California: day seven

Day 7: Yosemite National Park. We decided that two days was not enough, so we extended our stay for one more day and night. Being in the park has been so peaceful and refreshing. There was no real cell phone coverage, no internet at the home, and so we were left with a whole national park to explore and see. On our way down to catch the shuttle bus we stopped at Tunnel View as it was cloudy and overcast! I was excited to see the clouds as I was hoping for a day like this so that I could get our picture with even light. The sun is always out even behind the clouds; however the foreground and background were mostly even compared to harsh shadows earlier two days. So after a quick family photo to show that we all were here, we parked our car down at Yosemite Village and rode the shuttle bus to the trail head. The shuttle bus was the highlight of Myla’s day, just like the gondola was the other day.

We arrived at the trail head and started walking on the flat trail. It quickly became all uphill. I had the backpack on and Myla quickly wanted a ride on Lyndon’s back. Thank goodness for the ergo. Our goal was to reach the Lower part of the falls about a mile up. Once we reached the Lower Falls we decided to hike another mile to get to top of Vernal Falls. I had never been to the top of a waterfall and thought we should go for it. By the time we reached the top I was exhausted, my legs felt the burn despite running for the past 7 months, and the edges of the trail made me nervous. Remember I do not like heights; however it was worth the hike to enjoy lunch at the top instead of below. Coming down is so much easier and faster.

After reaching our car, we drove the 30 minutes from the Valley to our “home”. Again it was naps for everyone this afternoon. Then dinner and back down to the Valley floor to relax on Cathedral Beach. The beach was empty and the sun would set soon. For me, it is relaxing to take pictures and capture the moments of myla playing in the water. Plus the lighting was beautiful. I wait all day for light like this. It is hard when you are on vacation and you can not always wait for the Golden hour for the sun to set to start taking pictures. This trip it challenged me to work with the light we had and to see the available options. We stayed until the park ranger informed us the beach was officially closed for the day. The sun had set.

 

A family picture to show that we all were at tunnel view.

El Capitan of left and on the right is Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge.

Midst Trail to Vernal Falls. The ergo was perfect to travel with!

We reach the Lower Falls and opted to go another 1 mile up to the top!

The steps were SOOO steep! and to the left of the railing was a complete drop off!!!

i do not recommend hiking this trail in flip flops. . .

the trail of steps is off to the right in the picture above. . .

Made it to the top!On the way back down. No shoes needed for Myla.Above is a another favorite of Lyndon and myla together.

Trader Joe’s hummus and crackers for snack and dinner outside.

We had Cathedral Beach basically to ourselves with a view of El Capitan.
You could see some climbers up on El Capitan.
We learned most of them climb at night when the sun goes down as the rock is not hot.

We could have played here all day. . .everywhere you look was beautiful!

my clark flip flops. . .

Myla loves to play in the water, no matter how chilly the temperature.

I love being outdoors so this time at Cathedral beach made it a wonderful evening together. We left when the sun went down.

I forgot to mention the stars here are beyond amazing.  You can see millions!