Yosemite Falls

After a strenuous hike yesterday, I figured the girls might need a little break (you could also read that as mama wanted to take it easy and read her book for a while).  I suggested to James that he find a hike the girls couldn’t do and go for it.  Boy did he ever.  He hiked the Yosemite Falls.  This was a 7.2 mile hike with a 2,700 foot gain.  The pictures were stunning.  Meanwhile the girls and I watched movies (them), read a book (me), played iPads (them) and napped (me).  I think everyone was happy!

Side note: I think James feels left out from the blogging so he will be contributing more.  So we've got a new system - he will be typing in blue and I will stick with black.  You know I love me a system, and I'll take all the blogging help I can get!

 The trailhead of Yosemite Falls is a thickly wooded forest.

Half Dome from a distance, about 1/3 the way up the mountain.

Yosemite Falls from the trail, and the overlook is up and to the left of the fall.  This pictures shows the upper fall.  

 The trail takes you right alongside an adjacent rock face.

 Next to the upper fall, before you start hiking past the Falls and come back up from behind.  

 The best part of the hike, the last .5 mile in the high forest.  The air was cool and it was so quiet.  

The top of the mountain, approaching the Falls from behind.

A lone pine tree growing out of pure rock.    

 Starting the descent to the overlook.  

 The Yosemite River leading up to the Falls.  

 The Falls from above.  The cliff goes out a little past the face of the mountain, so it’s hard to see straight down.  

 Butterflies this close to the edge.   

 The best shots came from reaching the camera out over the edge.  

 The last leg of the descent to the overlook, before heading back up.  This part quickened the pulse a little.  

 A final shot of the Yosemite Valley floor before heading back down. 

 Lunching with a friendly Raven.  This picture doesn’t convey it, but they're really big, and beautiful to watch soaring from the treetops thousands of feet above the valley floor.

 The last stretch of the Yosemite River before the Falls.

When James got back, we drove down to the Valley Visitor Center so the girls could officially receive their Junior Ranger patches!  Park Ranger Dusty Baker was a hoot.  He told the girls they had met his evil twin - Rusty Baker - yesterday.

After that we stopped at Bridalveil Falls.  This was a short little walk to the bottom of the falls.  The girls, who had just complained of being too tired to walk, now wanted to climb as far up in there as they could.

 Lily took a rest stop in the rocks.

So, of course SE did too.

We made it back to our hidden and secluded cabin for dinner.  We had three home cooked meals in a row!!!  We ended a great day with a game of Ticket To Ride.