When I awoke this morning it was to find that during the night my migraine had gotten ever worse and I hardly wanted to move. I could hardly eat my favorite breakfast, chocolate crepes, which my dad had been kind enough to make, without feeling as if my insides might soon find their way to the outside. We went into the Valley to find Excedrin Migraine in the hopes that i might recover some of my faculties. I took some straight away and on our way back to camp I started to feel better, just in time to have a close (but at a safe distance) encounter with a California black bear. The term 'black bear' is a bit of a misnomer because for the most part they tend to be brown not black. They aren't the primary predator of California though, which leaves them with more of the defensive instincts such as running from possible predators, ie us, so you should NOT run from a black bear if you do encounter one but slowly back away if you feel that you are in a dangerous situation. We were separated by a river from being just next to the bear and so spent a few minutes taking photos from across the way. By the time we had completely returned to Crane Flats campground I felt nearly normal once more. I washed my hair, face, brushed my teeth, and changed my clothes and began to feel like a human being again.
We hopped in the car and drove about an hour and a half to the northern part of Yosemite National Park to Tenaga Lake where we dipped our toes and ate lunch - Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai - by the shoreline. If you don't get off at the first pull off for Tenaga Lake but instead go down closer to the eastern edge you can avoid some of the families with small children usually. Regardless, this area has a tendency to be far less crowded than other parts of the park despite it being nearly as gorgeous as the unforgettable and famous stone monoliths that make the park famous.
After lunch we drove to Tuolumne Meadows, which was just twenty minutes from the lake and boasted gorgeous panoramic vistas. There were small deer paths throughout the meadow that allowed it to be explored and we spent half an hour walking around in the sunlit grassy area taking in the soaring mountains and small ponds dotted about among the array of colorful flowers.
This marked the end of our day and we returned to the campground for dinner and to sleep.