We knew that Yosemite was going to be busy and we still had a 2 hour drive to get to our first view area, Glacier Point, so we left the house very early. The drive is very scenic although it becomes more twisting and windy the closer you get to the Park. We passed through areas where the runaway fires of last year were very evident and it will take some time to rehabilitate. There were not that many people around at this early hour, so it was relatively uncrowded. As we left the car, someone spotted two bears nearby so that was quite exciting - we had not expected to see any. Glacier Point has sweeping views of the Yosemite valley 1000m below as well as the Vernal and Nevada Falls. The massive Half Dome dominates the scene and I was also surprised to see that there was still quite a lot of water still coming over the falls for late Summer. It must be twice as much in the early Spring. We spent some time appreciating the beautiful views and I took a few photographs. Its almost impossible to capture though and the light was not that good. Oh yes, we visited the restrooms at the trailhead which were, to put it mildly, rather disgusting. We continued on down to the valley floor and noticed that the traffic was increasing. Soon, El Capitan reared into sight, and it really is huge. We found the layout of the roads in the valley quite confusing, not very well signposted and there was hardly any parking to be had. We eventually left the car in the area around the Yosemite general grocery store and proceeded to walk around. Another restroom visit was required, and our experience was the same as earlier on. I can only think that the facilities just cannot cope with the sheer volume of visitors. It was another extremely hot day, which became warmer as the hours went by and it was a relief to be under the welcoming shade of the trees. We saw Lower Yosemite Falls which was very impressive, throngs of tourists here too. We then decided we would walk back to El Capitan as we wanted to get as close to the bottom as we could. We walked for some time, eventually getting to the camp site. At this point we decided to have our lunch and found a spot near the Mecer River. This river is an amazing clear emerald green colour and it runs through the entire valley. There were many people parking off in deckchairs and swimming. This felt like a good idea given the heat! We continued back to the campsite and discovered that we still had quite a distance to walk to El Cap. ( On visiting their restrooms there we again discovered that we have nothing to complain about in our local Parks Board ablutions! ) After talking to a ranger, we found that we could take a free shuttle there, and one that ran every half an hour! So we did eventually get to El Cap although not as close as we had thought. This would have involved far too much exertion on a hot day so we contented ourselves with a view from the meadow in front. This is where some of the cameras were set up for Alex Honnolds amazing free solo climb last year. El Capitan is so massive that it defies description and unfortunately the photos will never do it justice. The afternoon was getting on so we got back to our car and started on our journey home, visiting Bridalveil Falls on the way out. A stop at the local one stop shop and then another barbecue on the verandah tonight. The sound of the tumbling stream below my room ended a wonderful day.
