Re: Our trip to TM

My boys (7 and 11) and I had a great trip to Tuolumne; My wife couldn't go because of work.
Got there on a rainy Sunday morning about 9 AM.
Lots of people were leaving, so I knew that getting to stay to Thursday would be OK.
We drove around the A loop, looking for sites that didn't have huge puddles. We ended up in site A55, with a great view of Lembert Dome and the river.
I usually sleep outside while everyone else sleeps in a tent. I didn't do this because of the rain, 30 degree temp overnight, and the blonde bear(see link: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-319935).
On Monday morning, I unzipped the tent door, and the bear walked by about 30 feet in front of us.
On Wednesday night while I was making dinner, the bear walked by the other side of our site. Of all my times in Yosemite, I had never seen a bear.
I wanted to go on hikes that I had never done before, that my boys could do without a problem.
We went on a hike to Gaylor Lakes on Tuesday. It was really a fun hike that my boys liked, even though we didn't see an entrance to the mine.
On Wednesday we drove to go on a hike to Tuolumne Grove. Those trees were really impressive.

We never got to go fishing. Never saw a mosquito.
Thanks for all of your tips.

Then we got back to La Crescenta, and there was a fire (Station fire) above us, keeping me up all night.

Quote

Of all my times in Yosemite, I had never seen a bear.

Try camping in the Valley. You're almost tripping over them there.

Sounds great. One night we had a huge light redish bear, "called old red" by the rangers sneak up on us. Sitting around the campfire, I could see him peering over at us from 10 feet away. Actually it was right behind my wife. Reached over and turned up the old Coleman lantern to bright and it ran away.

Love TM campground. One of best parts of our trip is going down to the water and taking a nice cold dip. The sun is bright, so you warm up fast.

This year my son was up on a weekend. Never seen it so crowded

Must be the economy.

Dead bear. I see it was already tagged. What a shame. Bears are wonderful animals in the wild. Unfortunatly, this critter was not in the wild.

I'm pretty sure the sticker on the bear box wasn't wore off or anything.

That's a dead bear. Terrible.

Quote
snorkus
We went on a hike to Gaylor Lakes on Tuesday. It was really a fun hike that my boys liked, even though we didn't see an entrance to the mine.

The mine is literally just a hole in the ground. It is above upper Gaylor Lake, past the stone hut. It would be very easy to fall into it.

Good to hear you had such a good time.