Playtime!: Yosemite: Tuolumne Meadows Hikes

On Sunday Dad and I saw some hikes that we wanted to explore when we were in Tuolumne Meadows so we decided that we’d go back one day this week and we decided to push it to the end of the week so that the wildflowers in the meadows had a little more time to pop! When we were there on Sunday we couldn’t see any flowers, but the snow had pretty much just melted we figured the flowers would be a long soon and when they popped they’d go fast.

We left the campground early and drove back into the park, this is the same road that we’ve driven almost every day this week so I was very glad I had my Kindle and could read almost the whole way up.

We discovered that creek/river that flowed through the picnic area we’d stopped in on Sunday was Yosemite Creek and that the water flowing through it was destined for Yosemite Falls in the Valley!

We didn’t stop at any of the overlooks or anything, just went directly to the meadow to start our hike up Pothole Dome. Pothole Dome is a lower dome that is close to the road. There is no formal trail up to the top, you walk around until you find a spot that you like and then you climb up the rock. We walked past the side trail where we could tell lots of people had gone up and started to climb. It was very steep, but the rock was smooth and wide and it was pretty easy to walk up. When we got to top we kept walking and discovered that the “other side” of the dome was more gentle so with the help of Dad’s GPS we navigated down the side back to the trail. On the way we saw a marmot, but he went back under the rock but Dad whistled and he (she?) came back out! I got some great pictures of him!

After we got back from that hike, we drove further on to the meadow to another short trail across the meadow that lead to the Tuolumne River. We stopped and ate lunch first before proceeding to the river. The trail here was wide and flat and there were great views of all the mountains around the meadow. This walk, and the other one, gave me a lot of opportunities to practice my new camera skills! (Yes, you’ll again be subjected to my photographic practice if you go through the pictures.)

Just after lunch I was walking ahead of my Dad and I heard a phone ringing! What??? Last I’d heard Tuolumne Meadows has no phone service – there was a rock slide that took out the phone line and it also knocked out the cell phone line. Who’s phone was ringing? Hmmm… I walked on. Then I heard Dad saying “I’m hiking in the Sierra Mountains and I don’t really care about your offers.” It was *his* phone! Dad’s phone has rang at odd times causing us to jump every time! This time it was Cox calling about some offer that he didn’t care about!

When we got back to the car I decided to check my phone – sure enough I had service and had gotten close to 20 texts! Turns out there are some thunderstorms moving across the DC area – hope they break the heat, heard the heat index was 121 today! Yikes! I may not come home!

Our third and final stop for the day was a hike to Lukens Lake. As we started down the trail there was a sign taped to the trail sign warning us that the trails in that area were still covered in snow and that many hikers had gotten lost and make sure you had map & compass skills or GPS. Looking around I saw no evidence of snow, which actually amazed me given the amount of snow this area had seen just a few weeks ago, so I didn’t pay much attention to the sign. The NPS needs to date these things – was the sign put there last month or last week?

We headed down the trail, Dad had his GPS and we could just turn around if things got dicey. Sure enough about halfway into the hike we were climbing over snow drifts! One drift was up to Dad’s knee! More snow than we’d gotten in DC all winter was still on the ground here! The snow didn’t cover the trail but we were navigating around it for the rest of the hike! We did notice that the snow had melted from around the trees! Any tree that had snow near it had a ring around it where the snow had already melted. We were confused by this until we realized that water probably drips off the trees and would have melted the snow there first.

The lake was really nice – it had a meadow around it and the meadow was filled with pink flowers! We couldn’t walk out into the meadow so it was hard to get the pink flowers in pictures, but we did it! After enjoying the lake for a little while we headed back!

I think I like the Tioga Rd/Tuolumne Meadows area best – the Valley is nice and all, but the High Country is amazing! And there are fewer people! Lots fewer people! We only saw 3 other people on our hike to the lake! Even our time at in the Meadow – there were people, but they were few and far between! When I come back I’ll plan to spend more time there and less time in the Valley!

Tomorrow we head out, back to Oakland! I’m going to have to get back to thinking about all the little “RV issues”. Here I have had electricity so that resolves the battery/refrigerator issue! Back on Saturday my fresh water tank ran out of water! I have a water hook up here but because the electric box was on the wrong side of the campsite I pulled in forward rather than backing in and the water hose doesn’t reach to connect so I’ve been getting water in my water bottle from the hose to use for brushing my teeth and stuff. Tomorrow I’ll need to turn the van around so I can fill up with water. Also I’ll need to empty the stupid toilet thing. I have only been using it in the middle of the night so it won’t be too full!

We’ll spend Sunday and maybe even part of Monday visiting John Muir’s house in Martinez (near the Bay area), Point Reyes National Seashore and maybe even Muir Woods. The trip is winding down – I return my RV on Monday and then fly home Monday night.