After breakfast in the hotel at Oakhurst, we set off back up the SR-41 north towards Yosemite again. We got caught in the first set of roadworks at Fish Camp where we sat in a queue for about 20 minutes. Once through this we ran into a second set of roadworks the other side of Wawona. It seems that it is quite normal to close a section of road as long as 2-3 miles where work might be carried out and then run a convoy system through the works. We really couldn't understand why such a huge section of road was closed when actual work was only taking place over 200-300 yards.
Finally, we escaped roadwork hell (another section of roadworks had yet to start work as we passed) and started heading back down into Yosemite Valley. We drove through the tunnel on the Wawona road and immediately stopped at a viewpoint looking down into the valley. The view towards El Capitan (7569 ft), in particular, was rather impressive. El Capitan is reknown in rock-climbing circles for the long, technical and very difficult climbs on its south face. The wall rises vertically from the valley floor some 3000 feet to the summit. Due to the severity of the climbing, it is normal to take 4-5 days to complete climbs with climbers sleeping in hammocks suspended about the valley floor. Whilst we were looking at views, we suddenly realised that hummingbirds were feeding from the flowers of a plant next to the carpark.
Once on the valley floor we followed the Southside Drive through pine forest and meadows to the Swinging Bridge where we stopped to look for wildlife. There were plenty of birds around, especially Scrub Jays and Brewers Blackbirds and also lots of inquisitive ground squirrels. By now it was nearly lunchtime so we found a parking space at Yosemite Village and bought a picnic lunch and sat outside to eat. The Village is the hub of the park and has shops, restaurants, exhibitions, a post-office and the park Headquarters.
After lunch we drove further into the park and managed to park at the Nature Centre at Happy Isles. Here, there were bathroom facilities and a stall selling drinks and ice-creams. There were also gentle walks alongside the Merced River. Whilst the others strolled along the river, I set off on the trail heading to the Vernal Falls, one of only two of the famous waterfalls still running in early autumn. The path was quite steep and after about a mile crossed the river and started to get a little more uneven. Finally, after another 20 minutes of uphill walking the falls came into view. The path became very narrow and extremely rocky and became almost a scramble rather than a walk. I managed to get to a view point where I could see the falls before heading back down. I noticed on the way that I could see the Nevada Falls, the other functioning waterfall, in the distance.
Back at the bottom, after devouring a much needed ice-cream, we drove on to the car park a Mirror Lake. This was rather disappointing as the lake had dried up due to the lack of rain, but we had a walk around anyway. We did meet some people who told us they had just met some other people a couple of hundred yards further on that had seen a Bear. We didn't see it, but this was as close as we got to a bear sighting in the month we were in the USA.
We made a brief stop at the The Ahwahnee, the luxury lodge located in the park. It was built in the 1930s of local stone and timber and retains an air of a long-gone era, with a beautiful lounge and ornate dining room.
As we left the valley we stopped again at Valley view at the foot of El Capitan and watched the climbers through the binoculars. From here, we had to retrace our route back down the SR-41 to Oakhurst and hotel. In the evening, we walked across the road to a Texas BBQ where we had a really good meal
Hotel - Days Inn, Oakhurst
Weather - Clear skies and sunny. Warm to hot all day
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