After staying the night in a small State forest campground ($21), we packed up and headed for Yosemite. Needing gas, we stopped in at a small station just before the park entrance. As usual they had heaps of different kinds of filtered coffee along with the flavoured creamers and sweetners. Americans love their coffee!
First stop in the park was Tamrank campground. The rangers had told us that all off the sites in the Valley had been booked for months but this one was up a side rode and was a ‘first come, first served’ operation. So we quickly registered ($12) and set up our two tents then left for Yosemite valley.
So best described in pictures, the sheer granite cliffs that wall in this valley are spectacular. Any water that falls cascades down steep ravines. We checked out the Bridal veil falls and the famed Yosemite falls (which had no water coming down due to a long, dry summer).
After checking out the visitor centre it was off for a short walk to the base of Half dome. We dodged a few showers before the weather set in so we canned out planned 30 mile drive to Glacier point for views across to Half dome. On the way back to camp we went to see som Giant sequoias at the Tuolume grove. Pretty impressive- reminded you of ol’ Tane Mahuta but taller. The biggest one was about 1500 years old.
So back to camp to move the tents that had a small stream flowing into them(!) and bean nachos for tea. On to Death Valley tomorrow.