Classic Yosemite

We chose to visit Yosemite after Labor Day, hoping to miss heavy summer traffic. I assume we did that, but it’s hard to know; it seemed packed to us. There is shuttle bus service in Yosemite Valley to ease congestion issues, without which one can imagine total gridlock. September brought other issues with it as well: there was record-breaking heat, vistas were smokey, fires blocked access to Glacier Point Road, water in streams and waterfalls diminish in the fall, and there were bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. I’m sure that visitors who hike into back country have a much richer experience of the park than we did, and probably even see more wildlife than the mule deer who walked unperturbed past photographers (look closely…).

Nonetheless, we felt like we didn’t miss a thing. We saw classic Yosemite, beginning with the Valley floor which sits beneath the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome. We visited Inspiration Point four times, but were able to see Bridalveil Fall from that location only once. Didn’t matter; it’s all still gorgeous, and early in the morning, before the hordes descended, was best.