We did things a little different today. Instead of going for coffee in Curry Village we went to Wawona and then caught the bus there to go visit the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees- Sequoia trees!
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| The Grizzly Giant - one of the biggest specimens in the grove |
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| This tree is called the Faithful Couple. The two grew together at the trunks. |
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| You can get a perspective of the size of these trees with us standing in the trunk |
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| This was the one famouse for having a hole in its trunk which cars could pass through. It fell down a few years ago though. |
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| Wawona Point at the top of the grove. This was the day the big forest fire started. A motorhome engine caught on fire and the propane tanks blew up. You can see in the background the smoke. 5231 acres burned and Hwy 140 was closed for five days. Thankfully nobody was hurt. |
After a great time at the Marioposa Trees, we went to Yosemite Valley for dinner: hamburgers at Yosemite Village. Gabriel begged to go back because the first day we went they were just so good! I went for the salmon burger this time which was very good too!
Total Miles for the day: 6.2
Day 6: Friday Aug. 26
The top of Upper Yosemite Falls was our destination today. It was a hot clear day and we started our hike in the late morning. The first part is switchbacks up through the trees and then you cut across and come across the view of Upper Yosemite Falls.
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| On the trail with Sentinel in the background |
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| Upper Yosemite Falls |
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| I think this picture shows the most strenuous part of the hike well. Steep switchbacks in the direct sun. Wonderful views though, if you could take the time to take your eyes off all the stone steps. |
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| At the top!! |
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| The rivers weren´t flowing so strongly as early in the summer so we swam in the pools above the waterfall. Very cold water but oh so refreshing! |
And what do you know, the hike back down was in the shade!
Total Mileage for the day: 6.8
Then off to our apartment to wash up and get ready for our big date night: dinner at the Ahwahnee!
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| Looking good in the entrance to the Hall |
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| Because we had mentioned we were on our honeymoon they seated us in a more secluded area in the front part of the dining room. |
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| Best steak I´ve ever eaten in my life, hands down. Gabriel was wondering why he ordered the chicken after I let him try a bite of mine! |
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| We were pretty full but this red velvet cake was so delicious! |
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| It was so big and rich we had to leave some otherwise we would have made ourselves sick :) |
Day 7: Saturday Aug. 27
Thanks to a random couple we met at the top of Glacier Point/4 Mile Trail we took their suggestion of hiking Cloud´s Rest. Since we had already done the hike up from Happy Isles we decided to approach the summit from Tenaya Lake in Tuolumne Meadows, plus Gabriel would see that area then. We left early, 6am so that we could start hiking at a descent time.
It was a wonderful day to hike, we left the summer in the valley and enjoyed the cool temps and wild flowers of the spring up in the meadow!
It was a wonderful day to hike, we left the summer in the valley and enjoyed the cool temps and wild flowers of the spring up in the meadow!
Once you get to the summit, the views are endless, it´s higher than Half Dome. There is soooo much granite!
You can see where we came from: Tenaya Lake, 7 miles away
Total Milage: 14 miles
Dinner: Pizza and beer- getting back all those carbs we burned!
Day 8: Sunday, Aug. 28
Sunday morning we went to the 11am worship service in the Presbyterian church located in the Valley. A few other visitors were there among a handful of members. Afterwards we went to the river over by Yosemite Village and had a picnic. Then we went for a cold swim!
No can do. So we wandered around trying other boulders but then the mosquitos starting attacking us again so we decided to head back to base and get things ready to leave for Spain the next morning. On the way out though we saw Bridal Veil Falls and decided it was the only waterfall in the Valley that we hadn´t visited... so we scrambled up to the base
The rainbow was actually a full circle and I don´t know if you can tell, but I´m soaking wet from all the spray! Great way to end our time in the Valley!
Day 9: Monday, Aug. 29
Unfortunately we had lost our flight information (that goes back to the first day, when I was sick and it must of all fallen out of my pocket) and I didn´t have an email confirmation with the number so, as much as we had tried (with no phone coverage) we couldn´t confirm our departure flight from Fresno to LA. So, we left early, 5am, to arrive with time to catch either the 9am flight or the 12pm flight. Unfortunately it was the later one so we had a nice american breakfast and bought a movie at a gift shop and watched it on my labtop. .. that was a good time killer. Once we got into LA we had a direct flight to Madrid. We took the metro from the airport to the train station in Madrid where we caught a train to Valdepeñas.
A great trip!! Thanks again to all who made it possible! We had a blast and can´t wait to go back:)
