Out West - Day 48

Tuesday, October 21, Day 48 - Yosemite National Park. Another beautiful, sunny day in California. As promised, today our adventures take us into Yosemite. Kathy asked me today which National Park was my favorite, and I honestly can't pick just one. Every one of the parks we visited on our journey has its own natural beauty. If I have to pick just one, I guess it would have to be Yellowstone, because of the variety of spectacular scenery and wildlife. That said, each park offers its own spectacular scenery, and they are all different. Yosemite offers some very spectacular views of granite cliffs, waterfalls and valleys, along with its own Sequoia grove, called the Mariposa Groves. We only took one picture here, because we overloaded on sequoias on Sunday, at Sequoia National Forest. However, I will say that the sequoias here are just as spectacular.
Next, we drove deeper into Yosemite and headed for Glacier Point, where the views of the mountains and Yosemite Valley are breathtaking. We also tried to take some photos with a perspective of how high up we were at Glacier Point. The only drawback to making this trip at this time of year is that the waterfalls are almost non-existent. The only way we could see them was with binoculars, or with the video camera.

From Glacier Point, we continued our drive down into Yosemite Valley, which was some 6000 feet down. We got some beautiful views and shots of El Capitan, which stands like a sentry watching over the valley. El Capitan is a sheer slab of granite, rising almost straight up from the valley floor. The river, which winds its way through the valley, is crystal clear, and very deep in some spots. Another thing we noticed was that, although there were people visiting the park, the places of interest were never crowded, nor was there any traffic to contend with driving through the park.

Unfortunately, all good things must end, and we reluctantly left Yosemite. Leaving via the south entry takes us directly into the Sierra National Forest. See the sign, above? That is the back side of the "Yosemite National Park" sign, which heads up this blog entry. So, you go from one National park into another. Our campground in Oakhurst, CA, is 17 miles from the south entry to Yosemite. The drive south to Oakhurst is on a winding, two-lane highway through Sierra National Forest, with beautiful scenery all the way.

Tomorrow, alas, we begin our trek eastward. Our next point of interest will probably be Zion National Park, in Utah. However, we have to travel through the Mojave Desert to get there, so we will probably have pictures to share as we head toward Utah.

Be sure to check back each day, as you never know what you'll find.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay48YosemiteNationalPark?authkey=xV-z_LozTEU#