Yosemite - Wawona and White Wolf

Day 9 - Curtis and I woke up early for a very chilly run/walk/hike up Twin Falls Train to see the waterfall.  When I say very chilly, it was a brisk 35 degrees....brrr!!

We cut our hike a little short to get back to the boys and warm up.  Just as we were hitching up the Casita, the campground started getting a strange fog inside the canyon, so boys said goodbye to their new friends and we headed down the windy road through Kings Canyon National Park.  Little did we know they were doing controlled burning in Kings Canyon and the whole Lodgepole Csmpground was about to be smoked out.  We could barely see the road.

We chose a GREAT day to leave.  Our short 138 mile drive to Wawona in Yosemite took 4 hours.  In Texas's pancake flat roads, it would have taken less than 2 hours.  We pulled up to Wawona just before 2:00 pm unfortunately, we have 5 different sites in Yosemite.  It took 3 fast internet connections all at the exact same time to even get one night sights....CRAZY!!!  Note to self:  don't even try to get in the Valley next time.  The Valley sites open up on one specific day each month and fill up in a matter of seconds.  Our pretty little one night spot in Wawona backed up to the freezing snow melt Merced River!

Cole was the first brave one to go in, but none of us made it past our legs....brrrr!!!

I'm very thankful for a water heater and warm water today!  

The boys unhitched their bikes and road the C loop for another two hours while Curtis and I cooked tacos.  After dinner, we headed to the Historic Wawona Hotel (recently renamed Big Trees Lodge) to tour the beautiful lodge and listen to the piano player in the foyer.

It's so beautiful here in the trees!

Unfortunately, Mariposa Grove is closed for reconstruction until 2017, so we can't go down to see the Grizzly Giant, but thankfully, we made time for Sequoia NP, so we'll save that for a next time trip.

It was time for our evening Ranger program at the Wawona Ampitheater where we learned about Destruction in Yosemite:  Fire, Water, Rock Slides....very interesting...We even learned a traditional Yosemite folk song to the tune of Duke of York when the Calvary patrolled her in the 1800s:

Oh, Captain Abe at Yosemite

He had 200 men

He marched them up to the top of the hill

And he marched them down again

After the informative campfire program, our ranger signed the Jr Ranger packet, and we hit the hay.  Tomorrow, we try to get one of the 75 spots at White a Wolf Campground.

Day 10 - I thought the driving days would have been the most stressful part of our trip, but I was wrong.  When we checked into Wawona, we learned the park was opening the White Wolf Campground today, June 17, for the first time all season.  This campground is up on Tioga Road (the road that crosses the span of the high Yosemite meadows that is closed from August to mid-June because of snow). Well, the road opened last week, and the campground opened today.  The Schettler family, along with the other million visitors to Yosemite on Father's Day weekend when President Obama visits, we're all trying to get into a first come/first serve campground with 74 spots!!!!  If we don't get a spot, we have to drive 3 hours back out of Yosemite to our "back up" camping reservation at Summerdale Campground in the National Forest.  The super Type A  detailed planning personality doesn't handle this kind of stress very well.  Also, I knew the kids would LOSE it if they had to spend 3 more hours in the car after 1500 miles of back to back driving.....we went for it and took the windy drive up to the high Sierras above the valley.

One Ranger said, "they'll open the campground up at noon. It will take you two hours to get up there"  The other Ranger said, "I'd just go and wait, hang out up there til it opens"....we left at 8:00 am and crossed our fingers and our toes.  

  

We arrived by 9:45 and campsites were already filling up.  I jumped out of the cat and went running to find the flattest campsite I could find and stand in it...."squatters rights".  WE GOT ONE!!!!!! #65!!!

Curtis is one happy boy!  And it's directly across from giant granite boulders for the boys to climb!

Within 20 minutes, cars were circling and scrambling trying to find a spot.  White Wolf Campground was full by 10:30!  Had we waited any more time, we would be driving the long 3 hour drive back out of Yosemite!  We took out the camp chairs and sat for the rest of the day!  The boys climbed, played, and rode bikes. Then we played Mine Craft Card Game , Wahoo, and Mommy took a nap! This campground is 8000 feet up, so it's COLD!  

We started a fire at 3 and tended to it all evening.  We learned at the Ranger program that Yosemite is one of the few parks that does fire prevention and allows  you to scavenge for wood.  Not only that, but we were in the opening night of the campground after the Rangers had cleared out the floor....free wood for all!!!!

Piles and piles of cleared wood and cut fallen trees all for the campers to burn and clear!  Our tiny box of firewood at Seqioua cost a giant $11.75.  So we did what any experienced camper would do, we made a giant fire!

After 6 hours and 18 inches of embers, that sucker put off some heat!  

We decided to save our two little rolls that we bought at the gas station south of Yosemite for another night and stockpile for our 3 nights in the valley.

Once the flames went down to roasting embers, we roasted smores and noticed the fire was engulfing every small branch we fed to it, so Curtis went for a trunk.  Yep, it was so hot, that sucker immediately caught fire.  

That giant log was 16 inches around. Had we put that on any other fire we have ever it would have immediately squashed it, but not this sucker!  We threw 2 more giant trunks on and enjoyed the heat while the stars came out!

Tomorrow, we sleep in, and make our way to the Yosemite Valley to find our campsite and President Obama along with a million other crazies!  To be continued....