Day 15: Yosemite

The long days of driving are starting to eat into my sleeping pattern and today, despite being rested during the previous day, my morning began early in Oakland with the complimentary breakfast. One of the more disgusting things I’ve had cropped up here, folded omelette with American cheese. Now you know the omelettes are made with pasteurised eggs, but the commodity purporting to be cheese kinda ruined any hope of me just pretending it was nice. A cup of two-bag tea (with cream – best I could do) was drank and I entered the maniac freeways that lead out of Oakland and the Bay Area to head east to my favourite of the US National Parks, Yosemite.

Of course, given this is in California, I’ve been here before – many times. It’s been among my favourite places on earth since first entering the park in 2008. Yosemite has what I think are the best combinations of attractions, with everything from huge waterfalls, challenging hiking trails, vast areas of untouched and unspoilt beauty and geographic features such as glacial mountains, a stunning valley and tarn lakes and meandering rivers. But above all else, the weather in Yosemite is usually perfect – just cool enough to keep you sane but always bright and sunny (anytime I’ve been there). So heading east toward Yosemite was a good feeling – but the car was starting to annoy me with the oil warning. As I climbed up the Sierra mountains to the 9000ft elevation before descending into the valley, I noticed a check engine light and figured there wouldn’t be much more left in the car before it’d throw all the toys out of the pram (it’s brand new so needs some TLC in the early months).

I pulled over at the entrance station to check the map and listen to the service offered to the returning dead from Libya in Washington. I decided to head on up to Glacier Point as I’d not been there before, and then try to take in Tenaya lake which is on the other side of the park, over the Tioga Pass. After doing some mental arithmetic, I realised I could make it up to Glacier point with the fuel I had on board, but reckoned I’d need to gas up again before taking on the pass. Up I went, along the beautiful sculpted road through the tunnel and past all the first-timers. It’s such a beautiful place to drive in also, challenging as it is with an automatic transmission car that wants to change into the wrong gear all the time – a stick-shift manual would be all the more fun. After what seemed like an eternal climb (only 16miles to the summit from the turn off mind!), I turned a corner and as so often has happened on this journey, I was blown away by the staggering view that lay before me. There, resplendent in crisp grey against a bright blue sky highlighted by exhaust trails from jets passing overhead, was Half-Dome – almost perfectly centered in the view. I walked up to the viewing point, past all the squirrels, and joined the rest of those there present to witness the awesome vista. This was then solemnly broken by two Dutch individuals who chose that moment to make a telephone call to some other Dutch people and talk loudly about stuff – San Francisco was mentioned numerous times (I kinda figured they were flight crew for KLM but couldn’t be sure).

After an unnerving and unpleasant visit to the restroom, I headed back down the mountain to stop at ‘Tunnel View’ (video on YouTube) – though this time the view was less awesome as I’d seen the Half-Dome from Glacier point. Onward toward the valley floor, I was beginning to become peckish – not hungry per se but just a tad peckish. I knew to try to get a sandwich at the deli, so after I parked the car and walked over to the building, I pushed the door into a very different store than I’d been to in the past. It seems as if Delaware North Company (the chief and somewhat ‘sole’ concessioner at Yosemite) has scaled back the deli big-time. Gone are the pre-packed sandwiches and hot-dog counter and they’ve been replaced by expensive made-to-order sandwiches peddled by less than enthusiastic staff. The place just looks run down now – which isn’t to say it was a bastion of quality before! Annoyed by all this palaver, I went over to the store to see if I could get a sandwich there – nothing fancy, just something for less than $7 + tax (bowls of salad were running at $10!). After discovering what was really going on, I was impressed by the expansion of the ‘Village Store’ from kitsch giftware to full on supermarket – the likes of which you don’t find even at most convenience stores. Sandwich in hand, I went out the back door and there I was greeted by the ‘Village Grill’ which is not to say it’s a food emporium powered by grilled meats and quality foods, but more akin to the rubbish take-out food I’d had in Yellowstone. I don’t understand how if you’re in the middle of a National Park walking around in pristine environments, what urge to eat a poor-quality hamburger would confound you to look for one – or pay $8 for the privilege! If there were steaks, seafood, proper food priced accordingly, I’m sure the sales would improve and the offering be recognised as a quality one, instead of this lacklustre attempt to appeal to kids who’ll annoy their parents into going there.

Sufficiently pissed off with the way DNC is allowed to destroy Yosemite just like it’s doing in Yellowstone, I pulled in along the river bank to consume what I can only describe as a pretty middle-of-the-road sandwich (or ‘hoagie’ – soft bread roll). This performed a miracle however, and stopped me from falling asleep which had been plaguing me for most of the day. I’m not sure why but the urge to sleep was very strong for the earlier part of the day. By this stage, I was heading up the Tioga Pass after shelling out $5.109 per gallon for gas and grudgingly doing so. I bought an ice-cream (my first so far on the trip) and continued the climb. At this stage it’s worth pointing out that I’d planned to stay in Fresno that night, but heading over the Tioga Pass would put me at the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains and mean I’d have to stay in Mammoth Lakes or Bishop – two small settlements between the foothills of the Sierras and the Nevada border. Stopping at Tenaya lake to admire the view, I began to plan the next trip (more on that later) which would certainly include Yosemite.

Cruising down the side of the mountains along the phenomenal Tioga Pass road, I went from over 9000ft to 7000ft in a few short minutes. Parking the car at the bottom of the pass road overlooking Mono Lake, I planned the night’s stay after finally finding a sniff of Verizon coverage (no AT&T coverage whatsoever in Yosemite!). The MiFi groaned as the iPhone perused the sites and with the map telling me it’d take over 3 hours to get to Bishop, CA, I decided to see just how long it’d take to get to Las Vegas, the next stop on the trip. Sure enough, the map said 5 hours – I figured for the sake of 2 hours extra driving, I’d save a day – and when I fired up the HotelTonight app, I saw I could stay in the Stratosphere hotel for about €55, not bad for a Friday night! Topping up again with gas (I cannot understand how inefficient US cars are at burning gas – or rather, how efficient they are at burning it!) I went along the state roads toward Nevada. This was a great decision as I was treated to yet another spectacular sunset behind me casting beautiful orange and yellow light on mountains that glowed purple in front of me. The place was desolate too, so for almost the entire hour or so on that road, the place was mine. Passing through some small settlements on the way, I marvelled at how some folk live such remote lives but in what appears to be a stunning setting. As night fell I crossed onto US 95 highway and the 70mph sign posts brought me into Tonopah, NV. I’d heard of Tonopah a few times but knew also that Google Maps wouldn’t have brought me into the town as the Garmin did – and this pissed me off as I’d measured about 40 minutes of potential savings lost to this troublesome sat nav (it’s getting slow in its old age!). Nevertheless I needed just a few more gallons of gas (at a cheaper rate than beside or inside Yosemite!) to get the entire journey of over 300 miles done. At this time, close to 10pm, I had another 200 or so ahead of me so I pulled in at McDonalds (again, first time so far) and ate a burger in the parking lot close to where some truckers were asleep in their rigs, one of which had cattle in the back. This did actually make me feel kinda funny as I don’t believe in animal cruelty and do accept the fact that some animals are raised for meat production – I was after all eating part of one (how big a part is McDonald’s secret though) and I just felt sorry for the cattle standing in that dark trailer not knowing what’s ahead of them on their long journey. I remembered back to when I was a child hearing national outcries at the notion of live-export, when technically it’s going on here 24/7 – but it’s transport. Anyway, after taking a photo of an election poster with an unfortunate name, I kept on going to Las Vegas. I pulled in at one stage to see if I could master the art of photographing the Milky Way (I figured I had 5 mins to spare) and managed to do so (just) but my lens hasn’t a large enough aperture to do the photo justice. Then I realised I was actually feet away from a gate attached to a very long fence. Then it dawned on me, I was standing at the edge of Area 51 – the US military installation so famed by ‘believers’. Getting back on the road, I noticed no lights or anything on the left, but the odd settlement on the right – then an unmarked road appeared on the GPS leading off to the left where I saw what I surmised was a gatehouse with lights on – this was indeed the military installation nick-named Area 51. Further on along the road, I passed another military installation and Cold Creek correctional facility, so I knew I wasn’t too far from Vegas. After punching in the hotel’s address, I auto-piloted through the deserted desert freeways and turned into the hotel. After much delay at check-in, I got up to the room where I called Hertz to advise them of the problem with my car, and was told to take it to McCarran International Airport to exchange it in the morning. With that, I fell asleep – talk about excitement in Vegas, but I had been driving for almost 16 hours!