I passed a few people who had been visiting unmarked Inspiration Point (hope they found it, or at least inspiration...), then continued along the old road towards Fort Monroe. Of course the advance party wouldn't be camping in the forest near the road when there was open granite not too far away.
The views from the campsite were perhaps not as good as those from Inspiration Point, but we really couldn't complain.
The evening was spoiled a bit by a chilly breeze, but we still enjoyed dinner outside on open granite--a luxury that has been rare since winter began. Not long after dinner, we were treated to a nice sunset and a night of rest.
We experienced an epic gear failure the next morning: we were lacking both pancake syrup and a spatula. Fortunately, we had an alternate breakfast that required neither, but we would have to acquire said missing gear for the next morning. (Oatmeal really wasn't an option...)
The morning sun soon lit up Cascade Falls below us.
We chose to exit towards the advance party's car instead of mine, since I hadn't been in that direction yet.
Our route took us through some tricky deadfall, but also past some nice old trees.
Two meters in diameter
After we emerged from the forest we were on a nice open granite dome with a few interesting erratics and some nice views.
We daled around on this dome for a bit before we returned to the car.
We had planned on hitting the valley store to acquire the missing breakfast stuff, but as we approached Bridalveil Fall it became apparent that pretty much everyone was in Yosemite this weekend, so we instead circled back towards our next destination--Foresta--passing by Crane Flat first to acquire syrup (success) and a spatula (epic fail).
The next destination was a short TrailQuest segment of the Foresta Road to the park boundary. But first we had to cross a bridge.
Two closed bridges
It's become very apparent recently that Google and Apple like to send 50' motorhomes up Old Priest Grade; similarly, I think they like to route people from 120 to El Portal via either the Foresta or Coulterville Roads.
After passing the old park boundary and entering the McCauley Ranch Addition, we took a side trip to check out some old foundations we saw. We saw an old steam contraption in the distance, but decided to defer checking it out until later.
Instead, we daled around the meadow surrounding the old ranch, enjoying the views of the precipitous Foresta Road far below us.
We approached a nice waterfall on Foresta Creek, which would normally not be a problem since we wanted to return via the road...
...but the bridge across the creek had been damaged in a recent fire.
The descent to the wrong side of the road was straightforward... but we were still on the wrong side of the not-really-a-bridge-any-more.
Anyway, we managed to cross the creek with some careful I-beam butt-scootching action, although we were still a bit shaken after the crossing. It was best to ignore the water below the not-bridge.
Anyway, we took one last look at the falls before heading back up along the road to Forests.
The wildflowers were out in full force, making what would normally be a hot slog a pleasant walk.
Upper Foresta Falls fortunately had an intact bridge below it.
The recently-burnt hillsides we walked past were covered with flowers...
...and more flowers.
We returned to the steam contraption, but it didn't hit us until a bit later that it had been a sawmill.
The shed had burned in a 1990 fire, but most of the metal and concrete parts were still in place, including various rails and clamps to guide long planks past the blade.
Many parts in this historical photo are still in place.
We checked out a few other former structures before leaving the old ranch behind.
From Foresta, we braved the traffic to hit the Valley store to get a spatula. Every possible place you could stop a car had one parked in it, and we did manage to acquire a passable spatula before heading to our final destination.
Once more we were on the Old Wawona Road, a pleasant stroll interrupted by only a few instances of uncut deadfall.
The occupant of our destination ceded it to us as we arrived.
There was enough light to locate a nice campsite before it got dark. After pitching our tent we settled in for dinner and rest.
The night had been very mild, and the morning sun soon warmed us and the meadow near where we had been camping.
After breakfast--in which we determined that smaller pancakes can be flipped with a spoon--we headed off to locate yet another boundary marker. We found the boundary, but despite an extensive search, we found no marker.
We returned to our campsite, packed up, and left our meadow to return to the Old Wawona Road.
The road--still maintained as a "Fire Motorway", was mostly clear of deadfall.
We in fact continued along it until the new highway obscured it.
Before heading home, we had one more short hike along another old road.
The bottom few hundred feet of the Old Coulterville Road are obscured by very large talus from recent rockfalls, requiring climbing up, down, and around very large boulders.
Past this area, the road is mostly intact...
The views back towards the valley were nice, but those arriving via the Old Big Oak Flat or Wawona roads definitely had better views as they descended to the valley floor.
The rockwork was also not as well-crafted as that of the Big Oak Flat Road, and in general wasn't holding up as well.
In a few places washouts have reduced the width of the road to less than a foot...
...and in others manzanita has all but obscured the roadbed.
The Coulterville Road had been the steepest way into the valley--even its only switchback had a good incline.
We reached the dumpsters at the top of the road--a rather unceremonious end to another Trail Quest segment.
We mostly walked along old, abandoned roads this weekend, but we also encountered no one along any of these roads during a very crowded weekend--yet we were still able to see several wonderful waterfalls.
More Pictures
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2016 09:45PM by basilbop.
Because he's probably going to forget to bring it again!
