Day 6

November 4, 2021

We started the day with breakfast followed by great coffee at Sticks in the town of Mariposa.  Even Andy thought it was great coffee, which is really rare.

The word spectacular doesn't really do justice to all we saw today.  Even on the way into Yosemite, the views of the Yosemite Valley were breathtaking.  Here are two pictures showing the foothills approaching the Yosemite Valley:

 

 

The Merced River on the way in and throughout the park was picturesque at each view.  Here are some pictures of the Merced River taken as we approached the park:

 

In this picture you can see the road on the opposite side of the river was overcome with rocks, so they had to close that portion and move the road across the river temporarily:

 

Here's the Merced River just past the park entrance:

 

 

When we entered the Yosemite National Park, the entrance fee was $40 per vehicle, or $80 for a year long pass to all the parks.  But the senior fee if you're 62 or over was $20 for a year long pass to all the National Parks, or $80 for a lifetime pass to all the National Parks.  I'm 63, so for the first time ever I used a senior discount and bought a lifetime pass to all the National Parks.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Hmmm.  Here I am just after we entered the park with my new lifetime pass:

 

And a great perspective of some monster rocks that fell into the Merced River:

 

Risky rocks won't stop Andy from getting the shot:

 

We drove up to the trail to the  Tuolumne Grove of Sequoias.  There was a pile of snow in front of the car where we parked, and a large bird asking for food:

 

We hiked down the trail to the grove:

 

Some people will do anything for a picture:

 

Here's the picture he took:

 

These giant sequoias are really massive.  They don't grow as tall as the giant redwoods, but they grow bigger around.  Really impressive in person:

 

 

 

Their roots are relatively shallow, but they spread way out:

 

We've seen pictures of horse-drawn wagons and old cars driving right through the trees:

 

Hollow spaces at the base of the trees were used for all kinds of things:

 

After hiking around the Tuolumne Grove, we drove up the Yosemite Valley towards El Capitan.  Here are some shots of the Yosemite Valley taken from high elevation:

 

 

 

While on the way to El Capitan, we got a great view of one of the Yosemite waterfalls, the Bridalveil Fall.  It looks aptly named:

 

Next we arrived at El Capitan, a nearly sheer rock face that's popular with climbers (demented ones, that is).  Can you imagine climbing up this?

 

I have a camera with a 40x optical zoom, so we set the camera on something solid and zoomed way in on some people climbing El Capitan.  They're actually planning on spending the night on the side of El Capitan.  You'll see some of the gear they hauled up for that purpose.  For me, the whole risk / reward equation would never compute.  But obviously there are people who disagree:

 

 

In this next picture, we zoomed back out but kept the same camera angle so you can see exactly where these crazy people are climbing:

 

After a shudder and a hard swallow, we moved on to the Wawona Tunnel View.  It's a great view up the Yosemite Valley, but the light was failing and so our pictures really don't do it justice.  Imagine more colors, better depth of field, and a lighter foreground:

 

After the tunnel, we drove out to the entrance to Mariposa Grove to try to see that before dark.  Along the way, we saw the results of recent fires.  The fires aren't always bad.  The forester we spoke to told us that the sequoia seeds would not germinate unless they burned.  We did see several baby (1 foot tall) sequoia trees around a blackened sequoia.  Here's what the burned areas look like now:

 

 

When we got to the trailhead that lead to the Mariposa Grove, it was almost dark.  The trail to the grove is 1.9 miles.  We decided to try it.  I made it about a mile down the trail, then with increasing fatigue and decreasing daylight, I wimped out and returned to the car.  Andy did make it to the grove and managed to take these two pictures in failing light:

 

 

After leaving the park, we drove down to Fresno, had supper, and then drove down to Tulare to spend the night.  On the morrow we plan to drive through Death Valley to Las Vegas and then possibly see some cave dwellings in Arizona or New Mexico.  We'll see how far we get.

Thanks for reading!