We loved Yosemite. It was the perfect time of year to go. The snow levels were 200% of normal this year, so the waterfalls we in full force. We were amazed at the rush of the water in the rivers and over the waterfalls. Our first stop in the park had been to see the Sequoia trees. We were minutes away from missing them because the road had been closed due to snow overnight, but they opened it as I was talking to the ranger about it. Thankfully, we got to go because the trees were enormous.
The kids were not particularly good this day, and were forced to be silent on the hike. It made it rather peaceful. But, they, of course, found some rocks to climb on.
For me, the sequoias were neat, but I loved the way the entire area looked. It was actually snowing a little, but the sun came out as well. The sun was melting the snow on the tops of the trees, so the water was dripping down like rain. So, if you looked up, you would see snow, rain and sun. It was really beautiful and interesting. I tried to capture it on my camera, but I was unsuccessful.
Unfortunately, there were no hotel rooms or cabins available in the park, so we headed out to try to find a place for the night. Fortunately, we found something pretty close to the entrance. Not cheap, but we were able to stay much closer to the park and save some driving.The next morning, we stopped off along the river. The rapids were incredible! Of course, Dave and the kids wanted to get down close to it, so off we headed to climb on some rocks. The water is so powerful that it is pretty scary. But, my kids love climbing on rocks. I think we should just get a gigantic pile of rocks for our backyard, and they would be entertained for hours and hours.
We could hardly go a mile before there was something beautiful to get out and look at – waterfalls everywhere, El Capitan – a large rock formation that people climb up, more river rocks to climb on. It was truly amazing. And, at each stop, the kids and Dave wanted to get a closer look. Here, we are at Bridal Veil Falls. Here, the falls are beautiful. It was misting so badly that we were getting pretty wet as we got closer to the falls. Rachel and Alex got soaked. But, they thought that was fun - until their wet socks started making their feet very pruney.
The road is just not close enough. We stopped to see Yosemite Falls, the second longest falls in the world behind Angel Falls in Venezuela. We hiked to the view of the lower falls.
That was not a good enough view, though. There was a big group of rocks that had come fallen down years ago that, of course, we decided to climb. We climbed up and up, trying to get a good view of the falls. After half an hour or so of climbing, we look over and we are a couple hundred feet from the path. It was further up the path than we had started our rock climb, but we were no closer to the waterfall that we had already been. It was pretty funny! And, of course, the best view of the falls was at the bottom of the hike when you can see the whole thing.
We took a couple short hikes to a couple features at the park before heading back to the same hotel (yes, 2 nights at this place) for a late dinner of leftover pizza and then bed.
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