Sunday, May 7th – Thursday, May 11th
Hidden View
Campground, Hensley Lake, California
The drive to Yosemite area took us back to the San Juaquin
Valley, north through Fresno and up to Hensley Lake. This Army Corps campground
is 40 miles southwest of the main entrance to Yosemite, which was the closest
campground we could find with availability. But that was okay, because we loved
this campground on the lake. It was so quiet and peaceful. We had already
planned a one day drive into the park to visit all the sights we could. We have
begun to cringe when we enter National Parks, as they are now so crowded and
parking space is a premium to find. We knew this would be the same at Yosemite
and it’s not even on summer season. There were still closed roads on the
northern side of the park and some areas in the mountains still had snow on the
ground. But the crowds were still there. We have found that many of the people
are foreigners, mostly from Europe and Asia. We just have learned to deal with the record
crowds and enjoy what we can of our beautiful National Parks.
After spending a relaxing full day at the lake, the next day
we headed up to Yosemite. We took the dogs with us as we knew it would probably
be at least a 10 hour day. The drive up the mountains was not so winding, but
the traffic was heavy. As we entered the park, we found there were still a few
roads closed, due to the winter storms that caused some major road damage. The
main road entrance was closed to one lane, as the two bridges crossing the
Merced River were now temporary, as the previous ones had been damaged. It would
have been nice if this had shown up on the website alerts; this extended our
drive by about an hour. After we finally entered the park we drove into the
Yosemite Valley, the main area to view the special attractions in the park.
After finding a parking space, we walked with the dogs along the main paved
walking/biking trail. There we viewed Bridalveil Falls and Kurt was able to
hike back on the trail to get a closer view. Dogs are not allowed on any
unpaved trails in the park, one of our pet peeves about National Parks. As we
drove through the main road in the valley, we were able to pull over on street
parking and view El Capitan, Half Dome and other falls. There were a few falls
that are usually not there, but due to the heavy snowfall and the early heat
wave, there were more falls to enjoy. We brought a picnic lunch and found a
river “beach” picnic area. We stopped there with the dogs and had a peaceful
time. As the afternoon passed, we stopped on our way out at Yosemite Falls,
Upper and Lower. Kurt was able to hike up to the Lower Falls and get some great
views of the falls and the valley. I stayed with the boys in the truck, we did
walk around the area and by the river. We decided to leave the park by the
south entrance of Wawona, so we could see the park from a different perspective.
What a pleasant surprise! The park was labeled Tunnel View, which we had no
idea what that meant. Prior to the mountain tunnel, there is a huge parking lot
and a viewing overlook back toward the Yosemite Valley. This was the place
where Ansel Adams photographed his iconic pictures of El Capitan and Bridalveil
Falls. WOW, we were so glad we took this southern exit; otherwise, we would
never had known about this spectacular view. I think they should label this
area as Valley View, not Tunnel View… As we headed south on this road, it
quickly became a major winding mountain road. It was beautiful, but very
tiring. This took us longer to get back to camp than we expected. It was almost
9pm by the time we arrived. All four of us were exhausted and hungry (except
the dogs because I had taken their dinner with us), but we survived. I still
have to say it was worth the time and effort to see this amazing National Park.
Now we can check this off our bucket list!
We spent two more days relaxing at the campground and riding
the trails. It was so nice to just chill out and enjoy the beautiful lake. Now
we were ready to move northeast to Lake Tahoe. So excited to see this place!