Hetch Hetchy and the Poopenaut Valley

Sunday we decided to go to see Hetch Hetchy which is Yosemites sister valley that was flooded in 1923 to make a water reservoir for San Francisco and surrounding counties as well as generate electricity. Its existence is apparently still a bit controversial, and debate over its removal still occurs.

There's a giant lake and you can't swim in it. So sad. (Especially since it was over 90 degrees that day)

View of the valley plus dam spray... should I be making an inappropriate joke here?

There was also a fun tunnel which we totally made creepy gargoyle statues in. I need to get those photos from Hannah.

Overall Hetch Hetchy was interesting, but not a must-see. Unless you count taking a picture with the Poopenaut Valley sign. That was pretty great. (again, need to get the photo. Will update once obtained!)

The not 4 mile 4 mile trail

I made it to Yosemite National Park! It was so beautiful. I would come back here to spend a week, even if it is crazy busy. Having not booked a campsite earlier in the year we weren't in Yosemite Valley itself, we were in the northeastern part of the park at Tuolumne Meadows. The campground was really nice and, being across from a meadow, you could see sooo many stars. The bath house was even a cute 1940s cabin style.

Hannah, her brother Andy, and I only had one weekend (ugh, work.) so we couldn't go on too many trails. We elected to start with 4-Mile trail which goes from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point, a major lookout over the park. The plan was to potentially then take Panorama Trail back because it would cover a different area.

I probably should have done a better research job because 1) 4 Mile trail is actually about 5 miles and 2) it was the steepest trail in the park. It was named 4 Mile trail after the original distance; they elongated the trail to make it less steep. Ugh.

But, it was a incredible hike so I'm not too upset that my legs hurt the next day. Aside from my being a bit out of shape, the elevation was a little tricky. The trail switchbacked along the mountainside overlooking Yosemite Falls. It went from this height:

To this height:

Ok they look pretty similar. Whatever, it was great!

You then swiched to the other side of the mountain to overlook Half Dome (which we did not go up as you need a permit and it probably would have killed me.)

Once at the top the view was amazing! It seriously didn't look real. Like it was a painted backdrop behind the overlook wall.

And there were squirrels trying to get our snacks.

The slightly depressing part was that you can drive to Glacier Point as well as hike so we were quite sweaty and gross while most people were all nice and neat. Including the wedding party. But it's ok, we had a nice sense of accomplishment and didn't have to be in the car anymore!

By the time we were done at Glacier Point it was too late in the day to attempt Panoramic Trail in case we were slow, so we just went back down 4 Mile. AND WE SAW BEARS! There was a mom and two cubs visible but still far enough back on the trail that I didn't think I'd get attacked. The cubs were playing around on a log then the three of them started digging at a tree stump. Seriously cute little buggers. This fulfilled one of my top 5 in-the-wild must see animals. (The others are whales, sea turtles, a wild cat of some type, and African. I'm lumping a safari as one... much easier that way)

I of course decided to leave my zoom lens at the campsite.

Yosemite Valley

4 Mile trail

Yikes.

Rocks, rocks, rocks

I-70 took a bit of time. It was lovely of course. Mountainous.

Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were spent in Arches National Park. It was beautiful! There were so many colors between the sky and landforms. There were of course a number of arches as well, which were fun to see. It was pretty toasty out, but it worked out that I had an afternoon and a morning so I never hit the high heat time of day. I also somehow managed to avoid crowds (yay!!!). It was pretty empty when I was on the trails, but every time I left there were a ton of people coming up. The trails did confirm that I need to work out more!

 Delicate Arch

From Delicate Arch Trail 

Landscape Arch 

Double O Arch 

Devil's Garden Trail

Got to Salt Lake City this afternoon. It's nice, though to be honest I haven't gone around too much. Just checked out Temple Square and the city center then relaxing for a bit before hitting the road again.