This fall I made my third trip to Yosemite National Park, which possesses one of the most splendid landscapes in our country. It is almost 1200 square miles of mountainous terrain and upheavals of granite, punctuated by shimmering waterfalls and huge trees: simply a wonderland of nature's best. Mariposa Grove greets you near the south entrance. It contains the largest of the parks three groves of sequoias. In this section alone there are over 500 of these trees. The largest is the Grizzly Giant, 209 feet high and estimated to be at least 1800 years old.
Tunnel View is usually your first aha! moment to see part of Yosemite Valley. Bridalveil Fall is on the right and off in the distance is the face of Half Dome. El Capitan dominates the left and is the largest exposed granite monolith in the world. It's the equivalent of a 350 story-building.
The rock face of El Capitan was first conquered in the 1950's and since then one site approximated that perhaps 5000 people have summitted since 1958. Typically the traditional approach takes 3 to 5 days. Alex Honnold in 2017 became the first climber to ascend without ropes. He did it in 3 hours and 56 minutes from base to summit. In June of 2018 Alex with Tommy Caldwell set the speed record for El Cap with a time of 1 hour, 58 minutes and 7 seconds.
Half Dome is the other iconic monument overlooking Yosemite Valley. It consists of quartz monzonite which solidified thousands of feet within the earth. Day climbers attempt this easier climb but you have to enter a lottery to get a permit. There's a 14-mile round trip trail and a 16-mile rountrip trail. Both of those take you to the last 400 foot trail to the summit.
Valley View is really my favorite view in the park. The Merced River flows between the view point and the outstanding features of Yosemite Valley.
If you have an extra day you might drive the Tioga Road in the central, less visited part of the park. There are a number of very scenic sights but if you leave the east exit and go to Mono Lake you will experience an ecosystem rather rare and seldom seen. It was formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake. High levels of salt accumulated and formed towers of tufa which are similar looking to underseas coral. It serves as an important habitat for two million migratory birds to feed on the brine shrimp and alkali flies found there.
