Ricky's Visit - Part II

After recovering from the Flume Trail we made the three hour drive down to Yosemite early Sunday morning. The goal was to find a campsite vacated from the weekend visitors then hike to the top of Vernal Falls then past there to the top of Nevada Falls. The round trip would take us about 4-1/2 hours with close to 2000' of elevation gain.

After the hike we returned to the campground which was promptly visited by a large black bear at dinnertime. Ricky got some picts but they are a little shady. Lets just say that the bear was as big as a motorcycle and pasted two campsites distance away from me while I was boiling some pasta! I started yelling and making noise (along with everyone else in close proximity) and the bear ignored my cooking and ambled into the woods...

Anyways...If you've never been to Yosemite then these pictures hardly do it justice.



The most famous climbing destination in the world - El Capitan 


Ricky hiking towards Vernal Falls

Serious rapids on the Merced River beneath Vernal Falls

Ricky at the base of the falls on the mist trail

The hiking is STEEP! The steeps are slippery...

On top of Vernal Falls looking down at our progress (Yes, those are people hiking up the mist trail!)

Our second waterfall - Nevada Falls. Pure force of nature which cannot be described in words or picts on the Internet!

Ricky provide a better idea of the magnitude of this waterfall

At the top of Nevada Falls looking into the canyon we hiked up

Liberty Dome and the backside of Half Dome

Back at the campsite (a black bear would come wandering through in another 1/2 hour

A look at at the Yosemite Valley and next years hiking goal - the top of Half Dome!