Day 106: Mariposa Grove
July 18, 2011
This morning we decided to take advantage of the breakfast buffet at Curry Village. We had worked up pretty good appetites after hiking the day before (and from biking the past 3.5 months)! We stuffed ourselves full of muffins, danishes, eggs, veggie sausages, biscuits, fruit, cereal, french toast, pancakes, yogurt, juice, and other goodies. We had to sit in the dining room for awhile to let the food digest; we could barely move. I think we all got our money's worth!
We decided that we wanted to try and get to Mariposa Grove to see some giant sequoia trees. Unfortunately, the shuttle buses don't run all the way over there (it is about 35 miles from Yosemite Valley where we were staying). We found out that the only way to get there was to hitchhike. Nothing new for us! So we found some cardboard and made a sign that read, "Wawona." Wawona is the area/hotel by Mariposa Grove and Mariposa Grove was simply to long to fit onto our small sign.
When we got to our spot in the road, we found that there was already another guy there with a cardboard sign that read, "SAC (I'm a teacher)." We joked around with him for awhile, competing to see who would find a ride first. Despite our beauty, he somehow managed to get someone to pull over first!
Eventually, we too, got our ride with a guy named Bob. He was headed to the airport in Fresno to fly home to Phoenix. IN order to get to Fresno, he had to drive right by Mariposa Grove, so he offered us a lift. Just a few miles into the ride, we spotted our other hitchhiking friend on the rode again! Apparently, his original ride offer didn't work out...
After about 1 hour, we reached Mariposa Grove. We didn't have enough time to walk the entire loop around or take the open-air shuttle. We opted to do a shorter walking tour ourselves. We were able to see a few big trees (some that were uprooted, some that had been burnt, some that were dead, etc.). It was cool, but not quite as impressive as we were hoping.
Just an hour or so later, we had to look for another ride back to Yosemite Valley. Emily walked up to some guys in the parking lot and asked them if they were headed in that direction. We got lucky on our first try! We got a ride with two guys who were hanging out before their 40th high school reunion. We enjoyed talking to them and were dropped off right outside our camp site!
We packed up everything and had to head over to Curry Village to catch the YART bus back to Merced. We made good timing and caught the bus with only a few minutes to spare. We mostly read on the bus ride back. Our CouchSurfing host, Eddie, picked us up at the Amtrak station and drove us back to his place. We took showers, did laundry, and packed up our stuff again. Time to get back on the bikes tomorrow...only 6 more days of biking left!!!
We decided that we wanted to try and get to Mariposa Grove to see some giant sequoia trees. Unfortunately, the shuttle buses don't run all the way over there (it is about 35 miles from Yosemite Valley where we were staying). We found out that the only way to get there was to hitchhike. Nothing new for us! So we found some cardboard and made a sign that read, "Wawona." Wawona is the area/hotel by Mariposa Grove and Mariposa Grove was simply to long to fit onto our small sign.
When we got to our spot in the road, we found that there was already another guy there with a cardboard sign that read, "SAC (I'm a teacher)." We joked around with him for awhile, competing to see who would find a ride first. Despite our beauty, he somehow managed to get someone to pull over first!
Eventually, we too, got our ride with a guy named Bob. He was headed to the airport in Fresno to fly home to Phoenix. IN order to get to Fresno, he had to drive right by Mariposa Grove, so he offered us a lift. Just a few miles into the ride, we spotted our other hitchhiking friend on the rode again! Apparently, his original ride offer didn't work out...
After about 1 hour, we reached Mariposa Grove. We didn't have enough time to walk the entire loop around or take the open-air shuttle. We opted to do a shorter walking tour ourselves. We were able to see a few big trees (some that were uprooted, some that had been burnt, some that were dead, etc.). It was cool, but not quite as impressive as we were hoping.
Just an hour or so later, we had to look for another ride back to Yosemite Valley. Emily walked up to some guys in the parking lot and asked them if they were headed in that direction. We got lucky on our first try! We got a ride with two guys who were hanging out before their 40th high school reunion. We enjoyed talking to them and were dropped off right outside our camp site!
We packed up everything and had to head over to Curry Village to catch the YART bus back to Merced. We made good timing and caught the bus with only a few minutes to spare. We mostly read on the bus ride back. Our CouchSurfing host, Eddie, picked us up at the Amtrak station and drove us back to his place. We took showers, did laundry, and packed up our stuff again. Time to get back on the bikes tomorrow...only 6 more days of biking left!!!
Posted by the girls.
