Ockey Family Adventures: Yosemite Day 3

It was a beautiful drive and we were amazed at how much snow we kept seeing.

We got on the road by 7 o'clock and headed south through beautiful country. There were no freeways or big trucks, and the road wound down a steep grade from Tahoe to the valley below. Mark even spotted a coyote along the way, and this time we were able to get a picture. The drive to Devil's Postpile was over three hours, so we didn't arrive until after ten. Devil's Postpile is a national monument, and it certainly isn't easy to get around. You can't drive your car in, but instead you have to park and ride the shuttle. It is so busy that you have to ride a shuttle from the parking area to get tickets to the real shuttle that takes you into the monument! By the time we got tickets and waited for an empty shuttle (two were filled in front of us) it was 11 o'clock. We rode into stop 6, which has a small ranger station and the actual postpile.

Can you spot the coyote?

The boys love riding shuttles!

We'd been sitting around for so long that we decided to take the hike right away. It was only a mile roundtrip to the geologic formation that gives its name to Devil's Postpile, and it seemed much shorter. Mom wasn't too impressed with the the rock formation, which looks like a bunch of stacked logs standing upright. It certainly was no Devil's Tower. It reminded us more of Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone.

This is the Devil's Postpile. It looks like Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone.

Mom was not impressed, but she still took a picture with Dad.

After the hike we had lunch and the boys earned their Junior Ranger patches. The program was pretty easy, and by then we'd decided we'd probably spend the entire day at Devil's Postpile because there was still plenty to do, and we had to plan for standing in lines and catching shuttles. Our next stop was farther down the narrow winding road at a trailhead for Rainbow Falls. This hike was at least a couple of miles roundtrip, but we really wanted to see the waterfall. The trail trudged down through the trees and across a little creek. Then it turned right and followed a raging river for about a hundred yards. Suddenly a massive waterfall appeared on our right. The waterfall is over a hundred feet high and looks exactly like a good waterfall should, with a wide, even curtain of water roaring over a razor straight lip. Even though we stood above the lip of the waterfall, we could still feel the spray on our dusty faces. It was the highlight of the trip so far.

The boys are great Junior Rangers.

I think Seth really wanted to get in the river, too!

This ranger was awesome. He made them promise to brush their teeth and listen to their parents, as well as the standard Junior Ranger pledge.

Seth was ready for a hike!

Everyone was happy about hiking. That's Dax's happy face!

Mom couldn't crawl through this tree, so she just peeked through.

We were excited to be in a place that Ansel Adams had explored.

The scenery was beautiful on the hike, but it was hot!

The waterfall was certainly worth it. And Rainbow Falls is definitely the right name for this waterfall.

We were so happy to be in some shade.

The hike back up was somewhat strenuous, especially in the heat of the day. Dad told stories for awhile, and then Seth spent about twenty minutes trying to figure out "Who's on first?" (Naturally). When we reached the trailhead we caught the shuttle up to the last stop in Devil's Postpile. We had a few minutes, so we hustled in and grabbed some ice cream, which was the perfect treat. Then, the shuttles took us back to the van.

Dax's actual happy face came out for chocolate ice cream!

A few of us were a little worn out and slept on the shuttle ride back to the van.

The rest of us took pics and selfies with the sleepers!

It was just after 5 pm when we checked into our hotel, and it is quite the opposite of the last hotel. The room was at least twice as big. There were two king-sized beds and a smaller single bed that Seth slept in. The bathroom had separate sink and toilet areas, and the room had a lot of wide open floor space. Mostly this just meant that the kids wanted to wrestle and run around, but at least we had a place to put the suitcase. The hotel manager even recommended a nice pizza place where Dax could get spaghetti, Mark could get mac-and-cheese, and Seth could get fries. We were pretty glad to be staying for two nights!