Yosemite - America does Parks and Steak Sandwiches like NO-ONE else!

Yosemite! I apologise for the continued use of superlatives but this valley is fantastic, it really is breathtaking and should not be missed! Mike and Chris did the gruelling walk to the top of Half Dome, the last 1500 is ascended by holding onto 2 steel wires, 3 feet apart, used by those coming down too. They assured me that,"It was worth it!"

This is the bear they encountered on the way, they heard it was up there and let some other walkers go first to see if they got savaged! They had to walk quite close to it but it ignored them and bumbled about its own business.

Ffi and I paddled 3 miles down the Merced River.

We visited the Mariposa Giant Redwood forest. On the way out it was very quiet and Mike shouted a whisper! "wow, there's a mountain lion!" we crapped ourselves and ducked down!! It turned out to be a deer - in the long grass!! Quite nice to see but it did not have the impact of a mountain lion!

Glacier Point has the best view of the valley, high elevation and looking down on the village spread out on the valley floor, really green and lush, then you get the view of the waterfalls and Half Dome - fantastic.

On the way back we were lucky enough to spot a bear cub ripping open a fallen tree trunk, closely guarded by its mother, who looked as if she was on duty.

We also waked the 3 miles to the top of Vernal Falls with the idea that we would swim in Emerald Pool but that idea faded away when we felt the temperature, it is fed by the run off from the snow melt, which you can still see on the tops of some of the mountains. Chris counted the steps on the way up - 670. My new leg was ok but the other one suffered!!!

Ffi managed to lean on the 8,700 foot high Half Dome


and Chris tickled its top!

Yosemite, fantastic, lovely, pretty, huge and gruelling and to top it off I had a steak sandwich to die for on the way back to our hotel!

Bridal Veil falls is the first fall you come to when you enter the valley, it is huge and we had to get right up to the bottom of it, a rocky scramble! Mike and I were like young gazelles!!

This is the deer masquerading as a lion! Can you see the similarity?!