08-12-2026, 10:10 AM
Scapino can't read maps is why he decided to pop over from Mammoth. He was chaperoning his boy part of the week while doing a cross-country running camp. He didn't realize it was a 4 hour drive from Mammoth to Yosemite until I mentioned it to him. He drove over anyway on Thursday night. He linked me to his Apple Map so I could tell where he was the entire trip.
I took him up to the Mariposa grove because he wanted a hike and that the was the closest area with the most bang for the buck. We took the shuttle from the parking lot to the trail head. We could have hiked from the parking lot 2 miles to the trail head but that is a dull uphill trail. The shuttle is right there. Since it's the summer and Friday, the place was packed. Loads of people make the .6 of a mile hike to the Grizzly Giant. Scapino wanted more because he is on a diet and exercise plan. I figured we could hike to Galen Clarke's cabin which was another couple of miles up the trail.
As soon as we left the vicinity of the Grizzly Giants, the crowds vanished. We saw maybe four other people on the hike up and about ten on the way down. Scapino kept up a non-stop narration for the hike. I chimed back a few times. It was lovely. Great trees near the Mariposa Cabin. Clark's cabin is long gone but a new hut is in its place.
The saddest moment for our egos came on the way back to the Grizzly Giant when a woman looked at the pair of us and said, "Don't worry. You're almost there" Seriously? I don't think we looked that out of shape. I wasn't sucking wind.
I did do my one good deed for the day. Scapino needed more steps so we opted to walk back to the parking lot rather than take the shuttle. It's a bit up and down in elevation but mostly down. We passed one couple who didn't know how to read a map and wanted to know why they weren't at the Grizzly Giant already. They had mistaken the shuttle pick-up lot on their map for the shuttle drop-off point. Oops.
My good deed came near the end of the trail. I saw some parents with their three under six years old children on the trail. The were probably a quarter mile from the lot. The sun was just starting to bake the area. They didn't look like they had any water and they had about two miles of an uphill climb before they even got to the good point. It looked like a disaster in the making. I stopped them and explained what was ahead of them and urged them to go back and get the shuttle. I left it up to them before continuing on.
As we pulled out of the lot, I saw the family heading for the shuttle bus.
All told a pretty good day.
I took him up to the Mariposa grove because he wanted a hike and that the was the closest area with the most bang for the buck. We took the shuttle from the parking lot to the trail head. We could have hiked from the parking lot 2 miles to the trail head but that is a dull uphill trail. The shuttle is right there. Since it's the summer and Friday, the place was packed. Loads of people make the .6 of a mile hike to the Grizzly Giant. Scapino wanted more because he is on a diet and exercise plan. I figured we could hike to Galen Clarke's cabin which was another couple of miles up the trail.
As soon as we left the vicinity of the Grizzly Giants, the crowds vanished. We saw maybe four other people on the hike up and about ten on the way down. Scapino kept up a non-stop narration for the hike. I chimed back a few times. It was lovely. Great trees near the Mariposa Cabin. Clark's cabin is long gone but a new hut is in its place.
The saddest moment for our egos came on the way back to the Grizzly Giant when a woman looked at the pair of us and said, "Don't worry. You're almost there" Seriously? I don't think we looked that out of shape. I wasn't sucking wind.
I did do my one good deed for the day. Scapino needed more steps so we opted to walk back to the parking lot rather than take the shuttle. It's a bit up and down in elevation but mostly down. We passed one couple who didn't know how to read a map and wanted to know why they weren't at the Grizzly Giant already. They had mistaken the shuttle pick-up lot on their map for the shuttle drop-off point. Oops.
My good deed came near the end of the trail. I saw some parents with their three under six years old children on the trail. The were probably a quarter mile from the lot. The sun was just starting to bake the area. They didn't look like they had any water and they had about two miles of an uphill climb before they even got to the good point. It looked like a disaster in the making. I stopped them and explained what was ahead of them and urged them to go back and get the shuttle. I left it up to them before continuing on.
As we pulled out of the lot, I saw the family heading for the shuttle bus.
All told a pretty good day.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm