Blogs from Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, United States, North America
Death by Tree Hugging!
Published: May 14th 2012North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyThe towering grandeur of these majestic Giants provides a living relic from a prehistoric age. Their immense girth soars up into the sky as a striking symbol of longevity and strength. Some of these trees were alive when Jesus walked the water, once dominating an area of some two-million acres of the Californian coast, and before the last Ice Age pruned them back they covered almost the entire northern hemisphere of Planet Earth. Today they survive in parks created by the very species that brought them to the brink of extinction. Knee-jerk: We should save the Giants and restore these forests to their original state, right? Crescent City is the first town we came to heading south into Northern California. I’ve long known of this place because a certain anarcho-primitivist, Derrick Jensen, lives there. I had ... read more
Day 12: San Francisco
Published: January 8th 2012North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyToday 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 ... read more
Yosemite
Published: January 2nd 2012North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyOn this world, there is a place that can resemble a fantasy world. Yosemite national park is a place of large granite mountains all around with humongous Sequotia Tree. At the first time, I was awed by the size of its granite. I felt like I was in a new planet. Yosemite was my first stop for the West trip. I could not understand the long drive for this place. It took us three days to get to this place. Once I arrived, I realized it was worth it. Plus, seeing the changing scenery of the real West was amazing. Even though I did not had a famous to stop by, driving to see the changing scenery from the Eastern US to Western US was something worthwhile to see in your lifetime. Crossing from St. Louis ... read more
Yosemite National Park
Published: November 2nd 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyAfter having just experienced Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and the Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks, I've run out of superlatives! Yosemite Valley was carved by glaciers and further sculped by water & ice. Of all the US National Parks, John Muir pronounced it to be the most magnificent. And who am I to argue. The crystal-clear river, the sheer cliffs, the waterfalls, the massive granite boulders, the wildlife, and the lush valley floor all combine to make this another amazing example of the beauty of the natural world. The scale of the valley was brought home to us when we saw rock climbers scaling the sheer face of El Capitan. They looked like ants on the 3,500-foot cliff, one of the longest rock faces in the world - so high that it takes 2 days to ... read more
Bear! Bear! Bear! Correction! No Bear!
Published: October 27th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyOver the last few years I've been to many great historical places and had plenty of exhausting ski trips, so I thought this year that a more relaxing holiday was in order. So where better to go than a land of limited history (we have pubs older than your country Americans!) but full of fun opportunities and sunshine, why the Good Ol' US of A. Being a huge fan of America and it being a huge country, it was hard to choose where to go. Which coast is best? East coast or west coast? Ah well, it was decided that a visit to both would save arguments and a plan was formulated to fly to San Francisco, make our way down the west coast, pop in to see brother dearest, drive to Vegas and if we ... read more
West Coast Day 15
Published: October 10th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyWe wake to a lovely crisp morning, have some breakfast, make a picnic lunch and make our way to Glacier Point,the views are breathtaking with waterfalls cascading down the mountain sides and massive canyons for miles, we take lots of photos,it's spectacular and makes you feel so small! We make our way down to the main Yosemite Village to visit Mirror Lake, we park the car in the village and Steve says 'we could probably walk,it's not that far', I tell him of a free shuttle bus, we agree to take it, just as well it was around a 10 minute ride on the bus, then another 20 minute walk to the lake, it reminds me a little of Badgers Weir in the Dandenongs, Victoria, with its brambling brooks.It's a great walk to the lake and ... read more
West Coast Day 14
Published: October 10th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyWell that was the best sleep we have had for awhile, we have a lovely homecooked breakfast at the Motel, this motel was great value for money,for 1 nights stay with dinner and breakfast $160.00, you cant do better than that! We head out now to Yosemite National Park and stop off at Bodie to see the famous Ghost Town, another dusty ride ahead as we head down the dusty road, it reminds me a little of Ballarat Gold fields, to imagine that this was once a town, with a school, bank, library, saloon and now nothing, just empty shacks of where people inhabitated. When you look into the school rooms you can see where books still lay and a world globe is deteriated by age but you could still make out what it once was. ... read more
Day 39 - Yosemite
Published: September 17th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyAn early start saw us head deep into the Park for a hike to Nevada Falls, which is the half way mark for a longer hike up to Half Dome. The walk was extremely long and hard, especially when it is up hill first, on a zigzag climb, oh and the main path is shut as there were some volunteers further up the route, clearing some fallen trees. After waiting around for almost half an hour so on the first bridge, Todd decided to find an alternative route, finding a nearby ‘cargo’ route, used for mule trains to haul ‘freight’ up the mountain. Having kept out of sight of any wardens or fellow climbers, we made our way up the route, taking in the views making it all worthwhile. We eventually made it to the Nevada ... read more
Day 38 - Monterey - Yosemite National Park
Published: September 16th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyOur leave time today was 8am, and so we got to introduce the new guys to the ritual that was struggling to get through breakfast, packing our gear and tents up, loading up and ready to go by the designated time. The day’s destination ws Yosemite National Park, which meant the journey again was a long one, broken up by the shopping and lunch in a very empty car park of the San Louis reservoir. But first we had a brief walk around Monterey, which offered a lovely looking view of the bay, but not a lot else, apart from an area full of Californian sea otters as well as some endangered species of sea bird that Monterey is home to. As Steve, Scott and I headed along the pier to get closer to the rocks ... read more
Yosemite Falls and Mariposa Grove
Published: September 11th 2011North America » United States » California » Yosemite National Park » Yosemite ValleyWe started the day by tackling the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. This is classed as “strenuous” and I can verify that it is indeed strenuous. The complete route takes you from the valley floor up to the top of the lower falls, then continues right up to the top of the upper falls. We didn’t plan on doing the entire route as it can take 6 hours but we made it beyond the lower falls. It was a lot of climbing up at the start! That’s definitely my exercise for the week! It was also very hot which made it tough but thankfully it eased up a bit and also clouded over so it was much cooler later on. The views were fairly breathtaking and the way down was much quicker. We got down just in ... read more






























