"I saw a bear!" Katrina yelled in a whisper. "It just ran by our camper!" She was already moving to the window on the other side of the bed. I followed her lead and sure enough I just caught sight a brown rump loping away in the dim morning light.
At about the same time the bear was disappearing from sight the voices that were no longer so distant defined themselves. Fellow campers flashed by our window yelling and rattling something. A pot maybe. They were successfully driving the bear from the campground.
We were awake. It was early. I wanted a coffee.
The agenda for the day contained two outings, a ranger talk after sunset and, of course, a morning coffee to begin the day. We had missed the two previous ranger talks due to forgetfulness and distraction. Sigh...Problems recognized can be problems rectified.
We stepped out of the camper only to be greeted by clouds and a very light rain. The rain was light enough that the items we kept outside remained dry under the canopy of trees. Rain, even light rain, has a way of slowing us down, though; the morning became unnecessarily long.
Eventually we walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus's arrival on a
damp bench. The rain was picking up as we climbed into the bus. It's nice to pull a quickie on the weather, but to our surprise we weren't seated long, as our destination was met with only a five minute ride. We stepped off the bus to...no rain. Heh! Of course, we got caught in more rain as we made our way to Happy Isles Nature Center. No complaints, good memories. In no way was rain going to dampen our enthusiasm for a place called Happy Isles.
Happy Isles is made up of a series of three or four islands in the rushing water of the Merced River as it hits the more gentile slope of the valley floor. Inside the nature center we learned how the formations developed. Back home mid river islands
eventually succumb to onslaught of erosion from all sides. Here the islands grow. They start with one large boulder falling into the river from the cliffs above. It is followed by smaller rocks pushed by the current that get caught by the larger immobile boulder. Eventually there are enough rocks that soil accumulates and trees sprout. Neat.
While inside we noticed the sun brightening outside. Trey and I stepped out
and while we were waiting for Katrina, Ian, and Elise, we read a display about a rock slide that had occurred in 1996. The cliff appeared to be a long way off, but the nature center was within the edge of the damage zone. Damage was still visible. Above the cliff was Glacier Point. Trey gobbled that up.
With the family gathered we set off for the nature trail that hopped from one happy island to the next. Perhaps it was due to the rain that seemed to be passing, but we nearly had the place to ourselves. It was quite except for the roar of the river. All too soon the trail ended, but we weren't ready to turn around. We stopped there. Kat and I relaxed on a rock wall while the kids played at the river's edge. 
We felt lucky and uhh...happy. :) We were alone in the culdesac for 10 or 15 minutes before an oriental woman with children arrived. Oddly she had no man with her. Noting the camera she had in hand, Kat and I gathered our children and left so she could enjoy alone what we had enjoyed alone. On a less altruistic note Kat and I knew hunger was on the horizon and we had to get moving. :) Ian is good at letting us know when his belly is talking to him.
We decided to walk home in lieu of our surprisingly short bus ride earlier. Our walk took us into the back of our campground by way of a series of what appeared to be very shallow temporary 
creeks. There were no channels cut in the earth that would have given the appearance of age. I believe they were really one creek following in divergent paths. Water doesn't normally flow that way but after leaving Happy Isles....Whatever, we were hungry.
The back of our campground reminded me of the campground we drove through on Whitney Mountain. There were many large rocks and the Merced River was audible as it was not far away. This part of the campground was clearly the most desirable. It was to me. Just a word to the wise if you plan a trip to Yosemite.
Our next destination for the day was spotted the day we arrived. On our way into Yosemite we drove over a bridge that crossed a slow section of the Merced. There were beaches! and the kids had to visit. It became a destination in a moment. Kat and I though it was a good place for a picnic.Anyway, once back at camp from Happy Isles and with all of our bellies much happier, we quickly left and took a bus to our second "trip" for the day, the picnic by the river we promised. The truth was that the children envisioned a swimming hole, but Kat and I had deliberately kept it at a low-key picnic. At any rate, perhaps due to the cloudiness of the morning, the day never really warmed, so we didn't pack swimming gear, and were able to fall back on the promised picnic. No swimming.
It took more than one bus to get us where we wanted to go, but conveniently, there was a bus stop at the exact bridge we wanted to play under. El Capitan stood up river from where we were and we could just make out little "people things" climbing it. We made our way down to the river by way of a w
orn path. Walking along the river side we could make out a large tree trunk and rocks on the river bottom through the clear but greenish water. We saw no trash and only a few others taking advantage of the river. Eventually we found a patch of beach large enough for our three children and stopped. While they played Kat and I snacked on picnic crackers and apples. The kids were too busy to picnic with us. So Kat and I simply lounged on the sand in the shade watching the children. The light was perfect and imparted a red hue to everything we saw. Smoke. Had I seen this before on a book jacket? Perhaps a fantasy novel? Nice for a rainy start.
I wasn't alone in noticing the light. A photographer was busy not far from us. He was clicking away at a model who was putting on her best model-dance moves. Modonna's "Strick A Pose", Vogue floated through my thoughts. Anyway, I
got a few pics of the kids, but they were too busy playing to pay attention to the camera. This was a moment for video, though. When Kat and I are older we already know we will never have enough video, or have videoed the right things. Better some than none, though.
The bus ride to the river that required a transfer took more time than we 
expected. Adding to it a bus ride back, dinner, and a Ranger talk afterward meant our time at the river was nearly over. After twice giving the kids an extra five minutes to play, we set off back to the bus stop. We waited for the bus on the bridge with some kids in their early 20's. There was one girl among them. They had been drinking, were loud, and their 'trunks' looked more like underwear. One jumped from the bridge to the river below. They looked awful, as though they had been at this all day. I
don't begrudge anyone their fun, but...actually, there is no but. I could have
played like these kids when I was their age, but I didn't, and missed my opportunity. It's gone, but I can enjoy it vicariously. Party on! I hope they weren't creeped out by my smile.
The bus transfer on the way back didn't go well. The problem was caused by the time of day. At some point in the evening the frequency the bus stops are visited by buses drops. As a result there were suddenly more people than buses. Twice our bus showed up full and once there were so many people at our stop the bus filled before we could get on. The fourth time one showed Kat, Ian, and Trey boarded through the rear door while Elise and I were in the crowd at the front door. I knew we would get on but others were not so sanguine. One fellow with an empty stroller apparently thought he possessed a prow. Nudge, nudge, push, push, nudge. Simply obnoxious. Elise sensed the anxiety and asked about the pushing, not referring to the man, but to the situation. I told her "Some people never learned to wait their turn and we all have to make room for them.", loud enough for the man to hear me. He boarded before Elise and I, but chose to stand. Elise sat on my lap.
By the time we got to the campground the bus was nearly empty. It was getting late, but we still took a more circuitous route by way of the river on the way back to the camper . Yea, we wanted more river play. This section of the Merced had a lot more rocks and some of them were levitation rocks...
that we could unlevitate.
There were also really long dead trees to play on. We didn't stay long and Ian lead the charge to the camper but was sidelined by...another creek. Oh the light...
Once back at the camper we worked on our Junior Ranger books with the children Kat cooked dinner and took pics. We finisheddinner as dusk was
settling on the valley. One of the requirements in earning Junior Ranger badges is attending a ranger talk. So, off I went with Elise and Trey. Katrina stayed at the camper with Ian. We left the camera due to the dimming light, but we brought the flashlight assuming darkness upon returning. The walk to the amphitheater was not uneventful, though.Bear!! We froze. It was strolling through a campsite to our left. Not far from the bear was a fellow camper attempting to photograph the beast. My thoughts raced! I had two kids with me! He was too close too close to the bear! Where's my camera? A moment after that two young girl rangers seemingly burst out of nowhere yelling like the folks that ran through the our campsite earlier in the day. The two rangers startled the bear and it turned to run from them. That's right, the bear was startled and running from the two teenage girl rangers. The problem was that it was mindlessly fleeing directly toward Trey, Elise, and Me! I was beginning to doubt this strategy. I guess the bear saw us and thought better of its path, though; it changed direction. I turned to see where it was now heading and what may be in it chosen course. Bikers! And they were entirely unaware that any of this had just transpired and more importantly that a bear consumed with fear was running toward them. All we could do was watch as the bear ran full speed past the bikers, scaring them crapless! Fun, fun, fun. The day opens and closes on a bear.
Unfortunately the ranger talk was a drag for the kids after experiencing a charging bear.
out
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