While it was a very brief visit, I couldn't miss the opportunity to see Yosemite for the first time. I was vaguely in the neighborhood (driving from San Francisco to Joshua Tree), and had a couple days to spare. It's approaching mid-November, so considering that, I lucked out in the weather department as well, at least for the first day. It was clear and blue in the morning, with clouds gradually moving in during the afternoon into evening. The rain held off until I was happily settled in my hotel room.
I started the day with a hike up to Vernal Falls, following the Mist Trail and a little bit of the John Muir Trail. I hope to have things come together one of these years to hike the full length of the JMT. It's nice to say I've touched it, for now. With nearly 1000 feet in elevation change, it's not the quickest hike, but I still had time to get over to do the loop at Lower Yosemite Falls, stroll along the valley floor a little, and then ride the shuttle out to the Mirror Lake trail head and hike to the lake. I was told to expect bears along the last hike, but that didn't come to be. I enjoy seeing wildlife, but the combination of increasingly dense cloud cover and an early sunset time left me hiking out in the dark, with no one else on the trail and I was content not crossing paths with a bear. A made a stop at the village grocery for some veggies and then headed to a hotel in El Portal. It was my intention to camp, but as I watched the overnight weather forecast through the day, it got worse and worse with temps at or below 30, heavy rain, and snow by morning. 30 is chilly, but it isn't so cold, however with a car loaded with artwork, having to pack up a tent in the rain and then wedge it into the car next to paintings is not so fun. Plus, staying in this hotel afforded me a nice adventure around 11pm: I was relaxing with a movie when there were suddenly some very strange and unexplainable sounds in my room. It took a while to figure out what I was hearing, then there were some telltale splatter sounds: the roof was leaking. A lot. A constant dripping. I called the front desk, they said to pack up and come over to get a key to a different room. Great...but I hauled all kinds of things into my room to rearrange some of my luggage and I had to gather everything up first. In the time it took me to pack, a large swelling grew in the ceiling, and a good sized split where the drips were coming out. It was really pouring outside.
