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It’s all downhill from here

So, it is my birthday! And what a day it turned out to be. It all started with a night of stealth camping next to a beautiful mountain lake inside Yosemite National Park and breakfast at almost 10,000 feet overlooking another mountain lake. From there it went all down hill…literally.

We left the mountains behind and travelled down and down and down some more, right to 200 feet below sea level at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park. The only thing that went up was the temperature! We went from a chilly night of 25 degrees to an afternoon of 100 degrees.

What a day!

A beautiful stealth camping spot inside a remote corner of Yosemite.
Breakfast above a gorgeous mountain lake just below 10,000 ft at Tioga Pass.
The sign says it all!
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Yosemite: Climbing Meca

We had to see Camp #4. The small campground that was the birthplace of modern rock climbing in the US. It still looks like a tiny campground with a bunch of climbers milling around. El Capitan, a climber’s dream ascent, was awesome! Climbers hauling up loads of gear for multiday assents; just crazy to think that someone made that climb in 4 hours with no rope or protection.

El Capitan
Climber’s hauling up gear.
The little dots in the crevice are climbers.
Camp #4, the birthplace of modern climbing.
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This time we didn’t get caught!

Ok, for long time blog readers, there has been an often repeated scene. We are in the middle of nowhere, after a long day driving, find a hidden pool, and go for a dip! Then someone shows up! We got caught, in BC, Yukon, Alaska, Oregon, etc…..

So, here we are in Yosemite. We are walking across the Pohono Bridge with our filled jugs of water from Fern Spring. Yosemite is packed, the roads are packed, el Cap is packed, but the pool below the bridge is empty! In we go…and we didn’t get caught! (Except for the double decker tour bus that went across the bridge! I wonder if our cute little bippies photo bombed anyone’s vacation pictures?)

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Yosemite

Yosemite was awe inspiring, majestic and crowded. I’m not used to sharing Mother Nature with long lines of cars, buses and RVs. It was beautiful and I am glad we went, but I think I prefer the quiet woods and bubbling streams.