Thanksgiving in Yosemite

This year, Pat and I went to Yosemite National Park for our annual Thanksgiving camping trip. For the first time, we didn't stay in our trusty snug backpacking tent: we rented what they term a "tent cabin." One might consider this an upgrade but, as we discovered, not really! Basically, it is a canvas tent with a wooden floor. They are unheated, with one lonely little light bulb hanging from the ceiling. In Curry Village, where we stayed, there are over 400 of these packed in right next to one another.

Here is the inside view. It reminded me of staying in an army barracks or a refuge camp. It got down into the low 30s at night, and we were pretty darn chilly.

Luckily, this bathroom was right across the path from our tent cabin, and it was well heated. Yes, I was the person sticking my whole body under the hand dryer!

Here is the historic Ahwahnee Inn where we could have stayed in luxury (for only $400 a night). Instead, we wandered through on Thanksgiving Day just to check it out.

After a cold night in our tent cabin, we went to the cafeteria for a warm breakfast and some hot coffee. It was packed--apparently we were not the only people to go to Yosemite for Thanksgiving.

After breakfast, we headed out to the Four Mile Trail to trek up to Glacial Point. The trail was a very steady uphill but the reward was stunning views of the valley.

The weather was variable, as the people on TV say, but we could still look the whole way down the valley.

Interestingly, as this photo demonstrates, it still looked like fall in many parts of the park.

We had originally planned to hike up Half Dome (seen in this picture) but we didn't have the mojo for a 17-mile day. Next time...

There were great views from Glacial Point but it was very cold.

If I couldn't hike up Half Dome, then getting my picture taken in front of it was second best.

We sat beside the little shelter and had our lunch.

Here is a view of the valley beside Half Dome.

Yosemite is full of boulders which look like they have just been dropped from the sky. Oh, the power of those crazy glaciers.

As we were hiking back down, some nasty weather rolled in.


We had planned to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the Lodge's restaurant but I had mistakenly read on the Internet that the restaurant didn't take reservations. It turns out they don't, unless it happens to be Thanksgiving. So, we were told that we couldn't eat there, and our only option was to eat in the lounge off the very limited bar menu. We went and had a beer and thought about all this. Pat then decided to go back to the restaurant and make a plea on our behalf. He must have pulled some "former restaurant worker" karma out of his hat because they agreed to give us a table right then and there. So, here we are, enjoying a great meal!

After dinner, we walked around the newly lit Christmas display.

The next day, as we were driving out, we saw some real deer!