Yosemite

1/4>> On Friday, erratic drive to the Yosemite Bug, after missing a couple of roads.

A pause on the side of the road is quickly shortened when we hear some chilling growls under the full moon... Bears?

But Saturday morning we are all ready for a serious breakfast, before the Four Miles to Glacier Point.

<<2/4>> The entrance of the Yosemite Valley unveils giant landscapes.

When we get to the trail, the pines and sequoias look puny in contrast to El Capitan, a monumental rock wall which is the paradise of climbers from all over the world.

We are now on trail. The first miles provide some first-class views of the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. Then, suddenly, the Half-Dome makes a dramatic appearance.

Motivated by all this unbelievable scenery, we reach Glacier Point relatively quickly, and open our well-deserved picnic bags.

<<3/4>> In the afternoon, we continue undeterred to the second part of the trip.

On the way down to the Illilouette Falls, some of us hear strange noises that they believe could be from bears -again- but no problem, and we go on, up the Panorama trail.

There, the weigth of our bags, the miles in the moutains, and the unmerciful rays of the sun start to build up on our legs.

After a short trail down, we reach Nevada falls for a very welcome break...

<<4/4 Sunday, we drive a big loop by Mono Lake before going home. There is snow on the summits around the little lakes where we sometimes stop.

Before getting to Lee Vinings, which is just across the border with Nevada, we walk through a patch a snow. As expected, this quickly turns into a snowball fight.

On the western shore of Mono Lake, we see some Tufas, strange geologic buildups, uncovered as the water level keeps going down.

The last milestone is Sonora Pass, more than nine thousand feet high, at the top of an impossible road.

All right, it is clear, we have to come back in winter to see what all this looks like when it is covered with a dozen feet of snow.