The drive eastward to Yosemite Park was beautiful. We meandered our way through Bay Area freeways, and gradually the traffic cleared so that it was evident that we had left the big city behind. The first difference we noticed after leaving San Francisco was the heat. San Francisco has a very moderate climate, being right next to the ocean, and the temperature doesn't change much throughout the year. But when we left the shores of the city, we sure noticed how HOT it was outside in the Valley.

The valley gradually gave way to foothills, which eventually turned into mountains, one of which we had to climb in order to reach Yosemite Park. The road we were on climbed steeply, and switchbacks were all over the place. Halfway up this major summit, I had my windows rolled down and I though I smelled burning oil coming from my car. I quickly dismissed this thought assuming that my car was invincible. Bad assumption. This is a little bit of foreshadowing as to what happened next.

We climbed this summit and continued to drive in beautiful mountain scenery sometimes topping 6000 ft. before reaching the entrance to Yosemite Park. The scenery surrounding the park was just breathtaking. I couldn't believe at how many mountains were in the park, and the views that could be seen from the highway. Add to the fact that there were a few long tunnels and it made for some really scenic driving!

We begrudgingly paid the $20 entrance fee into Yosemite Park and then drove right into our campsite which had been reserved for us ahead of time. This was a very good thing, as all campgrounds were FULL for the weekend and we would have had NO chance of finding a campsite without a reservation. That was a good feeling. However, the campground was not very good. There was little privacy, save for a few pine trees (understandable since we were 6000 ft. above ground) and the condition of the restrooms was atrocious. No hot water. No showers. Graffitti all over the place. The fact that it got FREEZING COLD at night there didn't help either. However during the day the temperatures were quite warm.

We did some hiking up to Vernal Falls, which is a good stiff climb from base camp for a couple of miles. Although the scenery was absolulety gorgeous, too many other people had the same opinion and decided to hike the falls as well. There were just so many people it didn't feel like a get-away vacation, more like a walk through a city park. There were even line-ups to use the restrooms at the bottom of the trail. Not fun. Despite the fact that there were too many others enjoying the park as well as us, we still had a good time and enjoyed some of the wonderful scenery only Yosemite has to offer.

We got up at the crack of dawn (6 am) on Monday morning as there was quite a lond drive ahead of us. (We had originally planned to drive through Death Valley and stay at a hotel in Beatty, Nevada). Before we left, Jamie instructed me to check the oil in my car, as I hadn't done so for a while. I checked the oil. There was no oil on the dipstick. I checked it again. No oil on the dipstick. Shit. Luckily I had a spare quart of oil which I dumped in the engine. There was enough oil on the dipstick after having done that emergency procedure that it would last until the next gas station. We left the park, a little worried, and hoped that we could make it to the next gas station. Five miles out of the park south on Hwy. #41, we decided to check the oil again. We pulled off the highway to check the oil. There was no oil on the dipstick. I was really worried as I figured on quart should have lasted longer than that. Mystified as to where all the oil had gone to, I took a closer look under the hood and spotted a constant dripping of oil out of the engine and onto the road. We decided not to drive any further and VERY FORTUNATELY Jamie had his cell phone on him. We called a tow truck and a half-hour later we got a tow back to Yosemite Park. We were not in good spirits.

After being towed back to the park, I paid the $35 towing charge (quite cheaper than the $80+ it costs in Canada) and had to wait for two hours as we were second in line at the Yosemite Garage. The tow truck driver we talked to was a very interesting guy. He had many opinions on Yosemite Park and how the private sector part of the park was being managed. His opinion was that Yosemite Park was being very poorly utilized by the National Park Service, the only civilization was a six-mile strip along the Valley floor, and the only other road through the park (Tioga Road) was closed throughout the winter because the feds wanted to "milk jobs" out of the seasonal plowing and opening of the road. He also was pissed off at the new management, that employees weren't being paid enough for their hard work and service. All in all, he had a pretty negative outlook of Yosemite Park, quite different from what the tourism industry publishes. The tow truck driver also had an interesting behavior; he would roll the window of his truck down fully, spit out the window, and roll it all the way back up again. He would repeat this every minute, not to mention running over a squirrel during the process.

We mosied around Yosemite Park, trying to find some way to kill time between when my car arrived at the garage, and when it was due to be serviced. We rode a shuttle bus to a breakfast cafeteria, and the shuttle bus driver talked like he was all drugged out. No emotion in his voice whatsoever. No pace. No change of pitch. No inflection. Blahhh.....

When it was time for our car to be serviced, the verdict was not good. It turned out that the main crank-seal had gone, thus responsible for the leakage of oil all over the engine. This had caused my timing belt to be soaked with oil, and responsible for the burning smell I had picked up on earlier on the drive up to Yosemite. I suspected that all the San Francisco driving had weakened the seal to the point that it must have gone on the steep climb to the Park. The Yosemite Garage could not fix the seal; they didn't have the parts. Thankfully, they didn't charge us for the diagnosis labor, and as a great service to us, recommended a place nearby where the crank-seal could be fixed. They only charged us for three emergency quarts of oil which we were to use to drive over to this new garage and the towing bill. On top of that, one of the mechanics entertained us with some great conversation involving 'the cosmos', and one of his lines was, "Remember guys, image is everything. Don't believe anybody who says otherwise." Funny, Sprite would disagree :-) We thanked the guys for such great service and headed south on Hwy. #41 with careful instructions on how to keep the engine revs low.

The town we were going to stay at, for two nights, unexpectedly, was Oakhurst, and it turns out that it was a very friendly town and we were glad to be able to hole up in a motel for the next TWO nights, instead of the one which we had originally planned.
--by Steve Ruelle

Some links...

• USA Vacations - Order FREE Brochure!
• Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park
• Yosemite Adventures
• Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau
• More sites...