This morning we headed to Yosemite Valley. It was about a 45 minute drive from Mariposa. Our first stop in the Valley was Bridalveil Fall. There were only a couple cars in the parking lot and we walked the quarter mile trail up to the fall. There was water! So many of the falls are dry at this time of year. There has been very little rainfall and there was very little snow this past winter. The fall drops 620 feet from a "hanging valley."
Bridalveil Fall
We had decided that we were going to pull off every time there was a pull-out. So, the next time we pulled over, I got out and took a picture of this big rock. Then I walked across the road to get another picture and a picture of the sign. I walked back to the car and told Conrad he might want to get out for a better look. It was El Capitan - one of the world's largest rock monoliths.
See, I told you it was big!
This picture shows a little more of El Capitan
.
Climbers often spend seven days or more scaling the stone face. It is 3,593 feet tall. It could be seen from all over the Valley.
Next up were the Three Brothers. It is a trio of triangular rock shapes, each one atop the next. Eagle Peak, is the furthest one and the other two are named Middle Brother and Lower Brother.
The Three Brothers
It's hard to see but in the middle of the picture, just below the trees,
there is a bear! He got away before we could get a good
picture. He took off down the river.
Yosemite Chapel is the oldest building in the park. The first service was held June 7, 1879. It was moved from the lower valley to the upper valley in 1901.
Yosemite Chapel with Sentinel Rock behind
We walked over to Yosemite Village that included a store, a restaurant, a post office and Ansel Adams Photo Gallery. In the picture below, the Village is behind those trees. Yosemite Falls can be seen on the rock but it was dry. That fall is in three sections. The top section can be seen in the middle of the picture (the dark, reddish brown streak). You can't see the middle section but the lower section is just to the right of that RV parked on the street. I've enlarged this picture to make it easier to see. The total drop of the falls is 2,425 feet.
Yosemite Falls
This is a zoomed-in view of the Upper Yosemite Falls.
The Ansel Adams Art Gallery
We pulled over again at a rock that Conrad wanted to get out and have his picture taken. Just before he got out, we saw a big, FAT bobcat! Usually, bobcats are skinny but this one was well fed. We just hoped he hadn't been eating the tourists!
The bobcat
Below is the rock where the bobcat was. You can barely see Conrad on the right side of the rock. He said when he got up there, the bobcat was lying down at the other end of the rock, just looking around.
Conrad on the right side of the rock
Our next stop was at Stoneman Meadow. The rock below was one of our favorites. It was called Royal Arches. As the glaciers moved through the area, the rocks in the glacier made the scratches on the wall. That is North Dome behind the arches.
North Dome and Royal Arches
Stoneman Meadow had a boardwalk that went back into the woods and then ended the Merced River. We walked along the river for awhile and then back to the car.
Stoneman Meadow
Another rock wall along our walk
A large leaf maple and some Jeffery Pine needles
When we got back to the car, all the picnic tables were taken so we just found this fallen tree and sat on it and ate our picnic lunch. We always travel with a cooler, drinks and lunch stuff so we don't have to worry about finding a place to eat. This stuff always tastes better when it's eaten outside.
Below is the Ahwahnee Hotel. It was constructed from steel, stone, concrete, wood and glass and opened in 1927 and is one of very few places to stay inside the park. Of course, the price reflects that also! It is a 4-diamond hotel.
The Ahwahnee Hotel
The park even has its own District Court! It takes care of misdemeanors and petty offenses that happen inside the park.
Camp 4 is one of several campgrounds in the park. This one is more for the rock climbers and it was full the day we were there. What was more interesting to us is all the rules for food. You weren't supposed to keep food or even water inside your car. All food and water was to be stored in the trunk during the day but at night had to be put in a food locker. We noticed at most of the trailheads there were food lockers. You could also rent some at the campgrounds. They say that bears aren't as much of a problem that they were a few years ago.
Rules for storing food
Cathedral Rocks
Another zoomed-in view of Bridalveil Falls from across the park.
Above is the Merced River. To the left is El Capitan. To the right is Sentinel Rock (real small) and then Cathedral Rocks. Leaning Tower is on the far right of the picture.
We came across these people with their cooler, drinking beer, and watching for rock climbers on El Capitan. They had been there awhile but hadn't seen any climbers. We had walked over there to look for an 80 foot tall Ponderosa Pine tree that was supposed to be growing in an alcove on the sheer face of El Capitan. It was more than 300 years old and growing in cracks in the rocks that form a series of shelves supporting quite a few plants.
We found the tree! But, it looks like it's dead. If you could just see the size of El Capitan, you'd understand how hard it was to find this "little" tree.
More rock!
The picture below was taken on our way back to the hotel in Mariposa. We liked the way the rock looked. When we got back to the hotel that night and were looking at the pictures we had taken, we spotted a spot on the rock.
So, we enlarged the picture and we found a person climbing the rock! What a surprise!
An enlarged picture of the one above. The guy looks like an ant on the left side of the rock. All along the road to Mariposa, the trees just grew right out of the rock. I just don't understand how they can make it!
Trees growing out of the rock
The Merced River along Highway 140 to Mariposa
We had a wonderful day and saw so many awesome things. This was one park that Conrad has always wanted to see. We have one more day here before moving on.
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