Day 6 (22 July 2016) - Yosemite National Park (Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and Glacier Point)

Introduction

Our first full day in Yosemite was primarily about all the various waterfalls. Yosemite National Park has some of the highest falls in the world. We headed initially headed to the information centre to get details of the location of the key falls.

Yosemite Car Parking

Car parking is a headache, we were not far from the park entrance so we were relatively early into the park but traffic increases after 10am as those who are venturing into the park.
There is one key map of the valley you need and there is a free shuttle to take you around the key locations once you've managed to park your car. We had bought the America's National Park Annual Pass so we had unlimited entry for the year. This worked out better for us as we were in Yosemite for 3 days.

Waterfalls

The first waterfall we went to was Yosemite Falls this is the most accessible fall in the valley as its pretty much a 10 mins walk from the visitor centre. We walked to the bottom of the falls, took pictures and dipped our toes into the icy cold waters.

Yosemite falls is best in spring, while in the picture above it looks like a trickle the water falls from a substantial height and the lower falls make the water much more accessible. The lower falls are popular and easily reached.

Vernal Falls

The Vernal falls are a little more strenuous to get to, you have to hike around 1.5miles to get to them and they are accessible. There are a lot of stairs to get through and the path is uneven to reach them. The Vernal falls and Nevada falls are part of the John Muir trail. We did it with the family and our time was up by the time we reached the Vernal falls. The Nevada falls are another (steep) mile up. The guide has said that the hike up to Nevada falls was harder and you needed to be fitter to do the whole loop. Our hike to Vernal falls falls is shown below on the tracker.

Pictures from Vernal falls are below

Tunnel View

The tunnel view is a view through the valley and the key large structure of the valley. Its a must do for any visit to Yosemite.

Glacier Point

Glacier Point is a good 50 mins drive out of the Yosemite Valley to the upper part of the valley. We drive up in the afternoon after our trip to Vernal falls. We stopped off at the view points on the way to Glacier Point. The views from Glacier points are worth the drive up. You can see all the key view points in the valley. The last picture shows the Nevada Falls viewed from Glacier Point.

While the most interesting part of Glacier Points are away from the sunset. The sunsets on the way down back to the valley are fantastic. The photos below are of the setting sun on the way back down to the valley.