Yosemite was very fun. It took a long time to get there. The first night we stayed outside the park in an Air B&B. We stoped in the Mariposa Grove. We saw a GIGANTIC tree! Teddy Roosevelt himself stood in front of it a long time ago. For all I know, that tree convinced Teddy to create national parks.
Continue readingWednesday, July 26 — Eric and Keith were both pretty tired from yesterday’s hike, so we decided to rent bikes and spend the day leisurely riding around Yosemite Valley with Greg and Heath. Greg and Heath had brought their own bikes with them on this trip; they rode their bikes over to the Ahwanee hotel and we agreed to meet them there.
On the day that we’d arrived in Yosemite, we found out that bikes can only be rented for the day. The rental place opened at 0800 and the bikes must be returned within 8-hours. We walked over to Curry Village and arrived at the bike rental place 2-minutes after they opened. We were dismayed to see it was a long line.
At 0815, the first party was done with their waivers/paying. We realized that at this pace, we’d been in line for well over an hour. We gave up on bikes and caught the shuttle bus to Yosemite Village, then walked the approximately 1/2 mile to the Ahwanee Hotel. Along the way, we passed a bike rental shop in Yosemite Village with no line.
Continue readingTuesday (July 25) was another early morning. We left our campsite about 0720 and drove up to Glacier Point, which took almost an hour and a half. Near the top, we stopped at a viewpoint not far from the Point. Despite being hazy out, the view was spectacular. This was a great shot of the hike that Eric, Greg and Heath did yesterday – Vernal Falls is the lower waterfall, Nevada Falls was the higher one, and Half-Dome was on top.
After a quick photo, we piled in the car and drove the final short stretch of road to the peak. The Glacier Point parking lot led to a paved, gently sloping trail. This photo was taken near the beginning of the trail, looking east, and was the same set of waterfalls/Half-Dome as pictured above.
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