Yosemite National Park

El Capitan, probably the most well known of Yosemite's mountains

Yosemite National Park

Three quarter of a million acres, let me tell you, that’s a lot of rocks and pine trees.  All that wilderness and the majority of the 4-5 million visitors who come to Yosemite each year go to one area, the Yosemite Valley.

Hwy 120 heading east towards Tioga Pass

The valley is home to all the big picture photo spots, The soaring cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome, the towering bridalveil falls, the visitors center with its museum, movies, restaurants, parking lots and walking trails to all the afore mentioned amenities. 

Millie under the dead stump of an ancient Sequoia tree

That leaves 95% of the park as largely untouched wilderness and me envious of the young adventure minded youth who walk in the footsteps of photographer Ansel Adam, naturalist John Muir, or even president Teddy Roosevelt who toured the land with Muir in 1903.

The mountain Half Dome is covered by my fat head

I must confess that Millie and I joined the throngs of tourists who drove or were bused into the valley; we took the obligatory pictures in front of the notable land marks and then got in our truck and drove out. The next day however, we did visit one of the Giant Sequoia groves which required some mountaineering. Visiting the Tuolumne Grove requires a one mile hike with a drop in elevation of 500 foot. It sure seemed like a lot more than that, especially on the climb back up. 

Treking thru the Sequoia grove

On another day we back tracked out of the park to a town we passed through on our arrival. Groveland is about 20 miles west of the park entrance and seemed like an interesting settlement when we passed thru. On our return it wasn’t all that much to see or do, we did have a nice meal at a local restaurant and believe it or not, Millie found a thrift shop!

Downtown Groveland California