Yosemite, you're one of a kind.

          We continued our National Park ventures this year and finally attempted to visit Yosemite National Park. Did you know Yosemite gets over 4 million visitors annually? That may explain why we've avoided visiting till now. In hopes that cold weather and barren waterfalls would attract less crowds, we decided autumn would be a nice time to visit. With day time temperatures in the 50's & 60's the weather was perfect for these Southern California sun birds, it gave us a chance to use our beanies, scarfs, and sweaters.

        We have not visited a National Park that meets the majestic presence as the thousand foot granite walls of Yosemite, and I'm sure John Muir would agree. "No words will ever describe the exquisite beauty and charm of this mountain park-Nature's landscape garden at once tenderly beautiful and sublime. No wonder it draws nature-lovers from all over the world."-John Muir. 

Our pictures only give a glimpse of Yosemite's beauty and brilliance, the fall colored leaves were a bonus. 

Coming from the southern entrance (off Highway 41) into the park, 

you enter a long tunnel and exit to this priceless view, known as The Tunnel View.

We stayed at the Camp Curry cabins wich is located on the eastern portion of Yosemite Valley. Traditionally, we are campers but we concluded when dealing with cold unpredictable weather a bed, four walls, and a heater are necessary. The lodge had a store, coffee bar, a pizzeria, cafeteria and a dining area. There were a few couches and a fireplace. 

One disadvantage to visiting in the off season, yes there were disadvantages, were the limited hours of these amenities. The park does offer other stores and eateries yet a shuttle, a short drive or bike ride away. We brought a cooler and food, so we resorted to sitting on our small deck and eating sandwiches and snacks at times.

This is a picture of what the cabins look like. We stayed in a two full sized bed cabin with a heater and a restroom. The cabin was small but manageable. My children are no longer children sized, they are adult size, so it was a bit cramped in our cabin. The cabins need some upgrading and are overpriced in my opinion. I think they could use some more efficient cleaning, but I'm a germ aphobe so I'm not the best judge. Next visit we are looking to stay at Yosemite Lodge

A staple of Yosemite Park is Half Dome. 

 Half Dome wallpapers the eastern view of the valley as it stands 8,842 feet high.
 We saw Half Dome daily and it was glorious, its simply breathtaking.

Half Dome is colossal, approximately 50,000 climbers scale to the summit annually. 

The cables to climb were removed (located on the dome side) for the season. 

I applaud those who escalate up this immense rock.

Visiting the park during the off season gave us a lot more exposure and reign of the park. A shuttle service is available and provides transportation throughout the park, bikes are also a common use of transportation. I highly recommend biking the bike trail around the valley, which is primarily the eastern part of the park, as it allows you to get a good perspective of the major sites of Yosemite. Bike rentals are available (depending on the season) and are approximately $35 for day use (or you can rent hourly), we took our own bikes. 

Here biking are my boy's, the ground cover of leaves and the peaking sun landscaped the valley nicely.

During our bike ride we saw some spectacular views. 

I was photographing this picture from a rock, come springtime this rock 

 will be submerged under melted torrent snow waters.

This is the legendary Yosemite Falls which is currenlty desolate. 

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls has a 2,425 foot drop which combined is considered the tallest waterfall in North America. Come spring this wall will be decorated with flowing waters.

  Truly, there is a different experience visiting Yosemite in the fall. The rushing waters of rivers and waterfalls aren't flowing and the forest is quiet and still, yet beautiful.

El Capitan

This allows for perspective of how immense this granite wall is.

The monumental El Capitan is located on the western part of Yosemite Valley. Many rock climbers cascade this commanding wall of 3,593 feet of granite for fun. Alex Honnold, premiered in a National Geographic film titled "Free Solo", and he free climbs (no ropes) this wall of immense dominance in just under 4 hours. 

An incredible treat for us was to run into this superstar of a rock climber, Alex Honnold. We had heard he was in the park and were hoping to run into him, our eyes were peeled. As we were touring the park we found him and I was the most exicited, yet I failed to get a picture with him. (insert sad face)

Looking very closely, you can see some climbers and gain perspective on the grandeur of this monstrous rock. 

Glacier point is about an hour drive, 32 miles south of Yosemite Valley and a must to see the expansion of Yosemite Park. The spectacular views of mountain peaks and domes as a far as the eye can see is marvelous. At 3,214 feet above the valley floor it also gives a great vantage point of the valley. Here's my family at Glacier Point. *Many fail to reach the actual Glacier Point, there is a viewing stop 1 mile before Glacier Point so don't stop too soon.

There was never a dull view. Litereally everywhere you turned the colorful beauty of nature was mesmerizing. I specifically loved how the waters reflect the beauty of these yellow barren trees. 

God's forest is preparing for winter. 

The color's or autumn are breathtaking. 

The beauty of God's nature transforming before our eyes is mistifying.

Imagine visiting Yosemite and getting a chance to photograph this, an empty bridge with half dome as a backdrop. It was surreal being in such a world famous location and having solitude. In route to our 14th National Park, Yosemite, we listened to a podcast about the national parks system how the conservation of our national parks came into existence. A part of me doesn't blame the Indians for wanting to keep this heaven-sent landscape to themselves, yet this beautiful wonder is too brilliant to keep hidden from the rest of the world.