Yosemite Valley Drive

For our trip along the Yosemite Valley, we entered by the West entrance on CA140.  After passing the entrance gate we had to pass through this rock formation.  It is hard to tell how much of the rocks were chiseled out for the road, but it was still cool to drive through.

One of our first stops, after entering the valley floor, was a meadow, between the one-way in and the one-way out of the valley.  This is a great view of El Capitan, towering 3,000 feet above the valley floor.  We looked, but did not see any climbers.

We stopped at Cathedral Beach on Ribbon Creek for a break and lunch, we took the time to capture this view of El Capitan.

A short hike along a trail brought us to the swinging bridge and this view.   Looking out over the creek with Yosemite Point peak in the background.  If you look at the top of the peak, there is a small "V" notch, just to the left of the tall trees.  If there was water in Yosemite Creek, we would see the upper Yosemite Falls.

Another view of Yosemite Point and Castle Cliffs.  You can see the staining from the water when the falls have water.  Just below and to the left of the upper falls base, you will see a black area, this is where the Lower Yosemite Falls is located.

From another meadow, we had a clear view of Half Dome on the right and North Dome on the left of the valley.

More grandeur from one of the bridges that crosses the creek.  This is looking West towards the entrance to Yosemite NP.

Looking East along Indian Canyon Creek, we had a great view of Half Dome.  At this point we are near the end of the drive into the valley.  It would have been really nice if the leaves were changing color, but we are here a little too early for color changes.

On our way out of the park, from a valley meadow, we have another great view of Half-Dome.  As we move further away, the immense size of the dome is apparent.  By the way, climbing Half-Dome requires a permit and only so many are given each day.

As we head West to leave the park, we stopped at a view point and noticed the nice fencing they had all around the park. 

And finally, our last view of El Capitan as we head out of the park.  Sun coming from the West, blue skies, and hardly a cloud in the sky, can't get much better than that.