's gonna happen!"
(before adding that everything ended up working out –almost– every time)
He was not far off... 😄
So here we are in the Sierra Nevada (another one, after the Andalusian version ). Arriving at the entrance to Yosemite National Park (NP) (Big Oak Flat entrance), I ask him if it's normal that the big luminous sign indicates that the Tioga pass (3031m) is closed: it's by this pass that we were supposed to reach (by bike) Lee Vining, on the edge of Mono Lake (the endorheic lake where Clint Eastwood filmed High Plains Man 🤠 in 1973) before doing the reverse route the next day (in sight prepare us for our next Hawaiian adventures ). No, that's not normal! And it's bad luck: it didn't come down to much since the road will be open (completely cleared of snow?) the weekend of that same week...
Too risky to defy the ban on rangers, but no problem: we adapt the program! We will explore Yosemite Valley from the entrance to the park... and the least we can say is that it is not lacking in attractions. I had visited in 2010 (bus trip from San Francisco), but it was December and I hadn't been able to see much because of the mist and rain. Absolute contrast this time: the weather is glorious and the colors are vibrant! 🌞 We're enjoying...
🏁 What a pleasure to pedal in the middle of the huge sequoias! The road reminds me a bit of those I saw in the cartoon Red Hot Rangers (1947) by Tex Avery (even if it is in the Park of "Jello-Stone" that the bears George and Junior 🐻🐻 are supposed to fight against the insatiable little flame). 🔥 The slope is not very steep, and there is even a short intermediate descent after 4km. At the level of the intersection of the track of Merced Grove , one passes from the watershed of the Tuolumne river to that of the Merced river (all these beautiful people will end up in the San Joaquim river , which itself leads to the bay of San Francisco), but the road gradually continues to climb to its highest point (after about 11km): Crane Flats (1925m) . It could well be a vague sort of pass according to the map, but on the spot it's hard to say: we are in the middle of the forest!
Long descent to the glacial valley of Yosemite (at the bottom of which flows the Merced river), with an inevitable stop at Yosemite Valley Vista Point, which offers a sublime view of the main rock formations, including El Capitan (vertical wall), Half Dome ( the name speaks for itself!) or Clouds Rest (summit located in the axis of the valley). Another 3 small tunnels to reach the bottom of the valley. After passing the Merced river, we would have liked to climb up to Glacier Point 🍦 (which seems to offer a sensational panorama), but unfortunately this road is not yet open (either): we will just go up to at the entrance to the Wawona road tunnel, before descending to the bottom of the valley, and taking the road that goes up the left/south bank of the river.
Quite a few breaks, among other things to photograph Yosemite Falls (triple waterfall 💦 reaching a cumulative height of 740m) and to have a bite to eat at Curry Village (while "multi-tasking John" brilliantly reorganizes the program for the days to come) . We even come across a coyote along the road (without a road runner) before going to the right/north bank and heading towards the Ahwahnee hotel . The latter was built in 1927 (the park was created in 1890: it is the 3rd oldest after Yellowstone NP and Sequoia NP) in a " parkitectural " style (rustic style of American PNs) and would have served as a inspiration for the interior sets of the film Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick (with Jack Nicholson). 🪓
A short stretch of track to reach the superb Mirror lake , which bears its name well: it perfectly reflects the enchanting landscape. This will be the deepest point where we will have rolled our tires in the valley. We'll take our time on the way back, going mainly by the right/north bank road (in order to vary the pleasures) and stopping at different viewpoints, official or not. We will have to go up to Crane Flats (biggest climb of the day), then go down again towards the entrance of the park (I will obviously lose sight of John in the final descent!).
California Adventures with John :
🚩 California 2022, 1/3: Yosemite valley
🚩 California 2022, 2/3: Sonora pass
🚩 California 2022, 3/3: Sonoma coast
Made with Bob's gravel: paved route, except for the end of the track to reach Mirror lake
Preamble : "Shit happens" , 💩 John told me when I arrived at San Francisco airport (where he had "embarked" me by car, directly for Sierra Nevada, without wasting time).
"I don't know what, but I can tell you shit's gonna happen!"
(before adding that everything ended up working out –almost– every time)
He was not far off... 😄
So here we are in the Sierra Nevada (another one, after the Andalusian version ). Arriving at the entrance to Yosemite National Park (NP) (Big Oak Flat entrance), I ask him if it's normal that the big luminous sign indicates that the Tioga pass (3031m) is closed: it's by this pass that we were supposed to reach (by bike) Lee Vining, on the edge of Mono Lake (the endorheic lake where Clint Eastwood filmed High Plains Man 🤠 in 1973) before doing the reverse route the next day (in sight prepare us for our next Hawaiian adventures ). No, that's not normal! And it's bad luck: it didn't come down to much since the road will be open (completely cleared of snow?) the weekend of that same week...
Too risky to defy the ban on rangers, but no problem: we adapt the program! We will explore Yosemite Valley from the entrance to the park... and the least we can say is that it is not lacking in attractions. I had visited in 2010 (bus trip from San Francisco), but it was December and I hadn't been able to see much because of the mist and rain. Absolute contrast this time: the weather is glorious and the colors are vibrant! 🌞 We're enjoying...
🏁 What a pleasure to pedal in the middle of the huge sequoias! The road reminds me a bit of those I saw in the cartoon Red Hot Rangers (1947) by Tex Avery (even if it is in the Park of "Jello-Stone" that the bears George and Junior 🐻🐻 are supposed to fight against the insatiable little flame). 🔥 The slope is not very steep, and there is even a short intermediate descent after 4km. At the level of the intersection of the track of Merced Grove , one passes from the watershed of the Tuolumne river to that of the Merced river (all these beautiful people will end up in the San Joaquim river , which itself leads to the bay of San Francisco), but the road gradually continues to climb to its highest point (after about 11km): Crane Flats (1925m) . It could well be a vague sort of pass according to the map, but on the spot it's hard to say: we are in the middle of the forest!
Long descent to the glacial valley of Yosemite (at the bottom of which flows the Merced river), with an inevitable stop at Yosemite Valley Vista Point, which offers a sublime view of the main rock formations, including El Capitan (vertical wall), Half Dome ( the name speaks for itself!) or Clouds Rest (summit located in the axis of the valley). Another 3 small tunnels to reach the bottom of the valley. After passing the Merced river, we would have liked to climb up to Glacier Point 🍦 (which seems to offer a sensational panorama), but unfortunately this road is not yet open (either): we will just go up to at the entrance to the Wawona road tunnel, before descending to the bottom of the valley, and taking the road that goes up the left/south bank of the river.
Quite a few breaks, among other things to photograph Yosemite Falls (triple waterfall 💦 reaching a cumulative height of 740m) and to have a bite to eat at Curry Village (while "multi-tasking John" brilliantly reorganizes the program for the days to come) . We even come across a coyote along the road (without a road runner) before going to the right/north bank and heading towards the Ahwahnee hotel . The latter was built in 1927 (the park was created in 1890: it is the 3rd oldest after Yellowstone NP and Sequoia NP) in a " parkitectural " style (rustic style of American PNs) and would have served as a inspiration for the interior sets of the film Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick (with Jack Nicholson). 🪓
A short stretch of track to reach the superb Mirror lake , which bears its name well: it perfectly reflects the enchanting landscape. This will be the deepest point where we will have rolled our tires in the valley. We'll take our time on the way back, going mainly by the right/north bank road (in order to vary the pleasures) and stopping at different viewpoints, official or not. We will have to go up to Crane Flats (biggest climb of the day), then go down again towards the entrance of the park (I will obviously lose sight of John in the final descent!).
California Adventures with John :
🚩 California 2022, 1/3: Yosemite valley
🚩 California 2022, 2/3: Sonora pass
🚩 California 2022, 3/3: Sonoma coast
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