Yosemite West - The Valley

(No AT&T service for phones or iPad here at KOA Yosemite West. I tried 6 times to post this last night on their crappy 1-hour-free WiFi. Trying again Saturday morning.)



I don't think I gushed enough yesterday about the view from Glacier Point. Absolutely the most awe-inspiring sight of the trip.

Today we toured the Yosemite Valley from the west. We saw the fantastic scenes that we saw yesterday from Glacier Point, but today we were at the bottom of the valley, looking up.

We followed the Merced River backwards, from 1,300 feet up to 3,900 feet of elevation. There were rapids in the river near the bottom, with rafters and kayakers. The river was more calm further up.

We passed through beautiful stands of Ponderosa Pine, California Black Oak, and Incense Cedar. The National Park Service (NPS) is reestablishing the meadows in the valley that the Miwok Indians created by burning the vegetation at the bottom of the valley each year.

After gold was discovered near here in 1849 (Go, 49'ers!), Galen Clark spent a lot of time hiking through the valley. In 1864, with his encouragement, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill that set aside the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and the Yosemite Valley, the first time a national government had done something like that.

On October 1, 1890, Yosemite National Park was established by an act of Congress.

Later, John Muir was influential in getting President Theodore Roosevelt to expand the boundaries:



El Capitan:


Meadow:



We met a young couple who were married in the chapel here last Saturday. My picture of the chapel didn't turn out because of the sun, but here's a postcard picture of it:


The little tree in the foreground is now as tall as the steeple!

Upper Yosemite Falls:


Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls:


Lower Yosemite Falls:


We watched this for about 15 minutes. Then Poppa said "O.K., come on, let's go. I have to pee!" I'll post video if Poppa ever figures out YouTube! (Just video of the falls, not ... Poppa.)

I don't care what the sign says, I know flowering dogwood when I see it! And it is in bloom everywhere this week above 3,000 feet.




We were almost out of the valley, headed back to the trailer, and I thought I was in the clear. But, NO! Poppa spotted a flower opportunity for me:




And got in one more waterfall:




Tomorrow we will just have a quiet day here at the campground before heading for the coast.







Posted from Nana's iPad