Leisurely start to the day, another beautiful cloudless day and having breakfasted we took to the road, this time to Glacier Point.
We are finding the air so dry, added to the fact that the 'bedroom' is a platform at the highest point of the room which feels airless, it's quite difficult to sleep, hence the late starts.
Anyway, to Glacier Point. A 16 mile drive to the Point which is at some 7,200 feet above sea level, overlooking the Yosemite Valley, 3,200 feet (980m) below. The view is spectacular, looking east towards the Half Dome (8,840 ft, 2,695m), and the upper Yosemite Valley and to the right the Little Yosemite Valley with its waterfalls. There were very many people at the lookout points, see we took our photos and left. Sadly, I discovered my camera wasn't working too well, must have been dropped at some stage (shades of Thailand....), but I did manage to get some shots of the views by overriding the controls.
All around the Point, and indeed throughout the Park were signs warning of bears and mountain lions, plus signs telling people not to feed any animals or birds. All trash cans were bear-proof and at car parks and campsites were bear-proof bins to store food if the car was to be left for any time as it is prohibited to leave food in cars. Bears have been known to break into cars if they smell food; graphic photographs of badly damaged cars accompanied the warnings.
We took a slow drive back along the road to find the trail to McGurk Meadows so we could eat our picnic lunch. A very pleasant walk down through the forest to the meadows, very quiet, we only passed two small groups of people. It was another very hot day so we were glad of the shade of the forest. Didn't see any bears.
Absolutely exhausted by our efforts, and lack of sleep, we returned to the condo for a rest. Later, we ventured out to watch the sunset from the Glacier Point road; absolutely beautiful. Saw an eagle soaring on the last of the thermals as the light faded. Back to the condo for bison burger and a glass of red.
Day 4. Ruth up early-ish for laundry duties, finished our pack of muffins which were by now a little soggy, and we hit the road.
Our last full day in the Park we drove back into the main valley and parked up near the trailhead for Mirror Lake. Today is the hottest yet, it was already 80 F at 10.30 on the morning. Large warning sign at the trailhead - YOU ARE IN MOUNTAIN LION COUNTRY. The sign offered advice in the unlikely event a lion approached - stand together to look big, make lots of noise and to fight back if actually attacked, not to run, not to let children get separated from their parents, and so on. So, despite keeping a good look out we failed to spot any mountain lion or bear.
The trail wound up the valley along the river, such as there was of it, through the pine forest, again that lovely pine scent wafting around on the breeze. A lovely walk, sometimes scrambling past massive boulders, other times fairly open, and we came upon Mirror Lake. Well, as we suspected the lake was completely dry, just a sandy, dusty lake bed. We found out the lake had been formed by a rockfall some time ago and it was the practice of the Park people to dredge the lake in the summer to try and maintain the water level, a practice abandoned 30 years ago to allow nature to take its course. The setting was wonderful, we were just below the soaring cliffs of the Half Dome with tall pine trees all around. One or two squirrels but no bears.
Lunch was beckoning so we walked back to the Village for a bite to eat - well we would have walked back but just as we got the end of the trail, Ruth spotted the shuttle bus, so we enjoyed the air conditioning as far as the Village. After lunch we drove slowly (25mph limit!) round the one way system on the valley floor, taking a few more photographs to replace duff ones before heading back to the condo.
By this time the temperature on the Valley floor was 91F and becoming quite stifling. Climbing out of the Valley we stopped once again at Tunnel View which has amazing views of the Valley and shock horror - there were clouds above Half Dome! Back at the condo the temperature was now a more modest 78F - we were now at around 6,000 feet, 2,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.
A quick visit to see the sunset, still warm at 70F, same place as yesterday, just as beautiful but this time no eagle. Back to the condo, dinner, bed.
