Roadtrip (During Covid) - Rush Creek Lodge and Spa, Hiking Around Rush Creek, and Yosemite Valley

Here's a fairly quick post about our trip to Yosemite in October of last year.

After heading out from Paso Robles, we took a bathroom break and filled up our tank at Bravo Farms outside Kettleman.

Bravo Farms is one of those.....well road side stops with everything from a diner - food court - mercantile, which means all kinds of stuff you never knew you needed, it has some places for kids to play....all in the middle of...well...not much.

I did really enjoy the signs in the very clean restroom which cracked me up.

It was a good place to stretch our legs since we wouldn't be stopping until we got to Rush Creek Lodge and Spa. I chose the place, which was kind of remote mainly because of the location, 1 ile from the west entrance to Yosemite and size of the rooms; we got a Hillside Villa with our own private and a nice view.

We arrived a bit too early to check in. I had told the Missus that there were hiking trails around the lodge.....so guess what we did?

I parked the car in the lot where our Villa was located and we headed up to where the trails were.

I asked the Missus which trail She wanted to do...big mistake....Her answer? "All of them." Which is what we did.

It did us a nice "taste" of the beauty of the area.

And once we returned, our "Villa" was ready......it was quite large.

And the view....

There were a couple of shortcomings with the unit. It had no microwave, so you'd have to eat in the resort or drive the 20 or so miles to Groveland. But, there was a Restaurant, Tavern, and a General Store. 

I had made reservations for dinner at the restaurant....during these times of Covid, it was optimal to do so. And on this day, we were seated in the Tavern.

The tables were nicely spaced out.

I started with a Big Sky Brewing Moose Drool ($9), a nice Brown Ale.

I was interested in trying the Crispy Fried Cauliflower ($17), which proved to be a mistake.

This wasn't particularly crisp and the sauce.....was like something from Panda Express; it was teeth rattling sweet. 

We also got the Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup ($14).

This lacked garlic flavor. Though it still wouldn't have been too bad if it had been served at a better temperature. It was barely lukewarm.

The Missus ordered the Rush Burger ($20).

 After the two appetizers, we didn't expect too much....especially when they asked the Missus how She wanted the burger done. In many places, asking that question is just going thru the motions and you'll get your burger well done. This burger however, was cooked exactly how the Missus wanted. It also had a nice char adding a nice smokiness. The fries had a decent crispness.

I ordered the Lamb Shawarma ($21).

This wasn't very good either. The flatbread was really tough; so was the dry lamb which really lacked flavor.

Overall, very corporate food...our dinner was a $100 without tip! I guess most folks were a captive audience and there's no microwave in the rooms. At least the Missus enjoyed Her burger. And I guess we really weren't staying here for the restaurant, right?

The Restaurant at Rush Creek Lodge
34001 CA-120
Groveland, CA 95321

One of the reasons we stayed at Rush Creek was the distance to the West Entrance to Yosemite; it was less then a mile!

We got an early start and headed into Yosemite, making several stops along the way.

And then we entered the park.

The Missus was so excited about doing some hiking; unfortunately both of the trails we selected we closed as trail, road ,and parking lot work was going on. Sigh.....

We then headed to Yosemite Village and the visitors center, spoke to some rangers and decided just to do some trails in the area.

We first did the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, an easy trail. The water was just a trickle on this day....and few weeks later there would be a major storm and waterfall would be going like crazy. Just our luck on this day.

From here we walked thru Cook's Meadow....I really enjoyed the views from here.

And from here we headed to Mirror Lake via the Valley Loop.

Because parts of the trail parallels the road, there was a lot of vehicle noise; it's also a pretty busy bike path.....and of course, because of the season, Mirror Lake was dry. It was still quite beautiful though.

And we took the loop back to Yosemite Village and our car.

 We drove back to Rush Creek and relaxed for a bit. The Missus and I just weren't up to having another meal in the restaurant and we didn't want to drive to Groveland. We went over to the General Store and picked up a bottle of wine for the Missus and a beer for me. I had done some planning and brought along a self-heating Omeal and also a portable heater-lunch box; we had brought packaged meals. I put my package of basmati rice in the Omeal bag, so it heated up along the vegetarian chili.

The 110 volt hot plate didn't get things super hot, but it did the trick.

It was an ok meal......but the view just couldn't be beat.

And we were sure that tomorrow would be a better day!

Thanks for dropping by!

Comments

[Jason]

I can commiserate about the lack of good food at Yosemite during covid. Was there last August as well and stayed inside the park at the lodge, the only food available was the cafeteria style restaurant. While we had brought lunch stuff, there's only so many pizza/burger/cafeteria entrees that you can eat in one trip. In hindsight, should have brought more things to cook since those rooms had a fridge. But like you said, you don't go to yosemite for the food!

[Junichi]

When we were little our parents took us on road trips to various national parks. We always brought a rice cooker, electric kettle, instant noodles and curry with us!

[Kirk]

Yeah, you don't go to Yosemite for the food Jason....though it wouldn't hurt to have some decent stuffs!

I had thought about bringing my Iwatani Butane stove Junichi.....but we just ate Tasty Bite and Omeal packaged stuff.....though I did bring some packaged yakisoba.

[Soo]

Very scenic trip!

[Kirk]

Very scenic Soo!

[kat]

love the trees & views!

[Kirk]

It was quite lovely Kat!