Travel Thursday – Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is a feast for the eyes, a hiking paradise, a rock climbing haven. Even a wildlife adventure. What with brush with Bear by the bulk load every year. There are Bear proof containers in all the popular spots around the national park. Bear sightings are almost an everyday norm. D had a face to face with one while he was ferrying food from the car to the bear proof container (a distance of no more that 20 steps) in his campsite. He turned around with the next load and there was this Bear looking inside the container. I was glad to have missed the Bear adventure but was all excited to have spotted Coyotes.

 

Yosemite is all about these tall straight standing monolith rock faces with Half Dome being the most photographed and popular rock there is. But my heart belongs to El Capitan. There is something about this rock face that speaks to me and has me totally enthralled. We spend a lot of our time sitting in the grassland below trying to spot climbers making their way up the various routes on El Capitan.

El Capitan

 

El Capitan has features like the Nose (which is the most popular rock climbing route up the mountain) and the heart. The heart is my favorite (as if it would not be) and I can never get over my fascination of how nature worked to cut the perfect shape of this tall giant monolith.    

A closer look

 

The Half Dome is named so because at some point half of the dome eroded away leaving the other half standing. The Dome part of the Half Dome has cables set up that you can hang on to as you hike up the steep dome and I am told there is an endless line of people trying to do the hike. The smooth straight part of the dome is another very popular rock climbing area.  

Half Dome

 

Glacier Point is a wonderful place to visit if you want to get a bird’s-eye view of the two famous rock faces and the valley below. But it is especially amazing late in the evening as a place to see the sun go down on the valley and the shadows that are cast.  

Half Dome in setting sun

 

We stayed on at Glacier Point even beyond sunset. The place soon became deserted, so we spend a very pleasant time cooking our food in the cool breeze and having a picnic under the stars. And enjoying the light show. What light show you ask? Climbers still hang from El Cap and Half Dome (because these are multi day climbs for most people). They set up hanging camps for the night and then beam to each other ever so often and other hanging climbers beam back letting their presence known. Sometimes a cheer goes out which makes me think there is a secret message being transmitted with torch lights and that makes me smile. In all a perfect day which ended on a peaceful, happy note.