Yosemite
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2007
1
73
92
Trip End
Dec 27, 2007
Mariposa,
California,
United States
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The amenities were great ...... the coffee machine in the lobby did not work and the free Internet was "out of order" so all in all we were not amused as we headed out for our Yosemite adventure.
Before describing what we saw, here is the background information on the park, from Wikipedia:
The Yosemite National Park is a national park located largely in Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties in California
A - our first sight of the Yosemite Valley
. The park covers an area of 3081 square kilometres and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, with most visitors only seeing the 18 square kilometres of Yosemite Valley.
Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. About 89% of the park is designated wilderness.
Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 600 to 4,000 metres and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine.
The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes
B - as we come into the valley, we notice Fall
. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons.About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 1200m during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today. End of Wikipedia's bit!
We paid our $20 to the Park Ranger and in we went. We started well ...... we took the first road and were cruising along when we came to a fork in the road. We took the left road and headed into the valley ....... er no ...... we were headed towards Las Vegas!
So we turned around and headed back, stopping to take a photo of the valley from our vantage point high up on the road. Our view was brilliant but we had seen nothing yet. We drove a bit further (taking the right fork in the road this time) and as we drove through a tunnel we saw the magnificent "tunnel view", from the Wawona tunnel. This view is also called "Inspiration Point", and we could see why
C - The Merced River, El Capitan in the distance
. The Yosemite valley stretched out before us and we could see the Yosemite Village in the distance.We jumped back into the car and set out down the road into the valley. We had been driving down for about 20 minutes when we suddenly drove along a river, with trees that were changing colour from green into yellow, rust and reddish colours, simply stunning for want of a better word ........ or "aawwesssome" as the Americans would say!
The river we stopped next to was the Merced river, which flows through Yosemite. I took a few photographs along the banks and then we drove a bit further to get to an amazing viewpoint of the Cathedral Rocks on the right and El Capitan on the left. We were at 4000 feet above sea level. A huge tree had fallen along the side of the river and I stood on the tree tree trunk and took quite a few photos looking down the river, with Cathedral Rock in the distance. The river was so clear that everything around the river was perfectly reflected in the water. We sat around for a while and enjoyed the scene, then we were off on the track again, after taking a "self portrait" in amongst the red/orange/yellow leaves on the river bank.
Basically wherever we looked we saw massive mountains all around us
D - Greg's boots in the sand on the Merced shore
. They were huge and surrounded by trees that were all different Fall colours. We had some fun near the valley floor when we found a whole lot of trees that had been struck by lightning and were now lying flat on the grass. We set up the tripod for our usual "self portrait" and once we began to take the first photo we went a bit crazy and started having our own "shoot" in the valley. We posed all over the tree trunks in silly positions and enjoyed the moment immensely.Once other people started arriving we thought we had better move along, before they called the park rangers to come check up the South African "nutters"!
We reached the Swinging Bridge and enjoyed looking at the big Sentinel Rock before Jules once again had a fashion shoot along the bridge, showing off her "fall" collection.
We drove into the Yosemite Village and had our picnic lunch there, after we had walked through the Indian Village nearby. The bridge near the entrance to the Yosemite Village is the best place to get a view of the valley's crown jewel - Half Dome.
Half Dome stands 8842 feet above sea level
E - Jules enjoys Fall in the valley
. Indian tradition is that Half Dome is a man, Nangas, who lived in this valley and displeased the spirits so was turned into stone!Once we had eaten our lunch the track goes back towards the entrance. As we left the village there is a huge open meadow near Yosemite Creek. This is usually a good view of the Upper Yosemite Falls, however there was no water flowing from the 1430 foot high waterfall while we were there. However, there were some great trees and views of The Three Brothers, Eagle Peak and Half Dome.
We took a few great photographs in the meadow and then headed back to the fork in the road, and this time we did take the road to Las Vegas!!
We drove towards Death Valley, looking for a hostel called the "Yosemite Bug". We arrived in darkness, at about 7pm. Unfortunately we could not join the big circle of people sitting around a huge campfire singing, as the hostel was full. The desk clerk managed to phone ahead to the only other hotel in the area ........... Cedar Creek. So we went off to Cedar Creek and had no choice but to pay the $100 a night fee.
Comments
Hi Jules & Greg
Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures with us. Quite an expensive visit by the sounds of things. Looking forward to a more up-to-date up-date! Trust all is going well & that you had a great time with Noen & then with Mary Ann & Denny. Love & happy travels. God bless.
Dad & Mom xxxxxx