July 17, 2012 – El Portal, CA - Indian Flats RV Park

We awoke to another chilly morning in Guernesy campground.  It was 38 degrees, but no wind was blowing.  We had built a nice fire the night before, and I was able to get another fire going immediately, since we had stowed some spare wood just for the morning.  There is something about an early morning campfire we both enjoy.

We packed up and headed out under cloudless blue skies.  We had planned to ride to Yosemite today, since there is nothing in between.

We had some delays, as much of the roads we were traveling were endless twisties and ascending/decending from the mountains.

Entrance To Yosemite NP

We arrived at Yosemite and as we suspected, all the campgrounds are full.  We ended up heading west out of the park to find a campground.  There were several national forest sites, but no showers were to be found in them.  We pulled into the first commercial campground we found and snagged the last site.

A Portion Of Yosemite Valley

The South Side Of El Capitan

View of Yosemite Valley From The Exit Road

View of Yosemite Valley From Tunnel View Overlook
El Capitan On The left, and Half-Dome In The Distance

There must be fifty tents in this campground.  It appears they are hikers, missionaries, or scouts.  Nobody is here now and I believe it will be chaos when they all return.  As long as they don’t disturb our beauty sleep.

We are going back into Yosemite tomorrow, take some pictures, get Don’s passport stamp and head south to Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP.  The scenery and weather is significantly different than when we were here two years ago.  Right now, it is in the low 80’s, cloudless sky with a slight breeze.  Two years ago, it was 45 degrees, rain, sleet, and fog.  It is amazing what we can see now, that we couldn’t see two years ago.

We looked over our rear tires, and it appears that both rear tires need to be replaced.  We will look up someone in the Gold Wing Gold Book and see what help or advice they can offer.  Don’s trailer tires are also in need of replacing.  He has one spare, but needs two.  We will try to contact someone tomorrow when we get internet and phone service and can formulate a plan.