Well, I have to say that Yosemite Valley more than lives up to its worldwide reputation. I had never seen anything quite so grand and dramatic as this peaceful river valley surrounded by towering granite walls thousands of feet high. It's hard to believe when you're driving in. One vista is succeeded by another, mile after mile, until you think this can't be happening. What a place!!!Our first day was spent in exploring the valley a bit by shuttle. We parked our car in the main lot and then, after a morning snack and brief exploration of the shops and museum, took the valley shuttle service around to various stops. The first goal was El Capitan, one of the world's most famous climbing challenges, a sheer wall of 3,000 feet considered the ultimate in "big-wall" climbing. It is popular in the summer, and there are often teams working their way up the wall.
Far above us we spotted a team of climbers. We could barely see them through binoculars and the pictures don't do them justice, but you can see the lead climber connected by ropes to the team below. The last member, below the rest, appeared to be loose from the wall and hanging by the ropes directly. That isn't supposed to happen, as I understand it, and we weren't sure if there was a big problem, but over time the last climber rejoined the group above and the climb continued. You can see how challenging this wall is, and there are few or no breaks on the way up to catch your breath. It was high noon and you can see from the shadows how the sun is beating down on the team. Only the most experienced climbers will tackle El Capitan. Dramatic!!
Ivy and I are not among the fearless challengers to El Capitan, and after our picnic lunch and the stress of watching our betters climb the wall, we needed a nap. So we found a lovely path down to the river and curled up under a tree. There were river rafters going by and we determined to take that on the next day. After awhile we went on the shuttle to the other end of the valley and started up the trail to one of the many waterfalls that are scattered around the valley. That didn't last long. It was blazing hot, and that, combined with the altitude, led us to declare victory, leave the field and go get some ice cream. By this time it was late in the day and we decided to go to a tunnel turnout at one end of the valley for some good photo opportunities. A lovely day.
The next day we brought the bikes in to the park on the back of the Geo. We parked in the same place and took a bike tour around. The valley itself is very level and the bike paths go for some miles back and forth along the river. A highlight was a trip to Mirror Lake, a small lake at the upper end of the valley, popular with families - you can see why. We also spotted a family of mergansers there - how they managed to stay near the lake with so many people jammed into it was a mystery to us. But the little ones were very cute.
After that we went down to the place where you rent river rafts in Yosemite. The only real drawback to the park is its enormous popularity. We had to wait in line for almost and hour and a half to get a raft. So I went to get a sack lunch while Ivy waited in line and then we sat by the river and ate before we launched our raft. The trip is very nice - it's three miles long and mostly quite smooth, but there are enough baby rapids to keep you alert and there are four bridges to pass under. It was a beautiful day and there were stunning views on all sides as we floated along.
The next day we decided that we had had enough of the crowds in the Valley, which only get worse on the weekends. So we headed off to the "other" Yosemite Valley, the one with the unlikely name of Hetch-Hechy. This valley was the subject of a mighty battle between enviros and politicians many years ago, which the enviros eventually lost, resulting in a huge dam that blocks the valley and provides many millions of gallons of water every year to the San Francisco area. The valley is lovely, but there is little to do there if you're not a serious backpacker, as there are no roads.
For Ivy and I, the highlights were the trip down there through the Stanislaus National Forest and the Tuolomne river valley, and a hike from the park entrance up to lookout point over the dam. The hike was only a mile and half, but the heat and the elevation gain made it a challenge. But we eventually got there, and the view was terrific. And on the way, we ran into a small group of blue-gray gnatcatchers and a kinglet-sized bird that I wasn't able to identify, a nice find out there in the mountains. 
The next day was our last in the park and we decided to head over to Tuolomne Meadows, famous as one of the largest alpine meadows known. On the way we stopped at Olmstead Point, where you get a view back down the Yosemite Valley from above. You can see Half Dome very clearly. A lovely young couple who were our neighbors at the RV park were climbing the trail to Half Dome from the Valley that day, so we sent them our good wishes from our upper vantage point. There was a friendly marmot and some salamanders on the trail with us, so we snapped a couple of pictures. 
The meadows were lovely and well set up for tourists - not as crowded and crazy as the Valley. We took a short hike into the meadows over to Soda Springs. There were endless marmots on the trail, not the least bit scared of us. And the local breed of ground squirrel, always on the alert. And we saw some deer.
So after a nice afternoon nap for me and some sketching for Ivy at Lake Tenaya down the road, we headed back to our RV camp and made preparations to get on the road again.
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