The next morning Dan and I went early to the Ranger station, to get on the list for a campsite for another night.  At 8 am they sold some sites they had, and we just missed those, but we were first on the 3pm waiting list.  After a big breakfast, it was time to rent some bikes.

Yosemite has great bike trails.  We rode to Muir Lake, which of course was dry this time of year, as were nearly all the waterfalls. But it was a nice ride, infused with a bit of danger as we were  riding through Mountain Lion country.  We didn’t see any, though it was a great incentive to any laggards.  While Dan went to get our campsite at 3pm, Tristan, Tessa and I went on the Bear Stroll.  It was an informative hike about bears, led by a Park Ranger.  We didn’t stroll very far, but the Ranger told us some really surprising information about bears.  For example, the bears in Yosemite were black bears, averaging about 300 pounds.  Their diet is 90 percent vegetables, like grass and berries and only 10 percent bugs and meat.  That really surprised me.  They don’t actually hibernate, but go into  a torpor, which is a state they can wake up and go back to sleep.  In this state, the females give birth to one or two 8 ounce babies.  Amazing.  Those were the good things we learned.  The bad things we learned were about the bears being hit by cars in the park and the bears coming into the campsites for food.  She showed us the hide of a bear who had been hit by a car.  We were able to touch its rough coat and long claws.  The Ranger told us that feeding the bears was the worse thing that could happen.  It made the bears determined to get “people” food.  The bears were so smart, they could smell food 3 miles away, and also could spot food in containers inside cars. The bears would stop at nothing to get at the food, shredding tents, breaking into cars, and opening containers.  She told us it was important to use the bear lockers at the campsite.  Once a bear had human food, they would always want it, and they would be at danger of being hit by a car, or the Rangers would have to remove them and put them higher up in the park.  If that didn’t work, the bear would have to be destroyed.  By the end of the presentation, we no longer wanted to see a bear.

That afternoon, the kids finished their  Jr Ranger program.  They had to attend one Ranger led discussion, answer questions in a booklet about Yosemite, and then answer questions asked by the Park Ranger.  They passed, and the Ranger swore them in, gave them badges, and announced to the group in the Visitor’s Center, Tristan and Tessa were new Jr Rangers.  After the ceremony, Dan and I agreed ice cream was in order.

After settling into our new campsite, this time at Lower Pines, we attended an evening Ranger Talk in our campgrounds.  It was about Bees and Wasps.  That doesn’t sound too exciting, but we learned about the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, 6 inches long and the most painful of all wasp stings.  Our Ranger said they were common in the park, and didn’t try to sting humans, instead trying to sting the Tarantula Spiders, which were also plentiful in the park this time of year.  By the time we left the meeting, our fear of Bears had been replaced by Tarantulas and giant wasps!

Later that night, we took our chairs to the “boardwalk”, a wooden walkway crossing the open meadow in the valley.  We sat there for a long time, watching the stars, the edges of the night  sky framed by tall pine trees and sheer rock faces.  We would be sad to leave the next day.

From the moment we drove in, we all fell in love with Yosemite National Park. We didn’t know what to look at first, the towering pine trees, the granite faced mountains, the flower filled meadows, the signs warning of BEARS! We knew this was a very popular park, and we didn’t have campground reservations, but we hoped their might be a space. The Park Ranger at the Visitor Center said the campgrounds were full, but to check at Curry Village and put our names on a waiting list. That didn’t sound too promising, but we put out our intentions to get a campsite and headed to Curry Village.

Driving into Yosemite, the main part of the park for visitors is actually the Valley of Yosemite. The Valley is just over a mile wide and 7 miles long. Inside the Valley are several lodges, Visitor Centers, Nature Centers, restaurants, grocery stores and campgrounds. You would think it would look like a strip mall, but the park has done a great job of hiding the buildings deep in the trees. The two “Villages” are Yosemite village, with most of the hotel type lodging, and Curry Village which contained the campgrounds. The Park Ranger at Curry Village confirmed that the campgrounds were full, but we could get on the waiting list. We would be number 17, and she felt pretty good about our chances, as long as we were there at 3pm when they sold the sites.

While we waited, we walked around beautiful Curry Village, never forgetting to look up at the sheer granite face of the mountains high above us. Even though there were alot of people there, it didn’t seem crowded. I made lunch and the kids set up the table and chairs (2 fold out tables came with the RV) under a tree. A few squirrels joined us for our meal, happily taking the potato chips we offered. A huge black Raven, the biggest I have ever seen, swooped over our head, followed closely by a really large Blue Jay with a crested head. While we were admiring them, a large female Mule Deer wandered into our parking lot, close to our RV. Mule Deers look like ordinary deers except they have really large ears, resembling a Mule. It seems everything in Yosemite was big. We watched in awe as the deer, unafraid, walked close to us, then disappeared into the meadow across from us. We followed and found a male deer with pretty big horns. He blended into the meadow grass so well, we were nearly on top of him before we saw him. Could it get any better than this?

At 3pm on the dot, the Park Ranger assigned the remaining campsites and we were lucky and got a campsite at Upper Pines Campground. It was a beautiful spot, pine trees towering overhead, quiet, shaded. We were in heaven. After we had the RV, which at this time we had nicknamed “Awesome” set up, we caught the free shuttle bus for a tour of the other areas in Yosemite. The shuttle bus was such a great idea, it took you everywhere. The big thought on our mind as we went through the park was bears. Would we see them? Everywhere in Yosemite you were reminded to lock up your food. Bear proof lockers were at each campsite, and you had to lock your food in them at night. No food could be left in your car as the bears could get into the cars, and did all the time. We watched a video showing how bears would reach a paw in the car door frame, where the window was and actually bend down the metal window frame and get in the car. It was frightening to watch. Since we had an RV, we were alright with food inside, but all food had to be removed from cars every night and locked up. As we sat around the campfire that night, every noise we heard conjured up bears in our minds. After roasting marshmallows and making S’Mores, we made sure to remove every trace of the marshmallows. We wanted to see bears in the wild, not in our campsite!

Bedtime came early again, something about the woods makes us tired. Later that night, I was woken up by a sound outside our bedroom window. It was a loud crunching sound. Groggily I looked out our window. Suddenly I yelled out in surprise, “Bear!” There sitting at the picnic table, as calm as could be, was a big bear, munching on potato chips! I hit Dan to wake him up. “Bbbbear!” I could barely get the words out I was so excited. Dan quickly reached for the flashlight he kept next to the bed in anticipation of an event like this. In one quick motion, he had the flashlight on and the beam spot on our bear!

Except it turned out not to be a bear. It turned out to be the camper next door eating potato chips. As soon as the flashlight beam hit him, the crunching stopped and he froze. I think we nearly scared him to death. Since our window was open, he had to hear me yell “Bear” and when Dan shone the flashlight he must have thought the bear was behind him. When we saw it was a man, not a bear, Dan and I couldn’t stop laughing. Through laughter, Dan managed to call out “Sorry!”. The crunching stopped and we think he went back into his tent. A half hour later we were still laughing. Our window was open, and I’m sure he heard us laughing late into the night.

Wednesday we picked up the RV.  We were all very excited but the kids were over the moon!  Everything was exactly as they said it was, 31 feet 2009 Winnebago with a generator,  air conditioning/heat, microwave and oven.  The price was $9.95 per day, 100 miles per day, full coverage insurance, everything we needed.  The only thing extra we purchased was extra miles.  After watching a short video, and having a run through of all the systems, we were on our way.  We didn’t want to go into Yosemite the first night as we wanted a full hook up so we could make sure we remembered how to do everything. 

Our first stop was a Safeway and a 99 cent store to provision.  It was a little nerve wracking for Dan to have less than a hour driving experience, and now have to maneuver 31 feet into a crowded shopping center.  He did great though.  We provisioned, ate lunch, and were back on the road in less than 2 hours.  We spent our first night at a KOA campground in Mariposa, about 3 hours away.  We wanted a place with full hookups that first night so we could make sure we knew how to work everything.  The campground was alright.  The campsites were gravel, but tall trees surrounded the outside of the park.  The showers were great and we did laundry.  I was surprised to find the sites so close together.  I wasn’t expecting this.  It seemed to me when my family went camping we had lots of room.  I hoped the State Parks would be better. 

That night we were so tired, after a quick dinner we went to bed without even starting a fire.  The next morning we left earlier for Yosemite National Park.