Tuesday 17th October
We saw a small deer on the way to breakfast today which was good although it didn’t stay long enough for a photo! After a bit of a wait for breakfast we packed up the car and went to walk the 3.5 miles around the Meadow Road loop. This was a very pleasant walk through towering pine trees and red and golden aspen on an old road that nature has reclaimed.
When we got back to Wawona we had a very welcome iced tea and then set off to Kings Canyon, about a three to four-hour drive. Part of the way, near Fresno, was quite flat and boring, but after about 90 minutes we soon reached the hills and the quite spectacular drive into Kings Canyon. The rocks displayed wonderful colours in the gentle evening sun and it took quite a long while to drive the 35 miles to Cedar Lodge!
We have a lovely room looking onto the river, with a fridge and a microwave, but no kettle or water glasses! I expressed surprise at the registration desk and we went and had a simple but very good dinner in the snack bar and took two cups of coffee back down with us to microwave for the morning.  Then came a knock on our door and they had brought us a kettle and some cups!! How sweet was that!

Wednesday 18th October
The lady serving breakfast was quite a character as her computerised system had crashed and she was not a happy bunny! After an excellent and cheap breakfast of an English muffin (like a crumpet) with cheese, a fried egg and bacon we set off for an eight-mile hike. We started up Hotel Creek trail which switch backed 1,200 feet in two miles. The flies were a bit annoying but I actually managed the climb reasonably well although I was slow and had several stops. Once at the top there was another half mile to Cedar Point Lookout which was lovely and well worth the effort! There was quite a bit of smoke in Kings Canyon which made the photos looking that way a bit disappointing but we found some rocks in the shade and had a rest before returning the half mile and picking up the Lewis Creek trail which continued along the ridge before slowly dropping down to the Lewis Creek trailhead. By then I was a bit knackered but we still had two miles to go along a pretty path above the road which also had a bit more up, that I found a bit challenging! We only encountered one other person during the whole hike and he was going in the opposite direction! Once back we bought a couple of beers from the shop and once I had had a shower and change of clothes, I enjoyed sitting down by the river drinking a cold beer…. with a feeling of having deserved it too!
I also discovered that there is a free laundry here so having purchased some detergent in the shop I took advantage and threw all our washing in! A woman's work is never done!

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