Day 9 - The Land of the Giants

How to describe Yosemite? I'll leave it to the Rough Guide:

'Put simply, Yosemite Valley, nestled in Yosemite National Park, and created by glaciers gouging through the canyon of the Merced River, is one of the world's most dramatic geological spectacles.'

That's about right. Alice and I went on the day tour to Glacier Point which was a good hour away in the coach. It was worth it for the view of the main spectacle that is the Half Dome. We had plenty of time here to take in the scenery and then it was back in the coach. The coach journey was narrated the whole time by the driver which was quite a feat considering the size and bends in the road they also had to content with. The history and geology of the area was described in great detail with lots of humour thrown in. Once we got back we relaxed for a couple of hours, had dinner and then it was off for the night tour.

It was neither as long or as detailed as the first tour and that was the whole point. The first tour in the day was a feast for the eyes whilst the night tour, which happily coincided with the Harvest Full Moon, was a chance to exercise the other senses. The noises and temperature drops felt in different parts of the valley were another way to understand how the animals and environment of the park interacted, this time at night. There were memorable moments involving sight too, particularly when the tour guide flashed her light up at different monuments at climbers hundreds of feet up who would flash their flashlights back at us. We also howled at them like wolves and all this did was rile up a bunch of campers nearby who started jumping up and down and manically howling. It was pretty funny. The moonlight due to it being a full moon also shone off the monuments in a powerful way. The tour guide said at one point 'the biggest mountain you will ever climb is the mountain inside yourself.' It was getting deep! After a hot chocolate for everyone we headed back and it was late enough to go straight to bed.

Song of the Day:
Creedance Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon RisingRead more