Time to do the Yosemite shuffle — drive a winding 20 miles, hit the nearest reservation office, plead with and bribe the ranger and hope we can score a site for the night. Dare we suggest it — even two nights?
We leave the Wanona area and head for Crane Flat (6,200 ft), where we think we may be able to snag a campsite for a couple of nights. To get to Crane Flat, we have to descend into the Valley which gives us our first look at the majestic view. Okay, we get why people flock here. It's pretty sweet.
But, we're not stopping. Not today. We loop out of the valley and climb back up the other side towards Crane Flat. There are several campsites in the Valley — much coveted campsites. Getting a reservation here takes some effort, planning and paying off Yogi Bear. Plus the sites are packed to the gills. So, we opt to look at sites out of the valley, but within striking distance. Crane Flat fits the bill.
The reservation office is eight miles past the campsite and when we get there, we manage to book a campsite for one night. But the ranger can't figure out what's available for two consecutive nights as the phones are down and she's unable to call the supervising ranger back at Crane Flat. Grrrr, patience please.
She gets us a site for tomorrow night and sends us back the eight miles to Crane Flat in hopes the incommunicado ranger will have the same site for tonight.
She doesn't. Grrrr. We are hoping to stay put in the same site for two nights, but that's not going to happen. Okay, we ask, what site do you have nearby?
The ranger takes pity on us and throws some poor sap out of site 220 so we can at least have a site tonight near our site for tomorrow night. After setting up our tent on a steep angle (which earns the site the new nickname of "Crane Slope") we decide to pass on THE Valley today and head out to Hetch Hetchy Valley which is on the Department Of Homeland Security's watch list. Why you ask?
Is it because terrorists might want to blow up all that natural beauty? Possibly. However, it's more to do with the big ass dam and a 117 billion gallon reservoir that provides water to all of San Francisco that they're more concerned about.
Hetch Hetchy is located in the north west part of the park and is less visited by the Yosemite faithful. Good for us, but too bad for those who miss it. It's quite a place — first off the dam alone is an engineering marvel. It's holding back a fair bit of water. If terrorists did blow it up, it would be some flood on the other end.
We take our time crossing over the dam, checking it all out.
Here's all the water, heading to San Fran. Don't spit...
After you cross the dam there is a walk through a longish tunnel and you are on the other side of the reservoir with a hiking trail that leads to Wapama Falls. It's a mere 5 mile round trip, but with the hot sun and uphill ascent, it makes for a good walk. Hetch Hetchy, we decide, gives Yosemite Valley a good run for its money. There's great views of the granite domes and cliffs and with all that water, it's beautiful.
The Wapama waterfall isn't too shabby either. Cascading over 1000 ft down fractured granite, it's impressive. We imagine what it must be like during the spring runoff. A torrent, we suspect.
We sit for a while, spray our faces in the glacier runoff (careful not to contaminate the water for the San Franners) and then start back. There aren't many people on the trail, which makes for a peaceful hike.
We drive out of the valley and hand back our parking pass to the park ranger who crosses our license plate off her list (Homeland Security, you know). Back at Crane Flat for dinner we go and encounter a cold night. Brrr. Get out the long johns It's chilly up in these thar hills!
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