The buggy stopped for a photo shoot on Tioga Pass
Pretty great scenery!
There are lots of marvelous tunnels bored into the
mountains on the road in to Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley -- towering rock cliffs and tourists.
One small stretch of the path was spectacular
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Falls
On the road down to the Valley from Tuolomne Meadows
Crystal clear streams in the Tuolomne
Meadows area
Dog Lake in the Tuolomne Meadows area
Peace
Fly fishing
Giant Sequoia
It's possible to drive through these trees
Towering cliffs form a backdrop to every scene
Bridal Veil Falls.
A bear was munching not far from the bridge near
Crane Flat
She wasn't concerned about the crowd of
onlookers
Yosemite National Park, CA
June 19-24, 2007 - We drove from Mammoth Lakes, California to
Yosemite National Park, entering the park from the east side. The
Toyota Tundra struggled up and over Tioga Pass pulling our 7,300 lb.
trailer. We maxed our speed at 28 mph and barely got going again
after stopping to take these pictures.
We camped for a while at Tuolomne Meadows Campground at the
east end of the park. This area is filled with crystal clear streams
and ponds and has wonderful shear rock mountains.
We stayed up in the Tuolomne area for a few days and then took
the rig down to the campground at Crane Flat which sits at a
lower elevation just 12 miles from Yosemite Valley. This made it
easier for us to get in and out of the valley to see the sites. There
was only one campsite in the campground that would fit our rig,
and we barely got around the loop without scraping the trailer on
a tree. However, once we got situated it was a beautiful spot.
Yosemite Valley has a
small system of bike
paths and we happily
rode our bikes on those
paths past the major
sights.
There are several
beautiful waterfalls.
Yosemite Falls is very
high and narrow.
Bridal Veil Falls is
misty and the veil
shifts with the wind
like a bride's chiffon
veil.
We took a hike to see the
giant sequoias. There
aren't too many, but the
few that we saw are
massive. Years ago, to
attract tourists, a tunnel
was carved through a
massive dead trunk, big
enough to drive a car
through. Word spread far
and wide about this tree
you could drive your car
through, and toursts came
to Yosemite to see it.
Late one afternoon as we returned
to our campsite at Crane Flat we
saw a crowd on a bridge looking into
a meadow. They were watching a
bear munching on greenery. We
joined the throng to get some
pictures and watch this happy bear.
We were told it was a mother bear
and the cub was just out of sight.
She had no concerns about being
the center of attention for a very
large audience.
After enjoying all the beauty in
Yosemite for a few days we
continued our journeys west to the
northern California coast.