Yosemite

We were on the road by 8am. Even at that time there was a steady stream of cars heading to the park. By 8-30am we were at the Wawona Visitor centre and Historic Village. After wandering around we set off for the Yosemite side of the park. Our first destination Glacier Point. This is directly above Yosemite on the top of the cliffs [ 7000 ft] providing a panoramic view of the valley and  beyond. We were early enough that we didn’t have to wait for a car park. The cliffs and mountains are seriously impressive. A camera struggles to do it justice.

From Glacier Point

We took our time to have a good look and then made our way to the walk to Mono Meadow. It was about 1 km, but it was hot and it was downhill. These meadows are really pretty grass areas where it is wetter. We didn’t see any deer in this meadow, but we had seen one earlier when we stopped at an overlook to see the view.

From Glacier Point

The hard bit was walking up the hill. The drive to the valley was uneventful. The last piece is a 1 mile tunnel. One of the key photo spots is just on the other side of the tunnel. What a shambles as people tried to find car parks. We were fortunate to find a car park and got the photo we wanted and continued on our way. As it was lunch time we stopped at the first picnic area and had something to eat.

When we pulled back onto the main road it was a bumper to bumper traffic jam. We slowly made our way along the valley and eventually found a car park on the side of the road after another car pulled out. We began to walk to the Village along the river, it was made special by seeing a deer drinking just in front of us. After a kilometre or two we were feeling hot and tired and then discovered we could take the free shuttle to the village.

We enjoyed an ice cream, with hungry squirrels roaming around the tables. After deciding it was too hot to go on a longer walk we caught the shuttle again to the Yosemite Village and Visitor Centre. The displays explaining the geological history and the settlement from Native peoples through to today were very interesting. Behind the Visitor Centre there is an Native American Village and this weekend they were having a special gathering. This included some of the men in traditional dress performing a sacred dance in the long hut. We were pleased to discover something of their history and culture.

As we didn’t know what would be available at our accommodation we decide to eat before we left the park. Fortunately the Grill was still open and they made a great burger. Yes the squirrels were hanging around here too.

Half Dome

Half Dome and Merced River

It was still amazingly busy. There were people everywhere, the shuttles were jammed full and the road out clogged with cars crawling along. So at about 6-30pm we joined the slow moving line of cars. Fortunately there are three different routes out of Yosemite and we were soon moving at a reasonable pace. It took about 25 minutes to get to Cedar Lodge, which is quite a large complex in the middle of nowhere. And it was totally full.

A great day. We enjoyed every moment, but we were tired.