Morning in Yosemite, before taking off…

We are an extraordinarily noisy species. Lying in my cozy bed this morning around 7:30am, I know I am about 20 miles into wilderness… yet even here I can hear the distant rush and roar of traffic passing by. I luxuriate in the comfort, and realize this isn’t really wilderness, per se. I am in a snug little tent cabin, surrounded by at least a hundred more. There’s at least one hotel within a ten minute walk. My cell may not have any bars, and I cannot easily access the internet… but I’ve done the sleeping on the ground thing with no bedding and a light tent. This isn’t it. I like being warm, on a comfy mattress, knowing there’s a hot shower awaiting me later this morning.

Walking back from the showers, I realize I’m not yet “adjusted” to- holy cow. That is the biggest damn crow I have ever seen! Huge, cocky, and glossy black, he tosses the dirt aside by the fire pit with a few quick, sure twists of his beak, and I realize from the heavy beak that this is more likely a raven. He doesn’t stay long — I’ve left out no food — but for a moment it’s like he poses for me. He lifts his head and the sunlight gleams on his thick jet-black feathers for a few seconds — then he spreads his wings and heads off, with another flying along behind.

The ravens and the ground squirrels are incredibly bold here — the squirrels especially so. While walking to the restrooms very early, I saw several people seated in their little patio, and not ten feet away were four squirrels searching for food around the campers’ woodpile. One dodged under the fire pit grate and watched me walk by less than a foot away. I’ve noticed several of the squirrels seem to have all their hair rubbed away over their shoulders; I’m not sure why. I see one apparently “marking” the bottom of the fence which borders my tent cabin’s little patio, by rubbing the top of his back against the bottom of the slats — but if that were the source of the bald patches then surely that would make a straight line down their back? The patio table has a little inset instructional sign which says that animals being fed human food lose their hair. Maybe that’s it? But if so, why are the squirrels bald only over the shoulders?

Ha! The raven — or at least a raven — found something! Several of them go speeding by up amongst the pine branches, chasing one in the lead with something orange in its beak. They’re cawing and croaking, and the lead one is dodging madly. It’s startlingly pretty, watching them like flashing jet beads darting through the sunlight and the brilliantly emerald pines.

My typing (at about 10am) is interrupted as a small group of children of varying ages wander by. Two of the girls are on bikes; one small girl and a boy are on foot. The boy has a plastic bag with cans and other recyclables in it — they’re going around asking for people’s recyclable garbage. I’m pleased: now I don’t have to search out a garbage can! I give them my can, thank them and wish them good luck, and go back to my typing. They debate whether some crumpled aluminum foil someone left by one of the fire pits is recyclable, and thank me when I assure them that it is. That’s so cool! It’s incredibly nice to see folks working together to both recycle and to keep camp sites clean.

I had beef stew for breakfast. I was going to have some oatmeal, but walking back from the showers was an exercise in olfactory and auditory temptation: the rich smells of bacon, someone calling out for more orange juice with their eggs… I was hungry, and wanted something substantial! The propane stove cooks fast, as well — far more so than a regular stove. I can’t even turn it down to a low bubble on the left burner — it slides down and increases the gas flow unless I keep a finger on it. I need to make sure I have a bit of tupperware to hand, though, when I eat. I ate the whole can’s worth, and now I feel a bit bloated. I’ll wash the dishes later; sitting here peacefully typing and watching people and wildlife go by is very pleasant.

I need to organize and re-sort everything into Dark Star. I tossed it all in a bit higgledy-piggledy in an effort to get myself rolling yesterday. Now I’m in a sheltered, relaxed, comfortable, and safe place to do so, I’ll take the time to make sure I can find everything easily. Last night was slightly frustrating, since I could not remember where the bag with the flashlight was… and so I got to search for it in darkness. Fortunately the tent cabin itself was lit. I did eventually find the flashlight, thought it was (predictably) in the bottom of the last bag I pulled out of Dark Star. :)

At 8 in the morning, when I got up, only women and the ground squirrels were out. The women were already getting things ready for the day, quietly opening the steel bear lockers, setting up stoves and bringing in food, stretching or hanging out towels or bedding to air… even in the showers there was a line for the women’s, but none for the men’s. Made me want to hijack the men’s showers for a bit! :) Well, at least we got hot water. Hot, soapy showers are an astonishingly sensual luxury when they’re not simply assumed to be there waiting for you.

Walking back from the showers, I realize I’m starting to acclimate: I’ve unconcernedly left my stuff in an unlockable tent. Last night I locked Dark Star on each trip from the van to the tent, though it’s no more than about 100 feet away. Lying in bed before I fell asleep, I worried that I’d not locked the bear locker against humans — and then it occurred to me: the rules are different out in the country. I’m starting to remember the old rules I learned while camping: keep the flashlight close to hand at all times. Be friendly & courteous to everyone. Share when you can. Don’t wave the flashlight around at night, so you don’t accidentally blind folks. Make up your bed first thing as you set up your camp, so you can fall into it right away when you’re tired. Always keep your map with you. When it’s cold, put the next day’s clothing into the sleeping bag with you, so it’s warm in the morning. Keep your flip-flops next to the bed so you can stand on them while dressing, and your feet won’t get cold against concrete. Clean up your mess, so once you leave it looks like you were never there. There are more, of course… but it’s interesting to feel the information coming back. It wasn’t lost; it was just waiting until it was needed again.

Admittedly it wasn’t really cold last night — I didn’t immediately need to pull the covers completely up, though I woke up with them that way. Earplugs are my friend, though: there was a lot of holiday celebrating going on until about 11pm to midnight or so last night! Some of it was fun: the cyalume-decorated, impromptu children’s parade; the group singing songs along with the music on their car’s speakers, dancing a little around their campfire; the strings of lights decorating some of the tent cabins — there were what I think were christmas lights as well as things like little lit American flags; or flashy bunting and strings of metallic stars in red, white, & blue; or other such things. Some of the little tent cabins were quite decorated, and I can only assume those folks are staying there for a while. Most common was tarps for more privacy, or flags — aside from several Old Glory’s, I saw a little Canadian flag, and a (compensatingly? :) huge yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” rattlesnake flag. Some of the celebrating last night was just shouting and/or howling, though fortunately not too late, and most of it wasn’t drunken. I spotted two lights-flashing park law enforcement vehicles (are they called police if they’re park rangers in a park?) in two different places. In both cases two rangers were talking to a guy — trying, I think, to determine if he was drunk. One of the shuttle bus drivers noted that there’s a Yosemite Park magistrate and jail as well — which probably shouldn’t have surprised me, but did since I’d not thought about it before.

Okaaay… after playing hunt-the-raven for five or ten minutes, I’ve apparently convinced every one of them that I’ve vile designs upon their poor tail feathers — they won’t let me within 20 or so feet! Trying to focus in on them with the camera from a distance apparently simply confirms their belief in my basic perfidy. Drat; I’d been hoping to get a good shot of one. They’re big here!

I think I’ve typed enough this morning — this is about an hour’s worth. Time to wash up my dishes, re-pack my stuff, then head up to the lodge so I can do my shopping for the day, upload this for folks to read, and plan out the day’s driving. Good heavens, I think I smell pizza! It’s a beautiful day so far. Enjoy!

[later note as I upload this posting: I apologize; I left my camera in Dark Star, so cannot upload my current photos so far. Once I get to a good place to do so on the road, though, I’ll add them into this and the previous posting, and alert folks in the then-current posting. Cheers! :) ]