Firstly, write down your version of the pronounciation of "yosemite" and "Toulumne" WITHOUT looking it up please.
Hint: I'll tell you what it isn't... "yo-os-sim-mite-ye". That's what my uncle's GPS was saying on our drive to Yosemite National Park.
Anyway...some photos. There are a lot of granite domes in Yosemite. The most famous one is Half-dome.
We climbed 2 out of many domes (not Half-dome, it's not a last-minute thing). They aren't hard, but it is a non-stop scramble from the foot to the top. Class 3 on the Yosemite Decimal System (the one we used on the school wall - 5.9 or 5.11).
Half-dome is climbed using a cable route, where people pull themselves up the ridge between the two straight walls. From what I saw at the base of half-dome, it looks slightly more intimidating then Sharp Peak. The top of Half-dome juts out like a diving board(but BASE jumping is strictly prohibited).
Living in Yosemite Valley is another big lump of Granite - El Capitan. We did spot a few climbers on the wall, despite it being the hottest part of the day, with the temperature at 100 degrees fahrenheits. (fever temperature) I suppose the climbers would be roasted by the time they get to the top. When they get to the top, they will probably be tortured by the fact that there is a hiking route that is incredibly easy that goes up to El Capitan. So easy we saw kids up there.
We also saw these giant sequoia redwood trees in the southern part of Yosemite at Mariposa. I wasn't as interested in trees as I was to rocks, but they were really big. And big is beautiful.
We stayed in Yosemite for 3 days, 3 nights (leaving in the morning). We stayed at a Hostel near Yosemite, because all the camp sites are totally full all summer. Bookings must be done 6 months before hand!
The drive from our place in Palo Alto to Yosemite takes up to 5 hours. The funny thing that I didn't expect in Yosemite was that on Sundays, traffic jams sprout out of many parts of Yosemite, especially the Valley.
Yosemite is a really nice place. However, the place is really big and will take a long time to explore fully.go to http://picasaweb.google.com/eugenewong2000/Yosemite for my photos...
