Day 11 ... Yosemite Valley

We spent day 11 of our trip sight-seeing in the Yosemite Valley. There are two words that immediately come to mind if you asked me about Yosemite National Park. The first, is beautiful! This is truly an amazing place with incredible mountains, lakes, waterfalls, meadows, flowers, etc, etc, etc. I certainly haven't been all around the world, but of all the places I have been, Yosemite may be the most beautiful.

The other word that comes to mind regarding Yosemite, is CROWDED!!! Some of the crosswalks in Yosemite Valley look like midtown Manhattan at 5:00 pm on a Wednesday afternoon! There are tons of people and cars here. My guess is that sooner or later, they will probably ban cars from certain areas of the park during the busy Summer season.

The good news about Yosemite Valley is that it's very flat, with a network of biking and walking trails that get you through the valley to the various hiking trails, visitor centers, lodges, etc. When we got to the park in the morning, we parked our car, unloaded our bikes, and spent the day biking and hiking through the valley. If you ever come to Yosemite, make sure you either bring a bike, or rent one when you get here! It's DEFINITELY the way to go. They have free shuttle buses, but the lines to get on the buses were crazy in some places.

Vernal Falls

As we were traveling around, I noticed quite a few news trucks and camera crews filming. I was wondering what was going on, but didn't bother to try to find out. Later in the afternoon, we were hiking to the top of Vernal Falls, when I overheard what turned out to be a newspaper reporter interviewing someone about the "accident" from the previous day. I stopped to ask him what had happened and he told me that three people had been swept over Vernal Falls while swimming in the "pool" at the top of the falls. No doubt a very sad situation, however, the stupid things people do never cease to amaze me. The pool at the top of Vernal Falls is very inviting, however, given the seriousness of the warning signs that are posted, not to mention the obvious swiftness of the current, you would think people would be smart enough to stay out.

Anyway, Josh earned another Junior Ranger badge, making six so far. He's loving this aspect of the trip!

Tomorrow, we'll be exploring another part of the park. More on that in the next post.