Yosemite Valley

And so onto Yosemite itself. Picturesque drive in of course.

 Vies of Upper Yosemite Falls as we drove in.

Now the Yosemite Valley itself is comparatively small and crowded. There are lots of tourists there, but its very well organised. Shuttle buses take people to various trailheads from the main car parks.
We chose a relatively peaceful walk to Mirror Lake.

You can see why Mirror Lake is called Mirror Lake can't you?

Eventually we reached the bridge to cross over to the other side of the river and make our way back to trailhead. Amazing that this gushing toorent becomes that mirror Lake over such a short period.

  

Above is the Half Dome. Not an easy climb, and certainly not for a half day climb.

On the path back we came across this little man-made oddity (well to be honest I would have missed it but Thibault is rather more observant than I am.

After that we wanted one more short trail in search of a waterfall before commencing the long drive to San Francisco. Luckily the walk to the Yosemite Falls is really easy. And they are spectacular.

 And as you can see below, they are not exactly unvisited.

And so w said a sad farewell to Yosemite and headed on to San Francisco Airport to return our Buick. Just a little bit of scenery on the way.