YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA

     We departed Kaweah RV Resort the morning of March 26, 2013 and set our sights on Yosemite National Park.  On the way to our destination we developed some engine trouble and had to detach the Jeep in order to finish the trip.  We managed to get to Indian Flat RV Park on Hwy 140 just West of El Portal and settled in.  (I'll tell you about our engine trouble in a later post.)  Indian Flat RV Park is nothing fancy, but it is one of the closest private RV parks to Yosemite, and was very reasonable. We had a water and electric site, but no internet. It was supposed to have cable, but after hooking up and getting no channels, we noticed that the coaxial cable was broken and wrapped around a tree branch.  I guess they haven't gotten around to repairing that yet.  Oh well, we weren't there to watch TV, we were there to visit Yosemite National Park.  And besides our options were limited, as you need reservations for Yosemite and unfortunately we don't travel by a set schedule.  We don't like to rush anywhere and we never know how long we may stay somewhere once we stop.

     On our first day in Yosemite Valley we stopped for a short hike to Bridalveil Fall, then continued on the loop road for views of El Capitan, Lower Yosemite Fall and Upper Yosemite Fall.  We then parked the Jeep in the visitor parking lot and walked to the Visitor Center, Gift Shop and Post Office in Yosemite Village.  After that we went back to the Jeep for lunch and then hiked to Lower Yosemite Fall to get a close up and personal view.  We then strolled back to the parking area and took a leisurely drive out of the park and back to the campground.  It didn't seem like we did that much, but it took the entire day.  We stopped at a gas station in El Portal, coming and going from the park to check our cellphones for messages, because we couldn't get any cell service at the campground with our Sprint phones.

     Day two at the park we brought our bikes in.  First we checked out the Indian Cultural Museum and Indian Village near the Visitor Center.  Then we parked at the Trailhead Parking Area near the Upper Pines Campground.  We walked to the trailhead and hiked over to Vernal Fall.  Then we walked back to the Jeep, got the bikes and rode over to Mirror Lake on the bike trail.  We locked up the bikes part way up the trail and hiked the rest of the way to Mirror Lake.  We spent some time exploring the area and had some great views of Half Dome.  On the way back we got a look at the Royal Arch Cascade and rode the bikes around the Upper Pines Campground to check it out.  Lots of trees and shade in the campground and no hookups.  It would be difficult to get enough Sun for our solar panel, so even if we had been able to stay here we would have to run our generator to keep our batteries charged.  And nobody really likes to hear generators in a National Park!  Anyway, it seems we finished just in time because the rain started to come down pretty heavy.  Time to end our visit and head back to the campground.  During the Summer months there's lots more to see, but at this time of the year a large part of the park is still closed due to Winter snow.

     We checked out of Indian Flat RV Resort the following day and headed to the Camping World in Vacaville to see if they could help us with our engine troubles.  I'll fill you in with all the details in our next installment!

FP & RG

PS:  To view more photos of our adventures, please use the link below to Frank's facebook page and view albums.

https://www.facebook.com/frank.posillico.351