Yosemite National Park

  TUESDAY September 21 - FRIDAY September 24                                                                                    

Awesome, spectacular, amazing....it doesn't even begin to describe Yosemite. The photos don't show the scale, but the rock formations are between 4000-5000ft above the valley floor. That's about 1500m (1.5km) high!!!

Mike:
Well I have imagined Yosemite since I was a child as being this jaw dropping picturesque setting as shown in National Geographic magazine.  It is that and more.

Despite the buses of tourists flooding into here (in off season), and the paved (bitumen to us Australian) roads throughout the park, there is an amazing resilience of this valley to lose it's extraordinary natural dominance over us ants as it peers down upon us.

One thing that struck us, and Ranger Eric reiterated, was that the park has been not just preserved as much as possible, but also made as accessible as much as possible to all.  A difficult balance as the more people that come, the more impact it has.  Prices of food, drink and visiting the park are very low (no price gouging that we noticed), and this helps keep the park affordable for most families.

The girls really loved the squirrels and, while absorbing some of the monumental scale of the adjacent rock faces, were more interested in slipping handfuls of acorns to their new best friends... (all against park rules, naturally).

At Tunnel View looking down the Yosemite Valley

Awesome views from Glacier Point

I (Michael) had to really hold back the panic attacks of height throughout the time we spent at the lookouts.  As we all know, gravity works not just vertically, but also horizontally, so if you are close enough to an edge, gravity will pull you over the side...Ok, that is not scientifically correct, however, that's what my brain is screaming whenever I, or someone I love, stands near a precipice. (Yes, I will be very well medicated for our visit to the Grand Canyon).

Natasha in front of El Capitan

If you use a telephoto lens, and zoom to max, and squint, and imagine real hard... you can see the hard core climbers on the face of El Capitan.  We sat down at the base, looked up, and wished them well.

It takes experienced climbers anywhere between 7 days and 3 or 4 weeks to climb El Capitan. They sleep in bat slings hanging off the side of the mountain, not sure how they carry food or water for that long. I (Leah) enjoy the great outdoors and love a challenge as much as anyone, but this is getting pretty close to lunacy!

Natasha and Abbey with Ranger Erik


Being a Yosemite park Ranger is not all fun and games and bear trapping/tagging...  it also involves teaching the next generation of kids about the park, and, in a country that seems to have lost it's natural way... the iportance of keeping nature as pristine as possible.  Ranger Eric, with his piano accordion opening tour, did an admiral job.

Taking the Junior Ranger Oath

A big part of the park is encouraging youngsters to embrace nature and the responsibility we have to not try and tame it, but rather appreciate it.  Junior Rangers gives a nice shiny badge and ceremony to that mindset, which kids love.
The park changes so much in 4 seasons that visiting now just makes you want to visit again in Winter, and then in  Spring/Summer when the water falls are at their finest.   Who knows, perhaps Natasha and Abbey will bring us back here when we are too old to drive and they are not.