Today started shortly after midnight after Cathy heard the garbage can in our room fall over. Cathy got up and replaced the contents of the can and went back to bed while Tom snoozed.
A few minutes later, Cathy heard rustling and looked around the dark room. She saw a figure, woke Tom and pointed to it. He jumped into action. It was a raccoon that had stolen our bag of Clif Bars! Tom chased it out onto our second floor balcony and it dropped the bag while escaping over the railing with one of the bars.
We had left the screen door closed and the glass slider open about two inches for fresh air and to hear the river. That damn beast opened both doors and came right in!
Needless to say, it took a while for our heart rates to return to normal and then to fall back to sleep.
We restarted our day around 7:00am with the in-room swill they call coffee. We were on the road by 9:00am.
Our first destination was Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It was a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect. The Hetch Hetchy Valley resembles the Yosemite Valley with tall granite rocks and green meadows at the base. One dome even resembles El Capitan, although a fraction of the size from what is visible above the flooded valley. In fact John Muir called it “A wonderfully exact counterpart of the great Yosemite.”
Because of that quote, we wondered how much of the rocks were under water. We could find nothing in any of the literature that told how deep the reservoir is. We looked it up and it is 1,800 feet deep.
We made our way to a spot we’d seen on the way in to get some lunch. The only thing open was a general store so we put together a peculiar selection that filled our bellies and we were very satisfied. At least it wasn’t a raccoon-tainted Clif Bar.
We then rode to Glacier Point. A good deal of the ride was through a recent burn area so it wasn’t very pretty. Once we rose to around 5,000 feet is started to green up. Just before the Point, traffic was stopped and we saw a mom and three baby bears just off the road. They were the cutest things either of us had ever seen! Unfortunately our photos aren’t very good and we’re hoping for some good shots on the GoPro. Stay tuned!
We stopped at Washburn Point which offered spectacular views of the entire mountain range from El Capitan to Half Dome and beyond.
We continued on to Glacier Point where we could see the entire range, valley and several waterfalls still spilling.
After enjoying a popsicle at Glacier Point, we headed back to El Portal. Not feeling like having pizza again, we went to the general store and put together dinner and tomorrow’s lunch and fueled up.
We will lock the door securely tonight and get a good rest before we head for Bridgeport via Tioga Pass tomorrow.
We’ve lost count of how many times we have walked away from the bike only to have to return to put on our masks. It is a real pain in the butt. However, we have been impressed with how most people are compiling with the mandate.
Monkeybutt Chronicles 
That could only happen to you guys. Your masks look familiar!
LikeLike