YOSEMITE NAT PARK 11/08/10 - 13/08/10

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11/08/10

After arriving in Yosemite National Park we headed to Crane Flat campground where we set up camp amoungst the trees. We had a food locker we had to use because of the bears and a fire pit which we cooked our dinner over and it was really yum and really fun. When it got dark it got really cold so it was quite a cold night.

12/08/10

Today we drove to Yosemite Valley village where you can park and catch free shuttles all over the valley. We caught a shuttle to Yosemite Falls and walked to the bas of the waterfall which is most impressive in spring when the ice is melting.
From the falls we did the Yosemite Valley Floor walk which followed the river and had views of half dome and El Capitan, we also passed lots of wild deer (but no bears). We also walked to the base of El Capitan's sheer rock face and on the way passed a snake!

After climbing a small way up El Capitan we caught the shuttle back to our car then drove to Bridalveil falls and clambered around the rocks at the base of the falls along with everybody else.

Afterwards we headed back to our campground and cooked another yummy feast on the fire. I had a headache so I drank lots of water and as a result I had to keep getting up in the freezing cold during the night to go toilet (and hopefully not meet a bear along the way!)

13/08/10

Our first stop this morning was the giant Sequoias at Tuolumne Grove which were pretty massive. Here we met some very friendly/talkative actors from New York.

From here we continued on through Yosemite National Park towards Las Vegas. Along the way we passed lots of rocks, trees and lakes including Tenaya Lake where we stopped for lunch.

Outside of Yosemite National Park we stopped at the massive Mono Lake. Mono Lake is very salty because it is full of mineral springs, there are also lots of large calcium rock formations called Tufa which are formed by the springs and were visible because the lakes water level had dropped significantly because LA used to use the water for their supply. The lake does not drain anywhere and the shore is covered in lots of small black flies whos larvae apparenly tastes like nutty rice and the local tribes used to eat and trade it.

After Mono Lake we hit the dessert which was brown and rocky and the roads were long and staight and went forever, it was very boring. At 2100 we came up and over a hill and below us twinkled Las Vegas!

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