June 13 -- Wawona

We made it to Wawona Campground without issue. Elsa even slept most of the way here. We immediately stowed away all of our smelly things in the bear box (they are even more serious about it here -- there is a possible $5000 fine if a ranger catches you more than an arm's length away from any food that is not locked away in the box) and then went to do a 1.6-mile stroll through Mariposa Grove to see another famous big sequoia, Grizzly Giant. As you can see from the photos, Elsa's cleanliness was short-lived.







We also saw more of these red plants in the Grove, which we first noticed on yesterday's hike. Apparently they are the Snow Plant, a plant that feeds off fungi that grow on the trees' roots. They look pretty amazing, and we saw a hummingbird feeding off of one today.




Our campsite here at Wawona is decent. I would not call it the most gorgeous campground, but it helps that we are right on the South Fork of the Merced River. This was kind of a last-minute reservation in the scheme of things, and there were only a few sites to choose from at the time. We purposefully chose a campsite away from the Merced and Tenaya Creek in Yosemite Valley so that we will not have to worry as much about Elsa. Thankfully we are only here one night, as even though we are still a good distance from the water, when Elsa is out running around, it just feels like it is going to reach out and swallow her up. That said, it is nice to be sitting out by it at the moment, and it will be nice to sleep to its sound tonight. Tomorrow morning we will just eat breakfast, pack up, and head into the Valley. Our main purpose for staying here at Wawona was to get closer to the Valley to be able to get there early enough to do some exploring and settle in tomorrow. There are WAY more people here than we experienced at the other parks, so it will be interesting to see how things play out. People or not, though, I know we are excited to see all Nature has to offer.