Yosemite Continued...

Friday July 15^th –

We were awoken around 6:00am to Kirsten saying “There’s a bear!”.  Nate and I shared my glasses, unzipped the tent window and watched the big bear wander its way along the other side of the creek from our campsite.  There was a whole group of campers with their cameras, quietly following the bear around.  Due to the hour of the morning, we didn’t get a picture, but it was still cool to see it, and so close to us!!

After sleeping in a while longer, we slowly made our way up the Mirror Lake Trail as we followed Nate trying to catch trout in the Merced River.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have much luck, but we still enjoyed seeing the fish taunt him in the clear water, and we really liked the lazy paved hike after our muscles were sore from the long hike the day before.

Mirror Lake is correctly named because when the water is high, and very still, it acts as a mirror to clearly see the famous cliff, Half Dome.   Again, we were in awe of the beauty of it all.

At Mirror Lake

On our way back, we made a detour to the visitor center for some advice on other hikes.  We knew we wanted to drive up to Glacier point at some time, but Nate, Brian and Renee were looking for a more strenuous hike to do.  With the advice from the ranger, they decided to hike up the 4 Mile Trail, which is really almost 5 miles up to Glacier point, while Kirsten, Lauren and I met them at the top with the car.  Sure, we missed some of the great views of the cliffs and valley, but the forest meadows, creeks and moss covered trees were quite stunning as well.  Brian, Renee, and Nate made it to the top just before sunset.  We admired the view from Glacier point, and then piled back in the car to head up to Sentinel Dome in order to get a little bit higher.  We ran up the mile trail to catch the end of sunset from the incredible 360 degree view at the top of Sentinel Dome.  The views of the surrounding cliffs, and mountains peaks covered in snow in the distance was magical in the afterglow of the sunset.  It was so worth it to go up there, and if we had had the time, and the proper warm clothing, we probably would have stayed to watch the full moon rise that night as well.  Since we still hadn’t had dinner, and the temperature was quickly dropping, we headed back down, piled in the car, and stuffed ourselves with the various snacks we had.  With it being late and having snacked so much, we cancelled our dinner plans and the girls went to bed. 

On the way up 4 mile trail.

A mountain meadow driving up to Glacier Point

The view from left to right of Half Dome, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls from Glacier Point

Half Dome at Sunset

Sunset from Sentinel Dome

Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome

Brian and Nate had heard about the phenomenon called the Moon Bow, which can be seen when the light from a full moon shines on the mist from the Yosemite Lower Falls.  They took the camera, and made their way to the falls in the dark.  With several other photographers there, Nate and Brian overheard which camera settings were needed to capture the best photograph.  I should have given them a mini lesson in how to use the camera, as they spent a while trying to figure it out before they got all the settings correct.  It worked out though, as they ended up getting some spectacular shots of the Moon Bow with the waterfall and stars in the background.

The Moon Bow- Yes that's moonlight!  Also, due to the pitch-blackness, autofocus does not work and manual focus was very difficult as well.  IE: Slightly Blurry.  Props to Nate and Brian though!