I started my morning off with a couple trails along the valley floor. Most of these trails follow the Merced River and other creeks. It is still quite scenic with great views of the cliffs but relatively flat.
This afternoon I went a little touristy and took a bus up to Glacier Point. This look out spot is at an elevation of 7214 and you get great views of the entire park. I booked a one way trip and hiked a 4.5 mile trail down to the valley floor.
In retrospect, I would have much rather skipped the bus and hiked up to Glacier point myself but by the time I realized this, it was getting late in the day. The hike, had I gone up and down would have taken about 5 hours.
I've found you appreciate the scenery so much more after a challenging hike up!
I was lucky to see a lot of wildlife today, aside from squirrels and deer which are in abundance.
On my morning hike, I came across a black bear digging for food in the forest. It scared me at first because he was so close to some of the hotels where I started. We had a 2 second stare down, I snapped a pic and carried on my way.
On my way back from Glacier point I ran into both a Grey Fox and Mountain Lion. These guys were both walking right on my trail (yes, my trail!). I had to slow down my walking and wait till they wandered off the trail to be sure I did not to sneak up behind them.
Yosemite was great but I only got a small taste! I will definitely be back one day to do some more hiking. I've only covered about 20 of the 800 miles of trails in this park. And Katrina, I have now too put hiking Half Dome on my bucket list. It can be done in a day but I think an overnight trip would be much cooler!
I am extremely temped to stay an extra day here but I think the ocean is calling my name! Will be up very early tomorrow and heading over to the coast, just north of Santa Cruz.
That rock sticking out is Half Dome.
Hike down from glacier point.
There is a bear there. Most of the black bears in the park aren't actually black. If you look close you can see a white tag on the ear. All the bears are tracked and park staff actually go out and shoot them with paint ball guns to try and scare them away from the populated areas.
There is a cougar there. Didn't want to get to close to this guy
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Location:Curry Cabin Acc,,United States
I love that you are blogging about your daily adventures! I admire your dedication to documenting your trip.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had another great day! It's crazy that all those wild animals coexist in the park with all of us annoying humans.
PS A fun fact about wildlife in New Zealand is that they do not have mammals like squirrels, raccoons, skunks, etc.