San Fran, Yosemite National Park

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Here are two inventions I’ve not seen in Europe. If your hands are full, use your foot to open the train door. And in our hostel in San Francisco, the toilet flush runs first through a wash basin sitting on the cistern. I love them both.
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This mega-trip takes another change in rhythm: now it’s Merle and Ludi’s trip. When I arrived in San Francisco after the Grand Canyon, Merle had been here for three days already. It's a new joint journey now.

I had one full day to explore San Francisco, so I’ve had a glimpse. I would have liked to come across some influence of the labour organisation from the heyday of the docks, but missed it. We took the Big Red Bus tour over the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz in full view, and round the neighbourhoods surrounding the downtown central commercial area.

Then off the bus to the Maritime Museum, not much of a museum except it is itself a restored gem of New Deal art. This one isn’t social realism but more like maritime art décor. Outside are wonderful characters. Yes that is a man with a dog, and a duck.

Giving up on the queue for the cable cars, we took a trolley bus to Castro, with row after row of fabulously decorated houses, and its GLBT museum (founded from gay and AIDS times, explaining the G first). Then the Bound Together anarchist bookshop. I picked up a cheap Mark Twain collection. The next-door neighbourhood is Haight, the centre of sixties free spirits development. Escape from New York Pizzas are special. A very tanned guy walked round naked to prove the law allows it. Merle assures me that all he had was a huge Prince Albert piercing. I didn’t want to see.

Merle already knew the city layout, and she has got better data on her phone than me, and she is so much quicker on the phone than I am, and quicker at everything else too. I’m in danger of becoming dependent. For data, Merle did the one thing that seems to work: buy a phone here. Wouldn’t it be better with free wifi everywhere?

And the next day we left early to Yosemite National Park for a two-night 3-day tour in a minibus group of 13, with excellent long-term guide and driver Chris. China, Scotland, Yorkshire, India, France, Germany and Poland represented. On the first evening after pitching tents and eating together, Poland brought out Cards Against Humanity. Chris declared us the first group for a long time that he’d had to quieten at 10pm.

Yosemite is a grandeur of granite created by earth upheavals. It made me understand better the wholly different origin of the river-eroded Grand Canyon. For anyone who’s been to Yosemite and wants to tick off memories, here’s what we saw: a walk round Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias and Redwoods, the Bridal Veil waterfall opposite El Capitan rock face, Lembert Dome, a swim in Tenaya Lake, the Mirror Lake, many views of Half Dome, and a cycle round half the valley. The Half Dome is the logo of North Face.

Even out of season in the last half of September, there were sometimes queues for facilities. One amazing sight in late evening were the lights on El Capitan, about seven climbers overnighting at different places on the way up, a journey that takes 5-10 days depending on the route and the weather. Stephen from China had the camera equipment and skill to be able to get a picture of the climbers

as well as their lights which was mind-blowing, but he didn’t share the picture. I guess he had other plans for it. Personally, I don’t identify with taking the risks of climbing. I can’t watch even the trailer of Free Solo, the 2018 documentary of the guy who climbed El Capitan without ropes. Others like it.

$650 each for a three day camping trip seemed a lot when I was paying it, but if you add up the accommodation, food and travel… and throw in the relief of not planning it… It was very special. But no bears.