10. Yosemite day 3

We had a nice big breakfast out by the campfire and had just finished cleaning up the dishes when a lady came walking up to us and asked if she could ‘borrow’ me. “Sure” I said (w/out even asking why!). As we walked away she explained that this was the first time that she and her family had brought their 5th wheel on a camping trip w/out her husband, and they were having difficulty getting it disconnected. I almost had to laugh as I explained to her that this was my first time out in our new 5er, and this was all new to me. But I said I would do my best to help. Their problem was they couldn’t get the locking arm to pull out to enable them to un-hook the trailer (phew, I knew this one!). I just explained they needed manually apply the trailer brakes, put the truck into reverse, and go back just far enough so that tension was relieved off the arm. Wham, bam, and out it came. Phew. I was a hero!

Not too long later we over-heard our neighbors talking with other neighbors about a bear that had come through the campground around mid-night the night before (news to us!). We talked to them about it, and they said they were sitting by their fire around mid-night, and heard the commotion. This big bear walked right into camp where the people were roasting marshmallows, and despite their yelling and honking their car horn, it grabbed the bag of marshmallows and took off around the corner of our trailer.  Gee, we missed all the fun...or not.

When we bought the 5er we had to buy a flexible hose to hook up for draining the waste water tanks. This hose was still in the box, and I had put it on top of the bear box the night before to remind me to get it out, see how it hooked up, and make sure it would store in the bumper as advertised. As I walked to the box to do that chore I noticed that it had holes in it…what the %$#@& ???? I guess that stupid bear bit into the box, tasted plastic and rubber (his nose must have been broken) and then left (he didn’t even pull it to the ground). But he left me with a drain hose holes with several holes. Well, I guess that is why I carry duct tape…and now whenever I drain the tanks I will think back to our ‘bear attack’.

Just as I was done evaluating the damage to the drain hose I heard a commotion at the end of campground, and my instinct (honed from years of camping in Yosemite) told me we were about to have a visitor. I quickly went inside the trailer, grabbed my camera, and took off. Yup, a bear. It (gender neutral) was heading into the last campsite and the people there were doing a combination of trying to chase it away and taking a video at the same time…pretty funny. The bear looked really pretty bored with the whole situation and was walking in just about slow motion as it left camp. I kept a good distance and took several shots, and got a kick out of the one shot with it standing very close to the bear trap (not open). I did notice that this bear was not collared (or apparently tagged), so must not have been the ‘dinner marauder’ we were made so aware of our 2nd night. And although it was not that big, I bet at mid-night, by the campfire, and after some wine it probably looked a LOT bigger than it did in broad daylight…so this was probably the culprit that punctured my drain hose…bastard!

Our outing for the day was to go over to Yosemite Village, check out the Ansel Adams gallery, the Nature Center and the store (good old Safeway). On the way I stopped at Stoneman bridge and walked up by the river to get a shot of Half Dome through the oak trees…I LOVE that spot!!!

We spent some time browsing through the AA gallery, and then went to the Nature Center. It had been remodeled since we were there years ago and they did a great job. It is very educational/informative and we really enjoyed it. I took a few shots outside (the lighting was GREAT), and then we did our shopping chores and headed back to camp for a final relaxing afternoon of reading/relaxing and getting ready to pack up in the morning.

I didn't bother to take any pics in the morning of our last day as we were pretty much just 'nose to the grindstone' getting things put away and ready to roll.  But here is one final shot of our campsite...we really did have good time (although I still only rate the site a 7 out of 10...mainly due to the proximity of the neighbors)