Day 138: “The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold cold wet day.”

Someone was a very sad panda today. While researching the hikes around Yosemite last night we discovered that not only do you need to have snow chains with you to drive into the park (which we don’t have), but that there was a severe winter storm warning in effect and they were advising against all but essential travel due to the risk of flash floods, high winds and snow storms.

That makes it the second national park on this trip we haven’t been able to visit, and seeing as those were the parts of our USA trip Mark was most looking forward to, saying he was disappointed doesn’t really cover it.

Being the adventurous wee things we are we headed into Yosemite anyway to see just how bad it was. The drive in was relatively dry but as we got further into the forest and got to the gates of the park the rain started really coming down. Knowing great hiking wasn’t an option and not wanting to pay $30 to only be able to drive a small portion of the park, we turned back. Driving back we paid more attention to the landscape around us and saw the results of the recent wildfires in California – huge parts of the forest were totally charred and devastated. Not keen to head home just yet we headed for Bass Lake on the entrance to the forest, but that too was cold and miserable – and with surprisingly little water in the lake considering the weather. So the afternoon then consisted of running a few errands to get fuel and other essentials – TV snacks and wine – before we headed back to hunker down for the rest of the day, making it back to the cabin just in time for the rain to really start pouring down around us. Day One Hundred and Thirty Eight Stats: