Day 35. Yosemite!

We were up before the sun and with the Firefighters.

The red engines were from Orange County Fire District and we have a new found appreciation of all the coordination of effort that goes into monitoring and controlling the wildfires that are burning in the area.

We made a beeline for the park, arrived just before 8:00 am and were delighted to find the parking lot almost empty. The bikes were then parked for the rest of the day and we ventured off on foot to explore Yosemite Valley.

The photos cannot do it justice.

 Crossing Yosemite Creek

Upper & Lower Yosemite Falls

Lower Yosemite Falls

 Stunning views in all directions

 Walking along the Merced River, the stillness of the water and the reflections were stunning.

Believe it or not - this is a reflection.

After a little over 3 miles we began to see what lay at the end of the trail we had chosen.

El Capitan!

El Capitan is a vertical granite rock monolith extending more than 3,000 feet above the valley floor. Climbers come from all over the world to climb it!
Tom spotted these guys - the trusty Canon captured them.

We meandered back along the valley floor.

We rented two bicycles, grabbed our packed lunch and cycled to the east end of the valley and Mirror Lake.

Half Dome

We packed in a lot over the course of our day and loved every minute. We feel we got very lucky as the smoke really wasn't too bad and definitely lifted out of the valley as things warmed up. Although some of the distant views were muted by the haze - we still got to appreciate the tremendous natural beauty of this park.

"It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of nature I was ever permitted to enter"

                                                                                                                                           - John Muir