Today we had to transfer to the southern end of Yosemite Park to Wawona. We would have preferred to stay in the main Valley Lodge but this had been booked solid for today and tomorrow for 12 months.
We had a short 30 miles but hilly ride to do so decided to spend the morning exploring parts of the Valley. After breakfast we took a short walk to the nearby Yosemite falls thundering 1000s of feet down the cliff.
After checking out of the Lodge we rode the bikes up bike paths for 3 miles to Mirror Lake where Half Dome is reflected in the lake. Half Dome is an enormous rock formation cut cleanly in two by the great glaciers which carved out the Valley.
From the bike path we viewed 4 climbers on a 2000ft high vertical rock face visible as tiny dots above us.
After lunch back at the lodge we headed back along the Valley to climb back up the Wawona road we had descended in the dark the previous night. After a sunny morning there were a couple of short showers in the afternoon and we got the chance to try out the Gore-Tex Coats we had been carrying around unused for 12 days.
After a long 10 mile climb to 6000ft we had a fast descent on the sweeping bends riding often only a little slower than the traffic.
The sun was out again as we arrived at the Wawona Hotel, a European style elegant hotel with verandas dating from the late 19th century.
34 miles for the day and 2522ft of climbing.
Edwin
Posted by Edwin
at 5:08 AM BST
