Yosemite National Park, California
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Drove down into Yosemite valley, another amazing drive, totally different to anything we've seen anywhere else & not at all like we thought it would be, driving through huge granite mountains. One thing the Americans do well is National parks & this was no exception, they also have shuttle buses to get you around to quite a few of the closer spots. One place we went to was El Capitan, a vertical rock formation about 3,000 ft from base to summit, that people climb. It takes between 3-6 days to climb so they actually sleep in stretchers hanging from the cliff side. When we were there, a guy was there with his telescope set up to watch the different groups of climbers, it's very hard to see them without a telescope as they are so far up. He was very interesting & has climbed it numerous times, an amazing spot. Most people that climb it only do about 500 ft a day.
It was quite warm today, even had a swim in the river before we left, very refreshing.
The drive out from the valley was also very scenic, mostly downhill as we were heading to the coast.
