Resisting the urge to stay in our hotel room and watch tv all day we drove into the park this morning, stopping at every viewpoint on the way. Yosemite Valley, the main and central destination, is surprisingly small. The high granite cliffs all the way around give it an intimate feel and waterfalls plunge down at regular intervals.
We learned at the visitors' centre that a "bear walk" was happening at 2pm, and eagerly gathered up our stuff to join in. Following park rules we removed all food from our car (failure to do so can be unfortunate) and set off with Ranger Lauren with expectations high.
After two hours trek around the valley the most exciting animals we had seen were some deer, a squirrel, and the shihtzu-cross that someone on the walk had brought along. The talk had ranged from the bizarrely morbid (Ranger Lauren carried a bear skull and skin around with her the whole time) to the philosophical ("when we look at bears, I think we see something of ourselves...") That's as close as we got.
Yosemite on Friday night.
Yay, the sun's back up!
Hannah and Rachel by a raging torrent.
The first of many waterfalls.
Billy Goats Gruff.
Autumn leaves.
Ansel Adams had it easy.
A different waterfall. No, hang on, it might be the same one.
Wildlife captured in its natural habitat.
The scariest thing on the bear walk: Ranger Lauren.
Her companion bear skull.
They look cute, but they're the only animals ever to kill anyone in Yosemite. Probably not these actual ones...
We're going on a bear hunt!
The famous Half Dome rock.
Where's my dinner?
