Wind farms – California has a lot of those big windmills – at Altamount pass the hills are covered with various styles, groups, lines of wind towers. Stopped at Tracy for breakfast at a 'country Kitchen (the usual dry eggs and this time some tomato slices and fruit instead of potato and bread.) We picked up some fruit and salads at the food-mart across the street and headed out through the cherry orchards and farmland toward Yosemite NP and the Sierra Nevada.
Picked up some petrol on the way in to the vally and then, just after Groveland – SNOW! It snowed last night and the road had been closed until about 10am for vehicles without snow chains – fortunately it is open now and we made our way through the breathtaking scenery, trying to find parking space to view the half dome half covered in snow and bridal veil falls gushing down from the top of the escarpment.
As usual there is a helpful bus service around the attractions, so we used it for most of the day, stopping to view Yosemite falls and the Captain, the chapel and Mirror Lakes before heading back to the car so that we could drive around and check out the other places by car. The campsites were full, maybe because of the start of the summer holidays and the memorial day weekend , but it was interesting to drive around the campgrounds and check out the bear-proof food safes and signs warning that wildcats will take small children… don't crouch down, yell and throw rocks, never let children run ahead or lag behind on a track.
Saw some birds – crows, blue jays, some little copper bellied jobs, some with an orange/red flash on their wings and a woodpecker – they really do peck the tree trunks! Plus lots of sparrows and starlings?
We checked out Bridal Veil Falls later in the day as when we tried to go there earlier the cranky ranger had just waved us past – no chance of a park then. Later in the day the sun was shining and the falls were crashing down, helped I suspect by the melting snow from the morning. Rainbows were everywhere and so was the spray from the falls, so we were both very cold and wet and soggy on the way down the hill.
Yosemite is amazingly beautiful – awe inspiring really - with huge granite cliffs and spectacular wildlife, though we haven’t seen the talked about bears yet! You can ride bicycles through the valley – something that would be great fun as almost all the tracks are quite flat – or there are also horse riding expeditions along some of the trails. We checked out the camping areas and decided that they would be fine for a few days, though still too crowded by Aussie standards.
It was almost 6pm when we made our way out of the valley to find out hotel for the night – Yosemite View Lodge – just outside the western side of the park. Pizza and a great Californian cab sav for dinner and a sound sleep until tomorrow’s early start…
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