We are in Yosemite at last, and it’s great. The weather is beautiful (upper 60s, sunny, and dry, low 30s at night), the pines are tall, and the granite of the sheer cliffs is glowing brightly in the sun. Best of all, there’s hardly anyone here by Yosemite standards.

Getting here was a bit of a challenge. Route 49 is highly scenic and dotted with cute western downtowns, but a tiring road to pull a long trailer on. Those who are averse to sharp turns and rolling terrain should, as they say, “seek alternate routes.”

It got even more interesting when we turned onto Route 120 into Yosemite. The Old Priest Grade has been replaced by a shallower but much more twisty route for several miles. The hairpin turns overlooking a steep drop where you’d most want to see a guardrail seem to rely on Darwinism rather than protectionism, e.g., if you drive too fast (over 25 MPH or so) you will leave the gene pool permanently. We kept the truck in low gear and took our time.

Good thing the brakes are working again, too. Coming into Yosemite Valley via Rt 120 means a lot of descending. We paused about 3/4 of the way down and I could smell the brakes. Overall, I’d rather take Rt 140 but it is still closed to vehicles over 28 feet long (total length) due to a rockslide and CalTrans says it will be a looooong time before that changes. On the way out of the park, we’ll take Rt 41 to Fresno. It features a hefty climb out of the village, but it is the only viable route to the south, and that’s where we are headed next.

On the way in we stopped for lunch along a lake just outside the park. It’s a beautiful area to visit anywhere around here. Hard to go wrong. That’s the flip side of the hairy roads. I wanted to get into the park by 2 pm but the scenery and twisting roads made us slow down to the point that we arrived sometime after three.

We have once again linked up with the McDills, and the girls are constantly off in the woods that surround all the campsites, playing adventure games. We had to establish boundaries so that they wouldn’t disappear on us. Robert is indulging his fetish for campfires (which is fine with me) and since there is absolutely no chance of gaining solar power in here due to the Ponderosa pines everywhere, the McDills are also graciously allowing us to plug into their Yamaha 3000 generator in the evening. That helps, since overnight temperatures are dipping into the 30s each night and we are using the furnace quite a lot.

The photo above of Upper Pines campground shows the typical conditions in the early afternoon. Although the sun is shining brightly above, in the forest it is fairly dark all the time. It reminds me a little of our very dark and damp stay in the redwood forest last summer.

Internet is only available at the Ahwanee Hotel, so Kelli and I are making a daily pilgrimage there to get our email and post our respective blogs. Verizon does have limited cell service in the center of the village but it is “extended network” and as is commonly the case, that means my Verizon data card won’t work. Verizon claims it will work everywhere I can make a voice call on my Verizon phone, but it just is not true. I look forward to the day they finally get it all together.