Yosemite

[selenak]

We were a bit flexible in our schedule regarding Yosemite Park - two days if the weather was nice, one if it rained and if the forecast was bad as well. (Anything else was impossible because my conference starts tomorrow.) Unfortunately, the later was the case, but the rain kindly waited until 3 pm in the afternoon - before, it was just cloudy - so I got some good photos of the magnificent mountains and trees regardless before we admitted defeat and headed for Monterey, the coast and the sun. Case in point, the most famous of mountains there, El Capitan:

We had flown to Reno from Jackson Hole, and thus arrived in Yosemite just when the sun was setting:

The next morning, we started with hiking through this valley:

And promptly ran into some deer:

One more look at the end of the valley before we hopped into our rented jeep and drove upwards for the spectacular overviews:

En route, as I said, we passed El Capitan:

And then it was time for this:

Not all viewing spots were conveniently at the road. We had to walk and climb to reach the next one, but it was so worth it:

When you lie down on a cliff and hold your camera over the abyss, you get this:

The most famous viewpoint, however, is the Glacier one. Also as we found out popular for weddings despite impending rain:

Then our luck ended, the rain started, and we only saw the giant sequoias soaking wet:

That was Old Grizzly, over 1500 years old. And thus we left Yosemite, heading for the coast:

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Comments

[aris_tgd]

Yosemiteeeeee! Sorry, I'm from the SF Bay Area, so that's sort of my National Park stomping grounds. And every once in a while I just miss it so and plan to do another one of those three-day not-smart trips (Down from Portland->Fremont on day one, up to Yosemite for a day trip on day 2, back up to Portland on day 3. Only did it once. Tempted to do it again. Would have to manage it before daylight savings ends...)

Hope you're enjoying California!

[selenak]

I certainly do. Mind you, I once lived in Los Angeles when I had a scholarship there for three months, so parts of it are familiar two me. Just not these parts, though I visited San Francisco once eons ago.