Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Splendor of Yosemite National Park

Dave and I visited Yosemite National Park in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains during the recent Memorial Day holiday. We saw bears about a half dozen times during our 5 days in the park. This mother bear was foraging for food with her two cubs. She did not seem to mind our taking photos of her, although we kept a safe distance and did not move towards her cubs.
Yosemite Valley has classic views of the granite walls carved by glaciers. This is half dome, viewed from the valley. The valley is where most vistors stay and visit, but it comprises only 1%of the land area of the park.
Yosemite has giant sequoia trees, which are the largest trees, by volume, on earth. It has deep pine and redwood forests as well, as you see in this photo.
These leaves were nestled near the base of a tree, ready to start the next generation. Of the 7,000 plant species in California, half are found in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and 20% grow within Yosemite National Park.
We went up to Glacier Point to get sunset photos, and this view of Half Dome was taken with a long exposure after sunset. Clouds formed around Half Dome intermittently, adding to is allure. Glacier Point is 3,200 ft (980 m) above the valley floor. Yosemite was set aside for preservation by an act of Congress in 1864, which served as a model for the law that created Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872.

8 comments:

brattcat said...

Awe inspiring.

Judy said...

These pictures make me want to go back! Breathtaking!

TheChieftess said...

Nicely done! You were in our neck of the woods...only there's a lot of snow between where you were and where we are in Mammoth Lakes!!! The Tioga pass is still not open and won't be until the end of June!

FilipBlog said...

Yosemite is the best National Park I have visited. I love the John Muir trail.

Jack said...

Marvelous, Julie. I wouldn't want to be very close to a mother bear and her cubs.

Thérèse said...

Each picture speaks for itself! The last one is breathtaking.

glenda said...

Great photos. That's about as close as I would dare to get to a mama bear. Actually too close for my comfort level

Unknown said...

All shots are beautiful and I'm amazed at the mother bear shot. Fantastic!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...