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| Early morning Yosemite |
Last night
we were talking about how after hearing a lot about a location, we can be a
little disappointed, but Yosemite certainly
wasn’t one of those places. As soon as we started the drive into the valley
this morning our jaws dropped, the magnificence and scale of Yosemite
just can’t be described, with sheer granite cliffs towering above us we were
like ants crawling along the valley floor.
We were
keen to see if we could pick up a cancellation campground site in the valley so
left early but by the time we arrived at the reservation centre before 9 there
was already 15 on the waiting list! So instead we parked the van and caught the
free shuttle bus that loops around the valley and first stop was the Ansel
Adams Gallery in the village, wonderful to see so much of his photography in
one place. There were several other artists also featured in the gallery.
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| Ansel Adams Gallery |
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| The deer were extremely "humanised" |
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| The dry Yosemite Falls |
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| The old church in the valley |
It was a
beautiful clear morning so set off on foot to walk to the lower Yosemite Falls, a great walk but being late
summer, they were dry. We continued on foot walking through the valley, along
the banks of the Merced River and through the
still green meadows, all the time getting different views of the surrounding
mountains. We got back to the van for a late lunch and decided to not wait to
see if we could get a cancellation but to head on out of the park and east on
120 on the Tioga Road.
On our way out we stopped to get a look at the famous granite face of El Capitan which towers vertically from the road for 3000
feet. From the meadow we were able to look up onto the face and could make out
7 climbers in different areas with the binoculars. Why anyone would want to
spend days climbing a sheer face, clipped on to a harness I don’t know, but
many do. Evidently it can take 2 to 3 days for a group of climbers to get to
the top.
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| Took this with my 300 lens, the climbers only looked like dust until I blew it up. |
The Tioga Road passed
through an area that had been devastated by the recent fires and was closed for
several weeks, it has only recently been reopened and we could see areas that
had been hit, thankfully it was a long way from the valley. We climbed up
through some amazing country and tonight are camped in a small campsite at 9000
feet (notice the shortness of breathe) and the temperature was 7 degrees when
we arrived after passing through a little bit of sleet.
And we have
no phone signal so still don’t know if a miracle happened on San Francisco Bay!
8pm…It is
down to 4 degrees now, a real cold one. Read about the bears in this area and
the bear box with this camp site was the strongest we have seen. After cooking
dinner in the barbecue decided to store
it in the bear box tonight…it normally goes in the rear hatch of the RV which
is under our bed!!! Have made a note to remember to collect it in the
morning!!!!
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| Some fire damaged trees beside the highway. |
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| Ian, dressed for the weather...5 degrees! |
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