Yosemite National Park

Monday, 13 June and Tuesday, 14 June

Millions and millions of bright, shiny stars out tonight, so it’s looking positive for a clear day tomorrow.  Yay, it dawned fine and sunny - but only 5 C.  We are on the road early with only one stop on the way to top up the diesel, just in case!  It soon warms up to 20 C.

The first 12 miles of the Tioga Pass are awesome, then we get into the Yosemite National Park real - the trip from east to west is amazingly stunning!  Glaciers carved this landscape and when the climate warmed the glaciers melted leaving huge boulders, sometimes precariously perched.  We see enormous snow-capped peaks, snow drifts alongside the road (but the road is clear), towering granite cliffs, gushing waterfalls, smooth granite domes, spacious meadows and wild flowers.  I gather snowballs, a big kid at heart!

Snowball right on the windscreen - yes!!

Snow, lake, coach, me at all about 9,000 feet elevation!

Will it topple?  June Lake

There are giant sequoia trees dwarfing the pines, sequoias can live for over 2,000 years and their trucks can get up to 25 feet thick!   There are man-made fires burning, the sequoias need fire so they can reproduce and the plant life on the ground needs the filtered sunlight the open canopy delivers.  There are numerous places to pull off the road, to marvel at the vistas and take photos.

Road cut through scree!  Is that safe?

Smooth granite, road cuts right though!  Is that safe?

We see climbers attempting the sheer granite walls and many hikers.  Interesting, the park conducts 250 search and rescue missions in a year, costing upwards of $1.25 million.    We see push bikers – why would you?  The 39 mile scenic road’s elevation ranges from 10,000 feet down to 6,200 feet.  We drop 5,000 feet in a couple of hours and the bikers were climbing up from the low side!  Loads of motorcycles having fun, some other RV’s and many cars.

Mean switchbacks!

Although there were signs warning of black bear, mountain lions, coyote and deer we don’t see much wildlife.  We do see some red, bear signs on the side of the road and later find out that these mark a place where a bear was hit by a vehicle - sad face : ( 

The second two thirds on the scenic drive were mostly tree clad hills, but still very pretty, as we meander back down to 2,000 feet elevation.

Picture postcard!

Once we hit civilisation again we stop to reprovision and decide on a stop for the night.  From our Allstays App we select the Riverpoint Landing Marina and RV Resort, in Stockton – an excellent choice!  Our campsite is on a spit, both front and back overlooking water.  The first day we had another RV opposite us but on day two we have the whole spit to ourselves.  There is quite a bit of movement on the water, runabouts, yachts, little yachts and jet skis even though the wind is quite strong.

Out site is 31

We were sitting around minding our own business when freaking ‘ell a ship drifts past our front windscreen.  There is a shipping channel right in front of us!!  We subsequently realise the Stockton Port is not far away.

Shipping Channel right in front of our coach!

The delta goes for miles and miles (a boaty's mecca) and we wander up and down the piers and talk to the locals, who are very friendly.  A house boat would be awesome here - we talk to a broker!  Berth fees are about $550 per month for a 45 foot berth, and you can live aboard for another $50 per month.  The berths all have their own power and water and are under cover, to protect from the hot sun.  Insurance seems a lot cheaper than at home and although the boats are registered there is no licence required.  As at home, there are some unloved, unused boats in the marina.  The boat market is depressed, not really recovering from the WFC.  Plus, the Govt, in the early 90’s, put a 10% levy (on purchase prices over $100,000) on all new boats, which sent most of the boat builders broke - nobody wanted to pay the extra for a new boat and there is now a shortage of later model launches and lots of 80’s and 90’s models for sale.

This is parked in our backyard, is it ours?  Coach in background!

Maybe this one is ours, it has my name on it!!