California, Day 4

On the fourth day of our trip we visited Yosemite National Park, about 3 ½ hours from San Fran. It was a lovely day to be traveling and the scenery just kept getting better! The hills, the valleys. The cows, the squirrels. 

The lakes, the streams....

 Below was our first good view of the dazzling rocks. Does that ground look easy to walk on? Welp, it wasn't. I'm thankful I didn't turn an ankle!

Elisabeth took this one.   : )

See the little seed flying away?

 The trees are sooo tall!!!

 Since California is in a three year drought, the creek was not full.

 And the poor waterfall was rather tiny compared to what it usually is. This was our first glimpse.

Finally, after about 800 steps, we got to the top!

There was a pool at the top (as well as the bottom). The water is SO clear! It was freezing cold. So cold it hurt.

 Going back down, the sun had passed one of the peeks and was finally shining on this portion of the trail. It was gorgeous!

  After that hike, we walked down so see the Giant Sequoias. All along the way we saw the scared and damaged trees from the last fire in September. BTW, By this point in the day, almost every part of me was protesting the extended walking. "Can't you please give your body a rest?!" But it was all worth it!

The path we walked on was actually a road way back in the day. I think it was built in the late 1800's.

 Aren't they HUGE?!

 So way back in the 1880's some people in CA wanted to attract tourists, so they carved an opening in this dead tree (yes, it was dead way back then and yes, it is still standing, dead as it may be) big enough for a buggy to fit through. It's still attracting tourists! Though now we have to walk through it instead of driving. :)

That's it! I'm sure I missed something though. Oh well! You won't know the difference!    : )