Argh this is a holiday but I still seem to be getting up at ridiculous hours and today was no exception. I wanted to catch the same bus to Yosemite as I did yesterday. So the bag was pretty much packed from the night before. It was just a matter of having a shower, getting dressed, checking out. Caught the bus with no troubles and enjoyed the journey into the national park. Now the weather wasn't as good as it was on the previous two days. There appeared to be some high level cloud and the sun couldn't quite break through. But that is OK, the previous two days have been fantastic weather wise and I shouldn't really complain.
After grabbing some food I then headed out away from Yosemite Lodge towards the Visitors Centre. Along the way I took some photos of deers grazing and of the Yosemite Falls. Amazingly the amount of water flowing over the falls had appeared to have dropped even in the couple of days that I was there. Got down to the area around the Visitor Centre and dropped into one of the stores that are based in the valley. Bought some postcards to send back to people back at work. Spent the time to fill them out and went back to the post office to send them on their way.
Then started the 3km walk towards Mirror Lake which has some great views of Half Dome. I was a little bit concerned that at the start of the walk there was a warning about mountain lions. They suggested that you shouldn't walk on the paths alone or in the morning. I was doing both. Now if we revisit the Principles of Darwinianism I didn't have a buffer person to take the fall. It was :
- Mountain Lion - Me
But that is OK, I was feeling bold and they have some suggestions on how to defeat a mountain lion attack. But along the way the odds improved :
- Mountain Lion - School Kids - Me
Got down to Mirror Lake and started taking pictures then started walking back to Curry Village where I grabbed a bit to eat. I decided to then take one of the shuttle buses further up the valley and then started walking back. I passed numerous bear traps parked on the side of the road, ready to be moved into position to relocate problem bears. The interesting thing about Yosemite NP is that there are around 2000 employees either working as rangers or employees servicing the hotels, camp grounds, cafes, post office, medical centre, fire station etc. It is one big business.
For the rest of the day I walked trails and took photos and video where ever I could. Certainly enjoyed my time here and rejoined the bus back to SF at 3.45pm. We were then on our way by 4pm and got back to SF by about 9pm. I then caught a cab out to my hotel which was based right near the airport. I thought it was going to be easier for the next part of the journey, in this case Seattle. No early flight, so will have a bit of a sleep in.
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