Yosemite National Park

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On Tuesday I took a day trip across to Yosemite National Park, around 3 hours drive from San Fran. We left the city at 7am deep in fog which meant that it was set to be another sunny day. Yipeee!!!

We arrived at the park around 10:30am and had a quick tour in the van. We saw the most famous sites in the Yosemite Valley - el Capitan and Half Dome, two huge granite rocks which can be seen all around the place and also Yosemite Falls and Brideveil Falls - two major waterfalls of the Park. We were then given 3 hours to wander around and I acquired 3 little japanese guys in the group who had not understood anything the guide had said and therefore had no idea what to do. Instead they just kept following me and saying things like "Big bears?" and "Snow - good" which I found quite funny.

We took a walk up to another waterfall and I strode out to make sure we could fit in more treks than the guide had suggested for the time available. Unfortunately the Japanese had a few troubles in the snow as they were a) wearing converse trainers (one had holes in the sole!) and b)were even shorter than me so practically running in the snow and kept falling over! We then walked to a place called Mirror Lake, at the bottom of the Half Dome rock. On this trail, in the middle of Yosemite Park I walked into a guy from Downing who was in California for a couple of weeks on holiday. What a small world!!

Anyway, slightly amazed about the coincidence of running into him I ended up missing the turning and following the path that the Japanese guys were going down. A while later I realised that I definitely didn't recognise any of the parts that we were going past and started worrying when we went past a few signs saying things like "Bear and Mountain Lion Habitat" with instructions for what to do when you encounter one. As an aside, I found out that contrary to Jon's advice that you should hit them on the nose, black bears tend to prefer it if you just shuffle away pretending not to have noticed them. Anyway without seeing so much as a coyote we eventually emerged from the woods (having had to walk in knee-deep and very converse-unfriendly snow) and got the shuttle bus back just in time for the tour bus's departure.

Before leaving the Park we went to watch some climbers making their way to the top of "El Capitan" rock which is 7000 ft above sea level. Apparently they had been climbing for 4 days straight. Wow.

I have just arrived back in San Fran ready for my last day - visiting Alcatraz Prison and going to a transvestite dinner and dance show (when in San Fran....) My camera is practically out of battery and in my disorganised rush I forgot the charger so you may be relieved to hear that I I'll be adding to the 150+ photos that I have so far taken in California! Phew!

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Photos

El Capitan and Half dome
El Capitan on the left and Half dome right at the end

The moon in the sky
can you see it?!

Giving the Japanese a rest
(ie getting them to take my picture a few times!)