Yosemite in brief

The way into Yosemite is almost familiar, a landscape shown to us so many times in movies and episodes of the Simpsons. There are tall evergreen trees and log lodges, with bears carved by chainsaw from the trunks of trees. But before this familiar, and expected landscape, there where the fields of wheat grass, the rocky outcroppings of hills, the odd tree. A terrain I associate more with the great plains and places like Wyoming than California. Finally arriving at the park, We entered from the south, but were saddened to find that all the snow in the park had not been cleared, and we wouldn't be able to reach Glacier Point, and also would not be able to drive Tioga road, through the main portion of the park, allowing us quicker, more scenic access to Lake Tahoe in the evening. However, this was more than made up for by what lay ahead.

After passing a turnoff, that would have taken us to Glacier Point if it were open, we passed through a tunnel, and parked at the overlook on the other side. And there before me lay a valley. Half Dome, clearly visible to the back, bridal veil falls throwing off mist well above the treetops, and sadly, a thick haze of smog. To which our own car, I'm sure, contributed. Still, it's an awe inspiring view.

Continuing down into the valley, we finally came to the parking lot for bridal veil falls. Keep in mind, this was in May, and the flow was very strong with the runoff of melting snow. The parking lot was partially flooded, and as we set out on the trails to the fall, we were enshrouded in a misty rain, the famed veil itself. the paved path was wet, and as we progressed, flooded to ankle height with fairly fast moving, icy water. We realized at this point, that the view we had had of the falls from the overlook was really the only one possible, because at this point, we were sort of in the falls. Suddenly, all the people wearing raincoats in the parking lot on this clear and sunny day, made sense. No photos where to be had, as 10 feet away was a solid white, from the fine grains of rain, that were rapidly soaking us to the bone, so, back we headed to the car, ready to travel into the valley itself. Once on the valley floor, we parked the car, and headed off along a trail through the meadow that occupies much of the flat bottom of the valley. Here the sight of woodpeckers and stellar jays were common place.

We headed across the meadow, to the trail leading to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. Unfortunately, because I am insane, and determined to see a little of ALL the world has to offer, I hadn't given us time to hike the trail to the upper. The path to the lower falls is wheel chair accessible, and wide, to accommodate all the visitors received here. The falls themselves are huge, seeing as how they come rushing over the very top of this glacially carved, steep walled canyon. The people here spoke a myriad of languages. Truly, the world comes to see this place.

Finally, we had seen all that I had really wanted to see, that could be seen, that we had time to see. So we headed to the visitors center, to learn a little about the founding of the park, and about John Muir, who lived for a time on the banks of the stream, just down from the Yosemite Falls. We checked the book shelves for the Audubon guide book for California, once again coming up empty handed, though we had checked most parks since we had started our trip. We hoped on the buses that transfer the loads of tourists, of all nationalities, about the canyon floor, and just road it for a full circuit, then back to our car. We left the park through the northern Oak Flat Entrance, so we missed both the supposedly beautiful Tioga Road, and also the El Portal entrance to the park, which angles directly towards the coast. But we weren't headed back to the coast, not yet. That evening's destination was Lake Tahoe.