Saved the best til last ...

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(Before I start - sorry for the delay in posting this update, but we've either had no wi-fi, or no time to access it until today.)

Last Monday afternoon we arrived in beautiful Yosemite Valley - one guidebook writer describes it as being "so spectacular that it makes even Switzerland look like God's practice run" - and after a fantastic few days here, we both think we agree with him.

We had beautifully warm weather and sunny skies, and did some great walks each day. On Tuesday we did a nice easy walk to Mirror Lake - a lovely spot which lived up to the promise of it's name, reflecting the peaks surrounding the valley. On Wednesday we decided to do something which would use up a bit more energy and set off for an uphill walk to a view of Lower Yosemite Falls, which was fantastic and wasn't too exhausting, so we decided to push on up the hill for a view of Upper Yosemite Falls (personally I think that was Craig's agenda all along - when will I ever learn?). We discovered that the description of the walk as "strenuous, with an elevation gain of 2,700 feet over 3.6 miles" was correct and the promise of our packed lunch was the only thing that really kept us going as we neared the top. But it was definitely worth the climb, the day was stunning, and the return trip was an easy downhill stroll all the way - and we were in a much better state to enjoy the scenery than on the way up the hill.

On our last day in Yosemite we decided to walk to the top of Vernal Falls - still a bit of an uphill push but easier than the day before (although we got a lot wetter from the spray from the falls), and definitely worth the climb. The combination of the incredibly beautiful scenery and the sight of such a huge volume of water made it an amazing experience. Again, the climb up the hill made us feel that we'd deserved our sandwiches by the time we reached the top, before returning to the Valley and just trying to take in the amazing beauty of the place before heading back to our tent site to enjoy our last night of camping in our tent before heading for San Francisco, to meet up with Bob and Jen, who are flying in from Vancouver to spend a long weekend with us, catching up and taking in the sights of the city together.

The National Park Service in Yosemite are very serious about ensuring that campers avoid doing anything that might attract bears to an area, and provide huge heavy steel lockers at each campsite, and it's compulsory to keep all food and toiletries (basically anything which might have any sort of scent) inside and locked up at all times. The ranger at our campground had said when we checked in that they thought bears would be highly unlikely to enter an area with so many people around, so we obeyed all the rules and were very careful but didn't worry about the bears too much.

While we've been camping we've noticed that most Americans seem to have a campfire every night (and morning), some which we've never been used to, but in our final week of camping we decided that we needed to try it out. So we got some wood and discovered what we'd been missing, and even made some s'mores one night (a sickeningly sweet combination of graham crackers, Hershey's chocolate bars and toasted marshmallows) to complete the experience.

Yosemite has lived up to it's reputation as being the most beautiful national park, and while we're a bit sad to move on as we've had such a great time here, and it means the end of our camping experience, we're both looking forward to whatever San Francisco had to offer.

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