Day 12: San Francisco

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Today was a FANTASTIC day!!!! And Yes I realise It wasn't actually in San Francisco, but that's where I am now so that's what I'm calling today.

Anyway I woke up at 6am for a nice early start. Pick up was at 6.30, but knowing my sleping habits, I had to make sure I was up well before that. It turned out I didnt sleep well anyway so I was more than ready to get up and about. After pickup, I slept on the bus most of the way there, with the exception of the two pitstops we made. It was roughly a 4 hour trip to the gates of Yosemite Park and then another 20 mins to the start of the attractions. It was kind of strange. We were driving through a valley that had been decimated by fire, then all of a sudden we crossed a ridge and the other side was picture perfect. It was amazing.

First stop was Tunnel Vision, which is a lookout at one end of the Yosemite Valley that lets you see straight down the valley, taking in the famous landmarks of El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridevail Falls. We headed through the valley to the lodge where we would be basing our trip, stopping at a couple of other vantge points where we were up closer to El Capitan and Half Dome. Once we arrived at the lodge we had around 3 hours to ourselves. I took the shuttle bus to the Mirror Lake Trailhead to do a 1.5 hour hike around mirror lake. After making my way to the edge of Mirror Lake, I was a bit disappointed that there wasnt much water, but this presented a new opportunity. I wandered off the trail and walked into the lake bed. They do encourage you to stay on path, but there are also no signs saying not to stray. As I wandered through the lakebed, Half Dome rose to my right and North Dome to my left. It was an amazing sight. If you looked straight down the valley, between two domes, you could see lake, wetlands, pine forrest and mountains all in one line of sight. It is something I'll never forget.

After I finished exploring, I decided to hike back to Happy Isles, which wasabout a 1 mile hike. I found a signpost and followed it, but after a while, there were no more signposts and the trail started to look a bit sketchy, so I was a bit worried, however the trail ran by the road so I just followed it. As I rounded a corner, I saw a set of eyes looking at me. I absolutely packed my dacks and stopped dead. After a second or so, my mind clicked into gear and I realised that it was a deer, not a bear or a mountain lion (both common in the park). So round the corner I went and I found another deer. Anyway, I made it to the Happy Isles, but I didnt have time to do the hike to the Nevada Falls, so I hopped on the shuttle and headed to Yosemite Falls. This was a 10 min walk, really easy and close to the lodge so I had time to do it.

Once again, I slept on the bus on the way back, but what a day it was. It's a day I will certainly never forget.

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