After seeing Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, we were anxious to get down into the valley. Expecting crowds, we tried to get out early but still only managed to get to Yosemite village around 11am. Coming in on CA-41, our first view of the valley was as we came out of the tunnel. There is a overlook which we stopped at and gawked at the Gorgeous views of the morning sun on the valley below us. El Capitain was glowing in the morning sun to the left, Bridal Falls was sparkling in the sun on our right and in the distance down the center was Half Dome.
After the tunnel overlook, we made our way to the parking lot at the valley village. Being rather centrally located, it was a good place to park the Behemoth and walk to the rest of the sites. Our first stop was the Valley Visitor Center. We explored the exhibits on the geology of Yosemite, saw the two Yosemite movies, bought David’s NP hat and another NP cup. Then we made our way over to the Ahwahnee Hotel, the oldest hotel in the park, and had lunch in the bar. The food was good, if a bit over priced. From there we headed out on our hike. We decided to hike to mirror lake from the hotel. Its not an official loop, but we went up to Mirror Lake and then back to the Behemoth (6.1 miles, 299 feet of elevation gain, 1,271 calories burned). It’s a nice trail through the trees with occasional glimpses of the huge granite walls. When we got to the lake, it was dried up, but there was a wonderful view of the face wall of Half Dome. We headed back by walking in the dried lake bottom before climbing back onto the trail. We got back to the Behemoth about 5pm and headed back to the Wanderer. We stopped at the Bridal Veil Falls overlook trail and climbed up to the overlook. Seeing the beautiful flowing falls in this time of year was a treasure since many of the falls are dry this time of year. Then we drove back up to the Tunnel View overlook and took in the valley once again, only this time it was bathed in the light from the setting sun. We arrived back at the Wanderer around 6:30Pm, which was probably right at Etta’s bladder limit. Critter Sighting; We saw a group of Deer laying down near the visitor center.
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| Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View Overlook in the Morning sun |
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| Meadow view in the morning sun |
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| Southern Valley in the Morning Sun |
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| Looking up the valley along the Merced River |
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| Deer laying in the grass |
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| Northern Valley from the lake bed of Mirror Lake |
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| Bridal Veil Falls |
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| The valley in the setting sun from Tunnel View Overlook |
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