Gary-Summer: April 12, 2023 - Yosemite Wedding Venue Search

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

April 12, 2023 - Yosemite Wedding Venue Search

Title: April 12, 2023 - Yosemite Wedding Venue Search
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail head: Sentinel Bridge Parking Area

Trail: Wandering-Cooks Meadow, Yosemite Falls, Valley Loop, Ahwahnee Meadow

Destination: None-a wander

Distance: 2.66 mile ¹

Start Time: 1:33

End Time: 3:15

Elevation Rise: 905'

Descent: 904‘

Maximum Elevation: 4,517'

¹Milage and elevations derived from plotting on Google earth. Times from pictures. The elevations data is suspect

Description:

Our daughter is getting married and is planning a Yosemite Valley wedding. The chapel is booked solid for over a year. But there are other places where you can book a wedding within the Valley. The three which Andrea and Lawrence are thinking about are Cathedral Beach Picnic Area, Sentinel Beach Picnic Area, and Cascade Picnic Area. Sherri and I are going to go up to Yosemite and do a bit of reconnaissance. We know it is a tough job, but someone has to go to Yosemite.

Interesting cloud

I get up around 6:30. Sherri is up shortly after I am. We head off at 8:45 with Sherri driving. This gives me time to look out the window and ponder things. As we are about to transition out of the valley, I notice a low cloud bank to the northeast. I think this must be over parts of the San Joaquin. Further on when we pass the North Fork exit from 41, I see the same cloud bank in the distance.

Snow along the road

Sherri is feeling good, so she continues driving past Oakhurst. There is one place on 41 which is one lane traffic control. The storms this Winter have done a job on our roads. We get into Yosemite National Park around 10:15. We soon see snow piled along the roadway in places at least five feet high. Also there are three places which have one lane traffic as well. When we get to Chinquipin, we switch drivers. We stop at Tunnel View. It is not crowded and no snow is on the ground, unlike last December. Beautiful view!

Entrance to Cathedral Picnic Area

And now we go on to our first stop-Cathedral Beach. The area is closed, but we just park our car at the entrance and wander around. We are looking for accessibility, bathroom, parking, picnicking and sites to hold a wedding ceremony. We wander around for 20 minutes before hearing voice-telling us the area is closed. Sherri explains to a wildlife ranger why we are here and he accepts that, just tells us not to linger.

Entrance to Sentinel Picnic Area

So we moved on to Sentinel Beach. Same thing-gate is closed, but we go in and look around. This time, it is close enough to the Swinging Bridge area that we see a few people in the area. Our last stop is Cascade Creek. We stop first at the Falls and look at the creek and Falls before moving on. This picnic area has Cascade Creek flowing right beside it. But there is a tour bus parked here and the tourists from France have a couple picnic tables in use. After we examine the area, we make use of an unoccupied table for our lunch.

Cascade Picnic Area

Cascade Falls

Cascade Creek

Yosemite Falls

We have accomplished our mission, so there is still time to play. Now where do we want to hike too? We are thinking that Yosemite Falls needs to be included, but something we can do within two hours. We try to park at the chapel like we have before, but there is a new sign saying for chapel use only. On we go. There is a space at the Sentinel Bridge parking area. Seems like a good place to be.

Muir and Gary

We start off going across Cook’s Meadow. There is a bridge across the Merced which we detour over. But it is not as good as of a view as from Swinging Bridge-which does not swing anymore. Then onward to the Falls. But first, bathroom break.

We join the rest of the small crowd and wander up to Yosemite Falls. With as much water as is coming down, I am surprised that there is not much spray. Just enough to wet my glasses and let me know that there is a little bit of mist in the air.

Horsetail Falls

We cross the bridge and walk a bit of the Valley Loop Trail. I am thinking we might take the trail down to the Visitor Center, but we are feeling pretty good. So we continue on the trail to the north of the village. This part gets us into the sun and away from most of the people. A couple from San Diego passed us a couple of times. Not because we are speedy, do they get a second opportunity because they stopped to enjoy a view.

Cascade Falls

The trail dumps us out onto Ahwahnee Meadow. We take the trail to the side of the employee housing to one of the roads. This takes us to the new main parking area. Since they put this in, I get confused about where the trails and roads go. So we consult a map and find we are only a little ways from our car. In ten minutes we are back in the car and take off.

Parting View of the Valley

There are two more stops, one planned and one unplanned. Unplanned is when Sherri looks up at El Capitan and sees Horsetail Falls coming over the edge. Really a wondrous sight, even without the February Firefall. Then we stop just past the tunnel so we can look down the canyon and also catch a glimpse of Cascade Falls. It is a good way to end the day. We do talk a bit with a woman from Fresno who used to come up her all the time.

We head back to Fresno. But first we stop in Oakhurst for a burger at Carl’s Jr. We actually eat inside-it is vacant. Then head back home. We get back about 6:35 and hop onto our family Zoom call by 6:45. A good way to end a Wednesday.