The wonders of Yosemite

We wanted to make an early start today to get into Yosemite Valley ahead of (some of) the crowds, so we went to breakfast in the River Grill for the advertised opening time of 7.00. There was a large group arriving ahead of us and we were told that they were only serving a buffet that morning, costing $22 pp. As we don’t eat big breakfasts that seemed a lot to pay, so instead we bought a picnic breakfast in the hotel shop (cans of iced coffee and cereal bars) to take with us to the Valley.

In Yosemite Valley

We checked out and drove the short distance back to the park entrance. With our mandatory reservation (for the weekend visit) and America the Beautiful pass we were soon through and ready to explore.

We stopped at one of the first pull-outs soon after we entered the park, to take in the scene. The sun light was just touching the top edge of El Capitan. We'd only intended to stop briefly for these few photos, but we noticed a path across the road leading to Bridalveil Falls, which to our surprise still had some water flowing this late in the year. So we walked a little way along to take some photos before returning to the car and driving on in search of a nice breakfast spot.

We found it at Cathedral Beach, with a table right by the Merced River. It was still rather chilly this early in the day, as although the sun was now illuminating a little more of the far side, on this side we were still in shadow. But it was a beautiful spot and we had it all to ourselves!

Our next stop was at the Swinging Bridge pull-out. By now the park was getting a little busier but it still wasn’t difficult to find places to stop. We walked down to and across the definitely not swinging bridge, to find some beautiful reflections in the Merced River from the beach area on the far side. Of course in the spring that beach would be covered with water, but at least there was still enough flowing in the river to enhance the scene.

We managed to find parking in busy Curry Village and from there had a walk around the Lower Pines area, including a boardwalk across a lovely meadow, Stoneman Meadow.

We had views towards the now-dry Staircase Falls below Glacier Point.

We didn't bother with the famous Mirror Lake trail which starts near here as we knew the lake (really just a pool) would be dry. So instead we started to drive back along the north side of the valley. By now the park was much busier so it was harder to watch the traffic, look for signs and be prepared to stop when anything looked worth doing so! But we managed to find parking near Yosemite Valley Lodge and from there walked back along the road and up the path to the Lower Yosemite Falls. Unlike Bridalveil Falls however, these were dry, although a damp streak on the rock showed where they would normally flow. But despite the lack of water in the falls this was still a lovely walk, with a sighting of a blue jay pecking insects from a tree trunk, and a squirrel.

We walked back to the car through another lovely meadow, with views of the iconic Half Dome.

Our last stop in the Valley was at the very end, Valley View, where a short scramble down to the river's edge put us in the perfect position for shots looking back down the Valley, with El Capitan prominent on the left side.

Glacier Point

But although we had left the Valley, we weren’t done with Yosemite yet. We drove the winding rode up to Glacier Point, another spot we had great memories of from our 1981 visit. It seemed to have become much more developed, or maybe our memories had somehow erased that development, recalling only the spectacular views! The latter certainly made the drive worthwhile and explained why so many other people wanted to come here!

South to Fish Camp

Back on the main road to the south of the park and beyond we pondered whether to visit Mariposa Grove. We decided against it as it had already been a long day, with that early start, and we would see many more sequoias over the next few days. But we did stop briefly in the parking lot and browsed the shop, to give Chris a break from the driving.

Our hotel for the night was just a few more miles down the road, Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp. It struck us as rather swish compared to many of the other places we’d stayed, yet surprisingly was $70 less than last night’s much less appealing accommodation.

The lobby of Tenaya Lodge

We settled into our rather nice room (a complementary upgrade), explored the hotel a little and relaxed until dinner. For the latter we went to the hotel’s restaurant, Jackalopes, where we were told there was a 30 minute wait for a table (they don’t take reservations). So we went to the bar for a drink where it took ages to be served. Soon after we got our drinks the pager told us our table was ready. It proved to be not in the restaurant but in the bar, very near to where we’d been sat with our drinks. We weren’t sure why we couldn’t just have been served food there immediately!

It wasn’t very warm in the bar due to fierce air conditioning, although oddly they did have a fire burning! But the food was good (I had a burger with blue cheese) and the service friendly.