US-50 West 2022:
Day 11 - Yosemite

	Tuesday, October 11, 2022: We were expecting crowds in Yosemite, so we left the hotel in the dark just after 6:30 AM. The sun was rising as we reached Yosemite West a little after 7 AM.
	As we turned toward Yosemite Valley and began our descent, we got our first view of Half Dome in the morning light.
	Tunnel!
	Escape campervan!
	As we reached the valley floor, the road split into a one-way loop. We pulled off to the side of the road to get a good look at El Capitan. It's a huge monolith of granite towering 3,000 feet above the valley floor.
	We stopped at the Swinging Bridge Picnic Area and took a short walk onto the bridge, ...
	... and looked around at the mountains that form Yosemite Valley.
	The round rock mound on top of the summit is Sentinel Dome.
	As we drove past the tent city at Curry Village campground, we were very, very happy with our hotel selection the previous night. We could have stayed in one of these tents for the same price that we paid for our warm hotel room.
	Our next stop was at the Yosemite Valley Trailhead parking area, where we saw this Escape campervan.
	We started off on the trail headed toward Happy Isles, which is about a half-mile hike along this well developed path.
	A few minutes later, we arrived at the Fen, which is a wetland ecosystem, and the trail continued over a series of boardwalks.
	After the fen, there was a fork in the trail. We followed the sign toward Happy Isles, ...
	... and were soon crossing the Merced River ...
	... over a series of bridges ...
	... until we got to the Mather plaque that we were looking for. It was mounted on an enormous boulder right next to the bridge, which was very convenient.
	He visited Yosemite at least once every year that he was Director of the National Park Service, so it is very fitting that a plaque was dedicated here in 1932.
	Here's a wider shot of the plaque's location. It is a very lovely spot.
	We admired the views of the surrounding mountains, and marvelled that there were very few other people around. All of the people from the many cars we had seen at the trailhead parking must be hiking toward Half Dome.
	We took a closer look at the not-yet-open Nature Center, ...
	... and then started the hike back to the van. We crossed the boardwalks of the Fen, ...
	... and stopped for a while to admire the many, many different plants growing there.
	Squirrel! This little guy was one of many that we saw, and they all had really bushy tails.
	We saw one more Escape campervan in the parking lot, ...
	... and several ravens encouraging people to drop their food and move along.
	This sign showing a bear peeling open a sedan was near the entrance, and was a very good way to demonstrate why you should follow the very simple guidelines about storing food in bear country.
	We had intended to go to the Visitor Center and to look at the Ahwahnee Hotel next, but a series of closed roads made that nearly impossible. We settled for a quick pit stop ...
	... where we saw this Travellers Autobarn Campervan ...
	... yet another Escape campervan ...
	... and a custom campervan with what appeared to be a Starlink antenna mounted on the roof.
	We took another look at El Capitan on our way out of the valley, ...
	... and then out through the tunnel ...
	... and out of the valley to the north. We stopped at the aptly-named Half Dome View overlook, ...
	... and took in the view of Half Dome.
	Aww. The bear in the crossing sign has a baby.
	Apparently, there is a helipad around here somewhere.
	We passed through a few areas that seemed like they'd been burned, ...
	... with some areas affected more than others.
	We left the national park through the north entrance and entered Stanislaus National Forest, ...
	... where we turned off CA-120 onto Evergreen Road. We drove through a free range cattle zone, which had actual cattle on both sides of the road, ...
	... and arrived at our next stop: Camp Mather. When the nearby O'Shaughnessy Dam was being built, there were tourists who were curious about the construction and drove up into the hills to see it. Embracing the tourism, the Hetch Hetchy Lodge was built in 1920 and the area was developed into a camp site for family summer recreation.
	Over time, cabins were added, and in the mid 1920s, the camp was officially named after Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service.
	It is now a thriving family summer camp, encompassing more than 300 acres and hosting 10,000 campers every year. We drove around the currently deserted buildings until we found ...
	... the Jack Spring Dining Hall, which was the original Hetch Hetchy Lodge.
	Near the dining hall is a large stone, ...
	... set with a Mather plaque, and two information signs. The first explains that why this camp is named after Stephen Mather, and says that the plaque was set here on July 4, 2017, on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
	The other sign had some interesting information about the history of the Mather plaques, including a bit of incorrect information. It incorrectly states that there is a Mather plaque in every national park, which is absolutely not true. There are currently only 62 known Mather plaques on display, including some in national monuments, some in national parks that have more than one, and several in non-park installations like this one and the one at Mather High School in Chicago.
	Our mission complete, we headed out of Camp Mather, and had to slow down while a cow actually crossed the road.
	As we neared the northern entrance to Yosemite National Park, we pulled over to get a picture of their beautiful sign.
	There was a very reasonable line at the entrance station, and we waited patiently for our turn to show our national park pass and re-enter the park.
	Another Escape campervan! But hey, we had already seen this one in Banff National Park in August!
	We made our way back toward Yosemite Valley, ...
	... getting another good view of Half Dome as we entered the valley.
	The views were amazing as we descended into the valley, ...
	... and along the Merced River, ...
	... toward El Capitan.
	There were lots of people stopped at Tunnel Overlook ...
	... which offered great views of El Capitan.
	Tunnel!
	We could look across the valley and see the road we took to the northern entrance and Mather Camp.
	We took one final look at Half Dome.
	Here it is zoomed in.
	We saw more evidence of recent forest fires, ...
	... before stopping at the Wawona Hotel & Company General Store. We parked next to yet another Escape campervan. It's amazing to realize that every one of their vans has a unique paint job. This one featured sharks.
	We made our way into the general store, ...
	... and perused all of their wares, ...
	... settling on a mix of food, drinks, and souvenirs. We headed back to the hotel to make lunch with our newly purchased bread and deli ham, ...
	... and then shared a shower in the surprisingly large shower room.
	Freshly showered, we settled into our room for some down time.
	An hour later, we decided to head down to the lobby to soak up some wi-fi. Here's the front of the Moore Cottage. We walked down the pathway to the main hotel building, ...
	... passing these still functional payphones near the back of the main building. It makes sense that they'd still work, since we had zero cell service while we were here.
	The lobby was completely deserted at 3:30 PM, so we stayed there until we had used all of the wi-fi we could stand.
	Back in the room, we had some afternoon cocktails featuring pineapple juice, La Croix cranberry, and apple and cinnamon flavored whiskey. Delicious!
	A few hours later, we made dinner using water boiled in our hot pot. Tonight's entree was Italian style pepper steak, which is very good.
	Around 8:15 PM, we decided to go back to the lobby for some more Wi-Fi and discovered that the lobby was absolutely crawling with people. We stood on the balcony at the back of the building and surfed on our phones for a few minutes, ...
	... and then headed back uphill to the Moore Cottage, ...
	... and made our way to our second floor hideaway for some relaxation before bedtime. Day 12 >