Yosemite National Park

A short day trip from San Francisco took us out to the stunning Yosemite National Park. We organised this tour from our hostel & it was well worth the effort. We woke up nice & early for the 2 hour drive to aboard our minivan set up to take fourteen people. Unfortunately we were the last people to be picked up, which meant we had the worst & smallest seats in the house. Cramming four people in a backseat with fifteen centimetres leg room doesn't make for the nicest of journeys.

As we entered the park, snow still lay on the ground from the night before. It was in ten square metre patches here & there, but it was still snow. As we were coming down into the valley, we pulled up at one of the many look outs to check out the breath taking views. Our tour leader kept us entertained with his Keanu/pot head accent, saying "As you can seeee.... the vieeews are stunning. But it would be really cool...... if that big boulder would come crashing down on that van,... & we could watch it".

As we entered the tourist area in the park, we were given a few different options for hiking. Now we were here in April, which is the first few weeks of Spring in the USA, so I had to ask the most obvious question, "are there any bears". Our tour guide gave us the reassuring answer of "nope, there are no bears... there maybe a few but i don't think you'll see them".

There are so many trails here that it's not to hard to get away from everyone & set off by yourself. As we were walking, we came to this picturesque little place where there were pine trees, rapid waters & a small little rock bridge. Now, despite the comforting words from our tour leader, I was still keeping an eye out for bears, as this looked like some definite bear country. As we approached the bridge, it appeared as though we had been keeping an eye out for the wrong type of dangerous animal. A small sign on the bridge printed on some fresh paper read "A mountain lion has been seen in this spot recently. If the mountain lion attacks, do not run. Open your jacket & wave you arms around making as much noise as possible. If it still attacks... fight back". As we made our way down the trail, any small crack of twigs would send our head spinning around to try and spot the feared mountain lion. It wasn't long before we joined back onto the main track where there were families with small children.... small children that I could outrun if a mountain lion did attack.

After taking quit a few perfect scenery photos of Half Dome, Mirror Lake & the impressive waterfall, we were back in the bus for the squashed journey back to the Bay.