A few pictures from a walk in Yosemite Valley

[Trekkie Dad]

I gave the bike a day off, and Jimmie and I spent a day at Yosemite National Park. The weather was perfect for a little bit of day hiking. After getting parked and an obligatory stop at the visitor's center, we hopped a shuttle to Yosemite Falls:




Then we walked over to Yosemite Lodge for a quick lunch and hopped the shuttle to Happy Isles and proceeded up the trail to the bridge below Vernal Falls. On the way, I looked back and took this picture:

(Look carefully and you can see a part of Yosemite Falls.)

This is the view of Vernal Falls from the bridge:

The trail to this point is less than a mile and gains 400 feet, but it seems like a lot more. It's a very popular trail, and it's paved all the way.

Then it was off to Mirror Lake. The shuttle stop is about .8 miles from the lake, but at least it's mostly flat.


From there we followed what was primarily a stock trail all the way to the Ahwahnee. We were both pretty beat by then, so we shuttled back to the village and walked to the car. But we had to take one last photo, now that the sun was better positioned:

This is the "classic" shot of Yosemite Valley, taken from Tunnel View.

Then it was time to drive home, stopping in Copperopolis for a little dinner.

[Barbossa]

Nice pics Trekkie Dad. Yosemite is on my list for places to visit. And since you're a trekkie, did you bring your rocket boots and fly up El Capitan like Spock?

So far the only National Parks I've been to stateside are Glacier, Yellowstone, and Craters of the Moon. But I may be going to Bryce Canyon in about a week with my dad, we're doing a quick roadtrip.

[Trekkie Dad]

No to the rocket boots. Would have been useful. Didn't have any "marsh melons" nor did anyone try to get us to sing "Row, Row Your Boat."

[draybook]

Beautiful place. The only park I've been to is Smoky Mountain, and that's because we took our honeymoon in Pigeon Forge, which borders the park.

[Dustysage]

Wow. Those pictures are beautiful. I've always wanted to visit Yosemite.