Yosemite Again

We slept soundly and in part because we didn’t need to pack up were on the road by 7-50am. We were in a long line of cars, in part because there were several buses ahead of us slowing the traffic. Still by 8-20am we were in the Bridal Falls carpark and walking to the base of the falls. This is the only waterfall which has any water in it as it is fed from a stream which drains an alpine meadow. Still it was a feeble flow, but much better than nothing.

Bridal Veil

There were still hardly any cars or people around so we got a really good carpark near a shuttle stop. Our objective was to walk to the mirror lake. The air was not too hot, the track was in the shade and it was almost flat. We discovered later that we did not take the shortest route, but it didn’t matter.

Mirror Lake

Initially we though that there was no water in the mirror lake, but fortunately there was a shallow pond left and this was long enough to get some great reflection photographs. As always however in such a grand landscape the camera is a poor recorder of immense cliffs which tower all around.

Ewe caught the shuttle from the bottom of the mirror lake track to the Yosemite Falls track. This is about 5km away. This water fall was dry, but the cliffs it falls down are immense and spectacular in their own right. It would be good to see it in spring in full flow however. We did see a deer eating in the river bed, oblivious to all the people walking by.

By now we had done all the easy walks, so we decided to go to a neighbouring part of the park, Hetch Hetchy. On the way we had lunch in shady picnic ground and took a brief walk to  take a close up look at El Capitaine, the huge mountain with vertical cliffs at the entrance to the valley. As hoped we saw four people rock climbing, they looked like ants on the face of the rock.

To get to Hetch Hetchy we travelled out of the park on the road to San Francisco and just after the gate bounced along a rural road for 7 miles before entering the park again. This part is by day permit so we were given a numbered card to hand back when we left. A fire had been through the area 3 0r 4 years ago and several hillsides had grasses growing under the dead remains of the pine forest. The dam at Hetch Hetchy provides 85% of San Francisco’s water supply. The landscape was much more desolate than Yosemite, it was clearly a lot drier and lots of rock was visible.

The stunning aspect of the dam was the water gushing out of a pipe at the bottom in a jet at least 3 feet across. This jut thundered into the cliff opposite and then flowed downstream to the next resivour. The two water falls near here had been dry for a few weeks, so we only walked far enough to get a better view of the mountains at the headwaters of the lake. They were impressive, especially when you consider that a third at least were hidden under the lake.

We made our way back to Yosemite late in the afternoon in time to get burgers again  before the Grill closed at 6pm. They were just as good as last night. By now there were not many people around and it was reasonably quiet. A big contrast with last night. After getting some supplies at the Supermarket we headed out of the village making a detour to the tunnel view to get some photographs with the evening sun behind us. This was one place where there were lots of people. It was worth it to get one last view of Yosemite.

Hetch Hetchy Dam

Lake at Hetch Hetchy

Rock Climbers El Capitaine

Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View

The journey back to the motel was uneventful. We did stop to fill up with petrol at the only fuel stop. As expected when you have a monopoly it cost a lot more than in the city.

Back at the motel a shower to wash off the dust of the day and watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics.