Without any further delays I take the shortest way directly
to Yomesite National Park. That was the plan – but: all of a sudden a car from
the Highway Patrol with all the flashing lights on appears behind me! I go a
bitt o the side, meaning to let him pass. What he doese but only to get me
stopped. OH MY GOD!! What did I wrong? The officer walks towards me, looking at
my motorcyce and at my plate and says: „you have been reported driving too
slowly!!! Häääää??? I quite soon realised that he did not mean me; some minutes
ago there have been about five cars in frot of me and at the front a little
motorcycle that could defenitely not keep tha maximum speed. So I guess that one
of the annoied car drivers called the highway patrol. But before the reached us
the little motorcycle had taken a side street and therefor I was the only
motorcycle far and wide. It seemed to
complicated to explain (and I was absolutely not sure if he would believe me
that story). So I just apologised and said that I probably forgot about the
speed because oft he beauty oft he landscape. He smiled and said: „ok, but
please speed up now“. That is definitely something no other policeman ever said
to me J
Shortly after lunchtime I reache the entrance oft he park
and see that all campgrounds are already full. Oh no! What shall I do now? I
just give it a try and ask the man at the „campground reservations desk“.
Fortunately only te campgrounds in Yosemite Valley are all full. The ones outside are still
available: first comes, first serves. So I drive immediately on and take
– stupid as I am – the wrong road and get into Yosemite Valley. It is beautiful no question: Half
Dome, El Capitan, the waterfall. But it is absolutely overcrowded and I jsut
drive through. Luckily I find a perfect campground : Yosemite Creek, again
one with just the necessities : a table, a fire ring, commin toilets,
wazer out of the river and important in these park, a foodlocker to store the
food safely and not to attract te bears.
The road
down tot he campground is 7 kilometers long, partly gravel, partly just bumpy
paved. What a fun for my Suzy Blue. After setting up the tent I drive to the
next store (40km one way) to get some food and drinks for the next three days. So
I can drive the same road another 2x, passing several slow driving 4x4 Pickups J
The night is frosty cold (about 4°C) but no wonder, I sleep
on an elevation of 2400MüM!
Go on the trail down
to Yosemite Valley, passing te waterfalls: appr. 15km walking and 1300meters of
elevation. The trail is not easy to keep on, sometimes you have to read the
tracks of other hikers for not getting lost. And that would defenitely a bad
thing in ths area with bears and mountain lions around. They are just welcome as long as in a distance
for a nice picture
The
landscape of Yosemite Nationalpark is absolutely beautiful : all these
impressing granit mountains, the waterfalls, the pines that growe in the most
impossible places. But I do not write more, let the pictures tell you about
it !!
Halfway I
meet Alex, a young American who normally works at the park entrance and his
free days spends with hiking the trail within the park. We walk the rest
of the way down together and it is really interesting what he can tell me about
the park. I reach Yosemite Valley just in time to buy a drink and then catch
the us back tot he campground – or as near as the bus drives.
As I am prepared now tot he cold night I am already looking
froward to cook a nice hot soup and a tea. But my camping stove does not work
at all and so I just can eat another sandwich and a lukewarm Coke. OK, no problem – with all my „merino's“ on, I crawl into the sleeping bag – nice and cosy warm!
But now the „programm“ fort he next day is clear: clean the
camping stove, check Suzy Blue, plan the next few days and enjoy the sun.
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