Day 22

We started the day with a good hearty breakfast of sausage, scrambled egg and bacon in readiness for our hike to Yosemite Falls. We walked from the campsite towards Curry Village where we could get on a bus to the trailhead for the Falls. While we were there we bought tickets for the one way coach trip to Glacier Point we would be taking tomorrow, we would be hiking back. It is only a short walk to the Lower Yosemite Falls and we decided to climb up the rocks and boulders that make up it’s base. Although it is only a short climb it is quite difficult as some of the rocks are really big and some are really slippery from the water that runs down between them. We managed to get about two thirds of the way to the bottom of the waterfall but had to stop as it got too difficult for Me and Mum to carry on, Chris went a little further but turned around soon after to make his way back to where we were sitting. We took a different route down and had to jump across the water in some places which was cool. I really enjoyed the rock climbing and did some more a little further down the trail and I found a bear’s bed underneath a rock overhang, luckily the bear was out for the day! After our exercise for the morning we walked back to Yosemite Lodge where we had a huge ice cream each and found a bike shop that hired out really cool cruiser bikes and choppers so, after seeing how many bike routes there are here, we decided to hire bikes and check some of them out. We rode out through the meadows along the valley floor back to the campground where we picked up our swimming gear and rode to Mirror Lake which we were told we could swim in. Imagine our disappointment when we got there and found little more than a puddle! Apparently it is a seasonal lake and when it is full you can see the reflection of Half Dome (a big granite peak) in it – next time maybe. Undeterred we rode on towards the river and stopped at Sugar Pine bridge for a quick dip, it was freezing and only I managed to get all the way in. We dropped the bikes back to the hire shop to be told that there was a power cut in the park that evening because there was a fire outside that had damaged some power lines. We made our way back to the campground where we cooked dinner and had a campfire. We sat outside until quite late and watched the stars before going to bed.