Chapter 4 – Yosemite National Park

El Capitan

 It is difficult to do Yosemite justice with language and pictures. This place has a feeling of consciousness and a quality of stillness. 

We spent our two days in the park exploring the meadows, mountains and waterfalls. The landscape changes quickly from chilly snowscapes to warm valleys of wildflowers with an ever present smell of dry pine.

Yosemite was designated a national park in Abraham Lincoln’s time but it was John Muir, a great naturist and preservationist who personally convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to take control of the park away from the state of California and deliver it into federal hands. Muir explored Yosemite from the late 19^th century onwards and was the first to observe that Yosemite had been sculpted by alpine glaciers carving their path through granite, thereby creating the magnificent and sheer cliffs that are a hallmark of the area.

We spent only 2 nights in Yosemite at Curry Village, a quaint camp with tents and cabins that opened in 1899 and is still going strong.

Yosemite Valley - El Capitan to the left, Half Dome
 in the distance and  Bridal Veil Falls to the right.

This was the perfect time of year for waterfalls as the snow is melting and they are everywhere. There were deer and squirrels everywhere and while there are bears these were mostly hibernating.

There are strict rules on food here as bears have been known to break into cars after smelling toothpaste. Bears are so intelligent that every few years the bear locks on the food containers have to be changed as they figure them out. Currently they are working with locks that require opposable thumbs.

Lower Yosemite Falls

After full days of wandering in this natural wonder we reluctantly left the natural redwood skyscrapers and headed south to the glitzy and hedonistic Vegas (via Wofford Heights, Kernville & amazing burgers + beer).

Vernal Falls