Today I got up early and had a shower and hopped on a bus into Yosemite Valley. Weather conditions were somewhat predictable, ie blazing sunshine and no clouds and no wind at all until you were past four or five thousand feet. I walked up to the top of Yosemite Falls (see previous photos for how it looks from the bottom), and then onwards another mile to Yosemite Point, for a panoramic view which took in most of the notable peaks and benefited from totally clear visibility in all directions. At times during the climb and descent I felt quite dizzy - there are sheer rock faces stretching up vertically thousands of feet above you, and while the paths are pretty safe, you definitely need to stick closely to them. The total distance I covered was about 10 miles horizontally, plus about 3,000 feet straight up and obviously the same amount back down. The valley floor is about 4,000 feet above sea level to start with so today's peaks were 7,000 feet or so. Anyway, I've updated new photos for your viewing pleasure.
Last night and tonight my tea was that famous Italian dish, spaghetti con spam. For breakfast I've been having ham and potato salad sandwiches. I know, it's weird, but the shops in Yosemite Valley are limited to say the least. You'd think they'd at least manage tinned foods, but no...Fortuately I've also discovered a hitherto unknown fondness for cheap instant noodles - which is good when travelling, you can get a tasty and reasonably nutritious lunch for $0.39. Better still, in the hostel bar they serve a decent wheat beer called Mothership Wit for $5.00 a pint; it's almost good enough to make me rescind my long-standing judgement on American beer (that it's piss). Presumably this stuff must be Canadian or something.
More tomorrow!
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| Looking straight down from Yosemite Point |
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| Half Dome, seen from Yosemite Point |
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| Top of Yosemite Falls, not for vertigo sufferers |
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| Yosemite Falls, seen from halfway up |
