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Published: December 28th 2006
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Yosemite Valley
Words cannot accurately describe how breathtakingly beautiful the Valley is. Arrived in Los Angeles, CA yesterday and did the long drive to my hotel in Mariposa. I was supposed to about 1/2 hour away from Yosemite but when I headed out this morning (luckily very early), I discovered that the rock slide that I had been told would be gone by now was still there. As a result, I had to take a much longer route to get to Yosemite making it about a hour drive. Very scenic but I was anxious to get to the park and get to my tour group. It was going to be a full day's tour and I wanted to make the best of it since this was going to be my only day to see Yosemite unfortunately.
The drive into Yosemite is hard to describe. So incredibly scenic and then you're in the Valley and the main lodge. The moment you get out of your vehicle you hear the force of the nearby Lower Yosemite Falls located right near the parking lot. I wanted to walk down to the foot of the falls but was running late to meet my tour group as a result of the rock slide. We headed off on
Bridalveil Falls
My favorite picture of the day. Beautiful fall and the green of the trees is so very pretty. our bus tour about 8:30 am. Was a big bus load but I got a window seat to myself 😊
We had some picture stops along the way throughout the day. Our first big attraction was "El Capitan". Huge rock face over 3,000 feet high and a huge draw for rock climbers. We could barely make out a few "specks" on the face slowly making their climbs. Nothing more than dots. We slowly weaved through incredible meadows and saw some deer here and there. Had a picture stop in a meadow which looked like it was out of a dream. I'd post a picture but I have so many that I have to be picky! We slowly weaved our way higher and higher.
Our guide was excellent. He had been doing tours in the Valley for a couple decades and had hiked and road horses through a big chunk of it. He was extremely eco friendly which I enjoyed because he was able to point out to us in his limited time at Yosemite the changes that have taken place in the Park as a result of global warming. So sad. As we would climb higher, you saw
Half Dome
Nature is truly incredible. the trees that were slowly dying in certain sections. So evident at certain elevations the specific types of trees that were dying. You also saw the results of forest fire (some good and some bad).
We made our way to Glacier Point and to see the Half Dome. It was 3,000 feet to the Valley floor at the look out. Half Dome was an incredible site to behold and rises 4,000 feet from the floor. I hiked the short distance to the lookout and took some amazing pictures of the Half Dome and Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. Very cool how the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls weave for over 2,400 feet to become what they are at the Lodge. Vernal and Nevada Falls are also evident as well. The Point is a place where I wish I had the time to see the sun set and rise in it for photos. There was a little haze in the air (again attributed by our guide to global warming) which you can see in my pictures. You can see the entire Valley down below including the lodge area. Wow.
We eventually boarded back up again and made our back
Lower Yosemite Falls at the Main Lodge
I thought this was gorgeous but the best was still to come. back down. We stopped and had lunch in Wawona. Was a nice smaller hotel and resort like area in a meadow/valley setting but did not have the beauty of the Main Lodge area in my opinion.
We then headed off to the Sequoia Grove. We transferred from our bus to tractor trailers to weave our way through the grove. The trees are so massive that it's hard to see in pictures. They are HUGE! You can literally drive cars through them (as one tunnel tree showed). We stopped at one of the largest and oldest trees in the grove (Grizzly Giant, I believe) and snapped some pictures. It is believed to be over 1,800 years old! It's main limb is over 7 feet in diameter, let alone the base of it! Also saw trees who had grown together over time making one massive tree out of two original ones (Faithful Couple). We were also shown Clothespin trees (look like clothes pins at bottom with gaps in them) and the Galen Park Tree which started it all as far as our National Park system goes.
We then headed off to see the Valley at the time of day our
Falls view from Glacier Point-Half Dome
I believe this is Vernal and/or Nevada Falls. This place is incredible! guide told us was perfect for photos (around 4:30 pm). I have several Bierstadt posters and the Valley looked like it had stepped off of one. Wow. Hopefully the picture here captures it somewhat. Such amazing green colors, the waterfall off in the distance, Half Dome off in far distance and El Capitan on the other side. Maybe next time I can hike down to the floor. It's the all inclusive Yosemite attraction shot!
We then boarded the bus and headed off to Bridalveil Falls and Ribbon Falls located almost across from each other. Ribbon Falls did not have the strong water flow like Bridalveil did but Ribbon had the incredible drop (over 1,600 feet) vs. Bridalveil (620 feet). Completely different types of falls. Again, if I had been on my own and had more time, I'd have hiked to the base of Bridalveil but no time when you're with a tour group. The Bridalveil Falls picture is my favorite that I took just because of the amazing color in it. I was so happy that I had been able to see all these waterfalls in June when the water flow is supposed to still be so strong from
Giant Sequoia-Grizzly Giant
So hard to see in the pictures how massive these giant trees are. the melting snow. I've read that water flow drops off dramatically as the summer proceeds. I love my waterfalls at their maximum capacity!
One cannot take a bad picture at this place, even an amateur photographer like me. If you don't have much time, I'd HIGHLY recommend this tour (Grand Tour through Yosemite Park-make reservation). We left about 8:30 am and didn't get back to the Lodge until about 6:30 pm. You get to see all the big highlights and have a guide/driver giving you information all along the way. I hope to go back again someday to Yosemite and spend more days. When I do, I'll take a car and go on my own so I could see some of the off the road places as well and also have time to do some hiking.
Well, that was my day at Yosemite. I had hoped to maybe get up by Hetchy to see that valley but by the time we got off the bus and got things sorted out and looked around a little, sunset wasn't too far off.
So wish I had longer but it was better than nothing. When can I go back??? 😊
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