Day 32 - Yosemite National Park, CA

From our campground outside of Yosemite National Park, we drove the 25 miles to the South Entrance near Mariposa Grove. Lots of narrow winding roads makes me glad that it was just the truck. We headed straight for Yosemite Village with the idea of working our way out from there. The first stop was shortly before the tunnel where I knew there was a pretty good view of the valley.

The dogs jumped onto the wall a couple of times but took one look at the drop off and decided to stick to the sidewalk. There weren't that many people at this location which got my hopes up.

Just past the tunnel is the iconic Yosemite view with El Capitan on the left and Bridalveil Falls on the right and Half Dome in the distance. There was a parking area and I lucked out that someone pulled out just as I arrived. There were a lot more people here.

Here is another shot of Bridalveil Falls. All of the waterfalls in Yosemite are looking pretty good due to all of the rainfall that California has received. We pulled into the Bridalveil Falls parking area as it is one of the few that allow dogs on leash. After circling through the lot once, Bridget got out with the dogs and within a minute, a car pulled out. What luck. We walked up to the base of the falls and got pretty wet from the spray. No pictures as you couldn't see much with all of the water.

While waiting a little further downstream, I played with the camera a bit. Switched over to the rarely used (by me) shutter priority. I got the effect I was looking for.

Yosemite Village was really crowded. I pulled into the store parking lot, let Bridget out, and proceeded to circle the lot pretending to look for a space. Even if I did find one the chances were slim that I'd be able to get the truck into the narrow spaces.

After Bridget came out with lunch and we headed down the valley looking for somewhere, anywhere, to park. We found a spot in the valley where we sat on a log and had a little picnic. You can see how high the water level is. The park road has some damage from the edges being washed away. It was good to head back towards the South Entrance again. We stopped at the Wawona Visitor's Center to pick up a National Park Passport. A touristy book that to collect dated ink stamps every time you visit a national park. Here, I subjected Bridget and the dogs to a 3.5 mile death march on one of the few dog-friendly trails inside of the park. All survived.

We finished the day with some fantastic artichoke and olive marinara over delicious pasta. We picked up both the pasta and sauce at the Olive Pit in Corning, CA. The place we were aiming for when the truck had to be towed in Redding. We aren't really sure where we are staying tomorrow but we have a week to get into Utah. Bridget was looking for cooler temperatures but I don't think we'll be seeing any of those for a while.