Yosemite

Yosemite Falls from the Merced River near Curry Village

We left Mt Shasta the morning of the 3rd and drove down to Oakhurst, which is near the south entrance to Yosemite National Park. The weather was forecast to be cold and rainy during our time there so we brought along our waterproofs just in case. Turned out to be pretty after all - a little overcast in the early AM but burning off to sunny skies and ideal hiking temperatures by mid-morning.




This is the view from the main entrance, just after you pass thru a tunnel. That's El Capitan on the left and Rainbow Falls on the right

It was still a bit early in the season and there was still work going on to clean up some of the camping areas (and roads) for the upcoming summer season, but the up-side was that it wasn't too crowded yet. We usually got an early start and were on the trails by 8:30, so parking and generally getting around wasn't much of an issue.

View of Yosemite Falls from the Lodge trail leading up to it

The hikes were just gorgeous. The trails were New Zealand style - well manicured and easy on the legs - and the scenery was extraordinary. We've never been in an area that seems more the "Lost World" than the Yosemite Valley. With 2 or 3 of the world's 10 highest waterfalls gushing above thanks to the springtime snow melt, we half expected to see velociraptors running around the grass. Instead we saw deer - lots of them. At first we tried to be quiet to keep from spooking them as we passed, until we finally figured out that they were so used to people that they were only mildly skittish.

Some parts of the valley floor were a little muddy, but generally OK


We were on top of these guys before we saw them. They didn't even look up - just kept grazing


Lots of photo ops along the way. All we had to do was point & shoot



After 3 days here we're off to Death Vally enroute to Zion.