Yosemite: Mariposa Grove, General Sherman, Moro Rock & Crystal Cave

Man, I really need to get better at writing right after my adventures. I don't remember much by way of details anymore, but it's a good thing I have pictures, right? So here are pictures from Mariposa Grove, General Sherman, Moro Rock, and Crystal Cave.

We paid a visit to Mariposa Grove before heading out of Yosemite for Sequoia National Park. We decided to hike instead of taking their shuttle around the area.

Even the parking lot is surrounded by trees!

You definitely have to get there early to find a parking spot. The spots fill up very fast and the rangers close off the lot once it is full.

The roots of a fallen tree.
That kid in the leopard print though...hahaha!

The Grizzly Giant!

I don't think this tree had a name, but it was still huge!

The Tunnel Tree.

We found this little guy enthusiastically munching away on the pine cone.

Twinsies!

Such a beautiful little grove.

We got to the Mariposa Grove Museum and this nice, old lady was explaining how the trees reproduce and spread their seeds.

Mariposa Grove Museum.

After leaving Yosemite, we went straight to Sequoia National Park to set up camp. The visitor center was about closing up when we arrived, but we got good information on what to do around the area. On the following day, we ended up using their free shuttle service to get around so we didn't have to worry about parking and such.

First stop: General Sherman.

There is just no way to have the whole tree in one shot. It's way too big!

Top of General Sherman.

At the base of General Sherman.

Next stop: Moro Rock

It says trail here, but I just remember it being a whole bunch of stairs that kicked my butt!

Another one of those placards that tell you which mountain is what.

Here are the mountains.

Like I said, stairs.

And sometimes going through little spaces like this.

Finally at the top!

And a pretty encouraging sign. :)

Yay us!

Lastly: Crystal Cave Tour

We were there early so we got to hang around and browse their little store.

No, really, it was a really small store.

Our cave tour guide.

After being briefed and disinfected our shoes, we headed down the trail to the cave.

The entrance to the cave.

Everyone was given a flashlight to use while in the cave, but the moment the guide turned on the light for the entire cave, it was magnificent!

At one point during the tour when we were all in a big chamber of the cave, the guide told us to turn off all our lights and experience total darkness in silence for a moment. It can't really be compared to anything I've ever felt before. You've never been in total darkness until you've been in a cave.

Overall, this trip was wonderful and I can't wait to visit again!

Yosemite: Glacier Point

On the second day we decided to pay Glacier Point a visit. There are two ways to get there: the easy way or the not-so-easy way. The easy way is by shuttle. The park offers a fee-based tour to Glacier Point every day. You can either buy a one-way trip and hike down to the valley or do a round-trip. Tickets can be bought at any tourist station.

The not-so-easy way is by foot/hiking. The trail is called the Four Mile Trail, although the actual distance is closer to five miles (4.8 to be exact). The distance itself is not the problem, but the elevation gain makes the hike quite strenuous.

Here's the poster for the hike.
3,200 feet of elevation gain!!!

At first, I wanted to do the whole hike. A good challenge, right? But then I had a reality check. Do I really want to be hiking for that long up such a steep trail? I was still pretty exhausted from the hike the day before...

So we decided to take the shuttle up and hike down instead. A one-way trip of the tour is $25 per person. Let me tell you, it was definitely a good decision.

During the drive from the valley floor up to Glacier Point, we learned the history of Yosemite from our guide on the bus. It simply was fascinating! I haven't been on a tour in so long--and the last time that I had been I was too young to reap all the value a good guide could offer--that I had forgotten the wealth of knowledge you could learn from the experience. Did you know Yosemite was named after a revered Native American tribe that had originally lived in the area? It's not even really pronounced the way it's pronounced today. Then there was the myth behind Bridalveil Falls, and so on.

I feel that whenever we travel to a certain place, we usually get distracted by the sights and sounds, forgetting about the intimate relationship between its history and its present. When we go about taking photographs, buying souvenirs, and doing the usual tourist bit everyone does, we enjoy ourselves. But we miss a chance to indulge in the deeper connection without seeing past the facade of normalcy painted for the nomad visitors. (And that will be all for my philosophical musing of the day, hahaha!)

Did I mention the view was just gorgeous?

I can't believe I was there!

Here is a placard to identify what you're looking at.
Compare with the picture of the view below.

Pretty cool how the view fits with the placard.

Half Dome in the background.
It was also such a nice day.

The start of the trail.

In the first five minutes of hiking, we came across two young European women hiking up from the valley floor. Out of curiosity, we asked how long it took them to hike up. Either they had absolutely no sense of time or were just beastly fit, they said, "Oh, around two hours."  O_O  And they added, "You can probably get down in forty minutes."

It took us an hour and a half to get all the way down, and we were going pretty fast considering it's all downhill. If they really made it up in two hours, they would have been moving up a steep trail pretty darn fast. The thing is they didn't even look tired when they passed us.

So I came to the conclusion that they must live on a mountain where they are used to higher altitudes and trail run everyday, or something of that nature.

That could possibly be where we parked our car way down below.

Part of the trail and this beautiful mountain/rock formation.

Seriously, I'm looking through the pictures now, and let me say this: the pictures do the beauty that I saw no justice. Not in the slightest bit. The mountain/rock formation above, I got Tony to take a picture of because I thought it was one of the most awe inspiring scenes I've ever seen. But man, look at that picture. It's just a trail and some mountain. You really have to be there to experience the magnificence of it all.

Just look at that. What a view!

A sign at the valley floor not too far from the shuttle stop.

I gotta say though, it was a smart decision for us to take the tour up. My feet were essentially useless when we were done. So, of course, we took a dip in the pool and showered!

The pool was pretty crowded, and the water was pretty gross.
Despite that, it was a nice little dip.

After that, we had some time to spare before the theater showing of the day, which was on search and rescue. So we walked around exploring the area.

There was a reconstructed Indian Village by the theater that we walked through.

This was a display by the Yosemite Museum.

That night, we also went stargazing and it was amazing! You could see the milky way and all. There were also a bunch of shooting stars! I saw a huge one race across the sky and that made my night.

What a great way to end the day.