Advice from a Friendly Ranger & The Night Sky

On my last day in Yosemite, the car was still not handling well on the way to the park entrance and there was also a stone lodged between the tyre and the alloys...On my way out of seeing the wonders of Yosemite...glacier point, mirror lake and a few other walks, I asked the ranger to look at the car for a second opinion...

The ranger really understood my situation and said he was frustrated with hire companies because some never the check the cars before they are leased out again to a new customer. He sat in the car, he checked the wheels and then he delivered the verdict..he said that the car was not to be driven..it was probably damaged before it got to me and perhaps, this may have caused the steering to behave in the way it did.

The ranger offered me advice on how to approach the company and then I got calling...
They were VERY apologetic and within three hours I had a new car...an upgrade infact and perfect for the terrain I would be covering..a Jeep 4x4!

I am angry that something overlooked before my rental could have been potentially fatal but my life is so full at the moment..I haven't got time to ponder the details any longer..I have a great new car and it's time to move on...

Infact after one of my worst travel experiences, a day later, I had one of my best...

I went out with a group of 7 other fantastic personalities..they were all fit and healthy and ready for the 4-10p.m. trek around Yosemite with our guide, Jim.

Jim was a refreshing change to many of the American people I had met so far. He was well travelled, had strong opinions and cared for the environment with a passion.
Jim was a teacher for 4 years and left it all to be a Yosemite guide. Like all guides, he had been drawn to spiritual quality of the park and its unique beauty.

There was a strong hippy population in Yosemite I was not expecting..Overall, I have found California a wasteful population...they talk about recycling and the environment but I doubt anything is ever done by the masses...but there are a few people out there who really care, I'm sure a great number of them are in Yosemite.

Jim took us to some of his favourite and lesser known places...Over rocks, through streams, through maple forest (the smell is a delicious maple syrup smell) and eventually we walked to a dome shaped mound to watch the sun go down, eat our packed lunches and share a glass of wine together. It was one of the most magical experiences my holiday has given me. One one side of the mound you had the sunset and the other mountains...with each change of colour of the sunset, the effect was mirrored in the clouds and mountains below...they developed into a deeper pink with each minute and 20 minutes later there was darkness.

There is something special about Yosemite...the Native Indians knew this..like the aboriginal people, they used their expert wisdom of the land long before the white man took the first photo or offered the first paying tourist a glimpse.. On our trip we passed the poisonous oak..if you touch it with your skin, you can develop an awful rash and blisters..the only way to prevent this is to walk round it, the Indians called this 'the way'.

On our walk back down the mound, Jim suddenly stopped and said stop, listen and foolishly we were all expecting to hear something...but there was nothing, silence, pure silence..now where do you get that? It was a very special night.

I was not expecting it to get better..but it did! We walked to glacier point..it was such a clear night...on a clear night you can see up to 60 000 stars, the milky way and satellites. I saw all three...well nearly..I'm not sure I saw all 60 000 stars, but believe me...there were quite a few.

Jim often camps out here and just stares up at the beautiful sky..I suddenly felt a hotel room was inferior to the beauty of the sky..the best room was clearly here..

I also saw two shooting stars..I had never seen anything like this!

Our only disappointment when we got back was the lack or should I say no bear sightings. However, when I got back to the hotel lobby, a man ran in to announce to all a bear was blocking his hotel room door and could someone remove it! I laughed. It sounded so amusing..it's not every day someone would say this!

However, after an hour in my room, I heard something being knocked over and shuffling around outside....remembering there was a bin outside my room (why do hotel do this?), I peeked through the spyhole to witness a brown bear scavenging for food! I was captivated..I had seen a bear! In all the years they have lived in the park, there have never been any fatalities to human beings from bears...the only two were from deer and simply because the tourists acted in a foolish manner.