CA - Day 7 - Yosemite Valley

Friday, September 4, 2015

Yosemite - Vernal Falls

Another day at Yosemite, the day started with a hike to Vernal Falls. The Mist Trail was relatively easy until the footbridge. There was a bathroom and water fountain available before heading closer to the falls (at the footbridge). Mike continued beyond Vernal Falls and checked out Nevada Falls. The trail got quite busy after 11. After making it back down, we checked out the Happy Isles Nature Center. It was a neat place and there was a passport stamp there.  Lunch was at Curry Village, not bad; we had burgers (pizza was also available). The store there was also much larger than the visitor center so we did some shopping there. 



We then hiked the Mirror Lake Trail, which was 2 miles. The lake was dry, but the trail provided great views of Half Dome. The trail is paved, but there is a horse trail on the other side of the dry river bed if you are looking for more of a challenge.

Yosemite - Mirror Lake Area

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Merced for the night. The hotel was probably the nicest Holiday Inn Express that I have ever stayed at, but it did not have the best views, and there was a bit of freeway noise. Dinner at Black Diner was fab (ranked #3 out of restaurants in Merced). I had the chicken potpie and we split a slice of coconut cream pie.