Yosemite National Park

Thursday 31 May

Wi-fi here is very patchy & I'm just squeezing blogs & emails out through holes in the ether.

We are sitting by the pool. Eat your hearts out. My Friend is VERY happy. Chris Isaak, Fleetwood Mac in the background. The Americans like their music - & it all seems to be "our" era... Or blue grass.

Went for a walk to Wapama Falls about 8ish. Not allowed to enter NP until 7 a.m., speed limit 25 mph, so slow start. Once there at Hetchy Hetchy Reservoir & O'Shaughnessy Dam (he sure was a hell of an engineer!) built in 1932, we walked 8.7 kms (return) to the Falls. Just the loveliest walk. Lots of chipmunks/squirrels. Fantastic butterflies. Lovely flowers: orchids, daisies, lupins.

Saw two snakes (the Parks Ranger thinks they might be King Snakes as they are coming out at the moment). One snake slid between the feet of a walker we stopped to chat to - scared the whatevers out of me!

So it is 30 deg C here. We have well & truly left the snow behind, our gloves & beanies & are now in t-shirts & shorts. We will sit out the middle of the day as too hot. Then set off again about 3 p.m. to go to Yosemite Village in the Park proper to get hopefully some good shots.



Later that day - about 4 p.m.



Nice views to Half Dome. Walked to Bridalveil Falls one of the most prominent in the Park. Then through Yosemite Village to Yosemite Falls. Deer grazed in the meadow nearby. We are told the falls will all be dry in a month's time (they are all fed by snow & the Park had 50% less snow this winter).

Finally, nice views of El Capitan as the sun set ("El Cap" is a granite vertical rock formation regarded as the standard for big wall climbing). 

My Friend was happy to see some climbers high up on the cliff face; they will spend the night there suspended in space. I'm glad it's not me! It is now 7.30 p.m. as we leave to return to Hetchy Hetchy.




Total walk distance today 14 kms.