6th August 2016 - Wawona Lodge CA - Kms to date 9,453

Kms today 117

We packed up the car and took the bus to the Awahanee Lodge (now called the Majestic Hotel) for brekkie just like Morag and I did in 2013. It is a magnificent hotel nestled in the trees at the base of Yosemite Falls.

Alan enjoying his brekkie at the posh Awahnee Hotel.

Alan managed to find a bucket hat that fitted his huge bonce in the gift shop. We drove out of Yosemite Valley up to Glacier Point a famous lookout. We just got in before they closed the road and made everyone take buses because of limited parking. We could see Half Dome and Vernal and Nevada Falls where we had been yesterday. You could even see climbers at the peak of Half Dome through a public telescope. On the bus to the Awahanee we overheard a young chap who was planning to take the Four Mile Trail up to Glacier Point.  It may only be 4 miles but it rises 3,000 ft!

Merced River Valley with Vernal and Nevada Falls.

After Glacier Point we planned to stop back at Sentinel Dome/Tafts Point to await a Ranger walk at 2 pm, but when we got there we decided to walk to Taft's Point anyway. We parked alongside the road beside another Mustang, but this one had the full 5 litre V8 motor not our puny 3.5 litre V6. We had seen loads of 'stangs in the park; in fact they were the most common model of car, but this was the real McCoy.
Taft's Point was even more spectacular than Glacier. It gave us a bird's eye view of El Capitan the 1 km high rock face that has climbers on it all summer long clinging to the sheer rock face. We could see some ant-like climbers half way up the climb.

Half Dome - one of Yosemite's icons.

Taft's Point over looking El Capitan.

The point was actually a rock overhang with 3,000 ft to the valley floor. A base-jumper had attempted a jump off this ledge and was killed when he was blown back against the rock.
We decided to skip the Ranger walk and head off to Wawona Lodge (now Big Trees Lodge).  It was a big place with two large wings and several smaller cottages. We were too early to take our room so we visited a Pioneer village down the road. It was a bit underwhelming, but it had a covered bridge over the creek, which was interesting.

Covered bridge at Wawona Lodge.

The hotel had a swimming pool and even a 9 hole golf course. We had the cheap room without a bathroom, but we could hear a French family doing their ablutions through a party door, just to make us jealous. There was a large bathroom behind the golf shop for us. Our room was at the end of the annex over looking the forest and we played cards on the veranda after dinner.

Wawona Lodge a 19th Century gem.