Our time in the wonderful Yosemite is coming to an end, we leave the Crane Flat campsite and set off along the highway. We pass by Cloud’s Rest and admire our hiking effort from yesterday and the cold lake we swam in too. A tinge of sadness hits as we proceed through the park exit, leaving behind this incredible national park.
Having done quite a bit of driving in the park we’re getting quite low on fuel. As expected the fuel prices in the park are pretty expensive and the same is true just outside it too, as they know people will be desperate to refuel. At an extortionate $7.60 a gallon we see how far we can last on fumes and attempt to make it another 70km for fuel at half the price. Thanks to Alex’s efficient driving we make it with fumes to spare. From here we continue on to Lake Tahoe, highly recommended by Californians as a very nice place to relax by a magnificent, mile deep lake. It’s strange to be back in civilization again surrounded by busy multi-lane roads, fast food chains everywhere and concrete towers blocking out the sunshine.
We make a much needed stop at a laundromat, scoff a big bag of fries and continue on to check-in at our final campsite, Fallen Leaf.
We setup camp, transfer any scented items we have to the bear box and have a wander around the grounds. We check out the nearby Fallen Leaf Lake and have a brief look at the giant Lake Tahoe, promising ourselves we’ll return later for dinner overlooking the lake while the sun sets.
We freshen up (in a coin-operated campsite shower full of flying beasties as we wash against the clock), don our ‘formal’ gear and head back towards the lake. Sadly the only lakeside restaurant within walking distance has decided to stop serving food an hour earlier than expected, so we have to settle for drinks only. The $14 cocktails served in a plastic cup are pretty much thrown at us and we suspect they’ve had a very busy day. We enjoy the strong drinks watching the sunset over the lake.
Returning to camp, which is now in complete darkness as there are no lights, we have no choice but to settle for instant noodles cooked on our portable hob. While cooking we can hear other campers shouting at a bear to leave them alone! We cook with one eye looking out for any uninvited dinner guests. Scared the smell of delicious instant noodles will attract the furry beasts we seek refuge in the front seats of our Jeep. Not quite the evening meal we had in mind!
Strokes and S(a)tan
The next morning we take a dip in the cool waters of the Fallen Leaf lake.
Afterwards we check out of camp and head for a game of minigolf at a fantastic local attraction.
After minigolf (which I won) we fill up on grub at a BBQ joint.
Now we have one night left before we need to drop the car off outside of San Francisco, we have to drop it back before 10am so we want to stay nearby so we don’t need to do a long drive first thing in the morning. So, up to this point we have no reservation of where to stay tonight. Motels are around $80 at the cheapest and as we can still sleep in our roof tent we want to try and find an RV park to spend one last night on top of a Jeep. For some reason, RV park websites have not been updated since they were made in the 1990s and all of them insist you call them to book, it is not possible to book them online. Unable to call them, we figure we’ll just rock up and see what rate they can offer us for one night.
We drive all the way to Palo Alto, a stone’s throw away from the car drop (and also a Park Run). We find an RV Park and the owner isn’t around. A friendly restaurant worker says he’ll give him a call and as we wait a resident in the RV park tells us the owner, called Stan will probably give us a good rate for a one night stay. After a short wait, Stan turns up. He must be in his eighties and does not seem to be in a great mood. We ask if he has any spaces for one night and he enquires what facilities we’ll need “just access to a toilet and some water if there is any”. He grunts. “$65”. To park on a 6ft piece of tarmac for barely 12 hours. We ask if he can do it any cheaper. He grunts again. “How much did you pay at the campsites?” He asks. Between $20-40 we answer truthfully. He clearly doesn’t believe us and gives us a take it or leave it offer of $50. Lacking options we have no choice but to give in. Of course after we pay the agreed money we are then told it’s an extra $10 deposit for the toilet access key. We’re then told his assistant won’t be here until 10am tomorrow to pay back said deposit, throwing our Park Run plans into ruin. After a lot of pleading and compromise we agree to waive the key deposit and he’ll leave us a key to the men’s toilet only (God knows why). I get that he’ll likely need to deal with some pretty difficult people, but he really makes us feel like we’re hard work and he’s doing us a massive favour here. “You can always park on the street, but someone might climb into your tent” he offers as a crude dig. To add insult to injury he then says “oh you’ve been traveling for a year huh? Another $10 is nothing to you then” and scoffs. He never believed we’d return the toilet key through his office letterbox. Writing this up now I think I should have dropped it down the sewer drain on the way out after his stinking attitude. But we’re better people than that.
Running off the rage
After a pretty difficult night of sleep we depart the parking space and head on to Byxbee Parkrun… Over to Alex for coverage on that and beyond.
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Adventure – Swimming in Fallen Leaf Lake.
Excitement – An excellent round of minigolf.
Trauma – Stan. Having to bite my tongue and be nice to someone clearly taking us for a ride (Alex).
1 Comment
Wow, the lake pics showed a beautiful idyllic spot. I’m sorry you couldn’t find a restaurant to eat as it looks such a beautiful place and I’m awfully glad a 🐻 didn’t come to share your dinner 🤣. Shame Stan wasn’t very pleasant, still I’m sure most people have been very helpful, Looks another stunning spot 😁 ❤️