Monday 15th September 2008

[09:42 PDT]

Not a bad night last night - the quiet is a little unnerving at first. However, we soon got used to the sound of the crickets and the odd distant gunshot (I'm joking!)

The temperature dropped quite a lot overnight, so when we popped our head out the cabin this morning, we needed a jacket to fend off the morning chill.

I spoke to one of the guide assistants last night who's outlined a route she thinks we'd benefit from. Basically, going through the Yosemite valley first off then trying Glacier point if time allows.

We need to be back in the camp before 6pm tonight as we're booked for a sunset tour starting there.

[17:50 PDT]

The drive into Yosemite itself took around 45 minutes, despite it only being a few miles from where we're staying. Most of the roads are small windy roads with 4000 feet drops down the cliff edge! So we could not afford any mistakes.

As we climbed up the side, of the valley, the views got better and better.

Once in Yosemite valley itself, we stopped at a couple of photo places and eventually found ourselves near Camp Curry. From there various trails led to more inaccessible locations. We decided to try the climb up the Mist trail to see the Vernal Falls.

The climb was quite tough - the added heat in the sun didn't help. We'd gone through almost 2Lt of water before we reached the bridge, just over half way to the head of the falls. We got far enough to see the falls (which is quite small at this time of the year) but we didn't go on to the head of the falls itself. Time was pressing (and we were pretty knackered by then anyway). So we returned to the start of the trail and back to the car.

Back at the cabin, we had a short time to change (hot and dirty) before going on out sunset tour, organised by the Evergreen Lodge.

[22:30 PDT]

We're back in the cabin once more after doing our sunset tour. This was a truly surreal experience. Our guide took the four of us (me and Linda and a couple from Wales) in his big van out onto this back road which was unpaved and very bumpy. We drove for about 15 minutes to eventually come out in a place the locals refer to as PVB. This stands for Point View Bar. The story goes that back in the prohibition era, the locals built a bar out in the middle of nowhere (which was eventually burned to the ground in a forest fire). The bar was sitting atop the side of one of the mountains here - about 5200 feet in elevation. It commands a stunning view west over the surrounding hills.

The guy then unpacked some chairs and a small picnic hamper and we sat and watched the sun go down. It was quite peaceful sitting there, the only sounds were the emerging crickets and the sound of gunshots in the distance (this time I'm not kidding!)

By the end, the stars were out and we had bats flying around the trees near us. We drove back in the dark. Didn't see any bears, but we did catch sight of a startled jack rabbit and also what looked to us like a skunk.

Finally, we stopped off for an evening meal it the Evergreen Lodge's restaurant. They forgot to put our food on to cook after we'd ordered it. So we ended us waiting about 45 minutes for the food to arrive. Fortunately, they knocked the price of both meals off the bill. $56 saved!