We just got back from six great days in Yosemite. We brought along my brother in law who has never been out of a city before. I chose to go down the super highway Lyell Canyon route and over Vogelsang Pass and the Mist Trail into the Valley to give him a wide variety of what Yosemite is. He was literally amazed at every new view and I think he is addicted to this "wilderness" thing. He is now looking for places to go hiking outside of London. The trip itself was great, I have been down it several times. The one thing that really threw me was Yosemite Valley. I have never spent any daylight time in the Valley. I have either hitch hiked out as soon as I came in or came in late and took the early bus back to TM. We arrived in the Valley around noon and I walked everywhere staring at the big walls, wow! What a cool place. The sausage and jalapeƱo pizza and the beer at Curry was a fantastic ending to several days of hiking food!
Just before Merced HSC, I counted over 62 people hiking up past us going to Vogelsang HSC. I didn't start counting until I thought it was a bit more than the quota. I am guessing there were near 80 people! It was a bit like a shopping mall at Christmas!
We are now gearing up for some long weekend trips this fall. We are kicking our 10 year old out of our tent, getting him a super light single and a super light double for us. Any suggestions would be great, though my wife is a bit of a bug magnet, so we need something with netting and would also like something that will work on the fringes of winter... a pretty tall order I think.
Here are a few pictures from my new point-n-shoot:
TM backpackers camp
Tuolumne River/Lyell Canyon
Near Ireland Lake
Above Evelyn Lake
Sunrise at Evelyn Lake
Evelyn Lake
Vogelsang Peak
Vogelsang Lake
Near Vogelsang
Pond at Vogelsang Pass
Gallison Lake
Meadow on Lewis Creek
Snake
Merced River
Merced River
Vernal Falls
Vernal Falls