Sunday, August 7, 2011

California - Yosemite National Park

Part 2 of my trip home to California!

My parents and I took a few days and went to visit Yosemite. It's crazy that I grew up only a 3.5 hour drive from this amazing National Park and yet have only been there a few times. I will admit though, summer in the park is crowded and while I am happy to see so many people out exploring this amazing piece of nature it's also hard to truly enjoy it when you are sitting in traffic for 30 minutes just to get in the gate!

We entered at the Southern Gate and took a little hike through the Mariposa Sequoia Grove. Sequoia Trees! I love trees! I've missed trees these past few years living in the Desert.



And then on to Glacier Point. Oh the view! Half Dome, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls. Beautiful! Even this late in the season the rivers and falls were still raging, it was fantastic!


And then on to the Mecca of climbing, oh how I wished I had my climbing gear! El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls and the Yosemite Valley. I wish I could have trained with Ansel Adams back in the day!


Our second day in the park we headed to the Yosemite Valley for a hike to the top of Vernal Falls, but first we had to marvel at Horseshoe Falls.



After that little jaunt up Vernal Falls we hopped on the biked and headed to Mirror Lake under the face of Half Dome and then it was time to leave (which was another 30 minutes sitting in traffic trying to leave the park!). 



Part 3 (the final pictures!) of our day in Columbia State Historic Park coming soon!

For my family or friends that would like to see all of the pictures you can see them here at my Smugmug site.


1 comment:

Tricia said...

Oh, this looks like a wonderful trip! I love the sequoia trees. It's been so long since I've seen one. I keep thinking I need to take my children on a vacation to California to they can take in all the wonderful things that state has to see.