Day 39 - Bike Ride and Hike to Mirror Lake

Ken and I were up at 6:30 and after packing our lunches and cooking breakfast, the 4 of us left the CG in our CRV with our bikes in tow and were off to Yosemite Village.  We did stop on the way to take signs at the entrance to Yosemite National Park, which is the 1st time we remembered to do it, and then one more stop at Inspiration Point to take another photo of one of the top 5 vistas that is photographed in the US.  We wanted to see what it would look like with the sun shining.  We have not had much sunshine here since we arrived, but at least most of the rain didn't really cancel any of our plans.  We also did the .5 mile hike to Bridalveil Fall and it was so unique.  Actually looked like a Bridalveil. When we 1st got to the base of the falls, the water was all flowing down the middle of the rocks.  Then it shifted to the left and eventually to the right. Interesting!

So much rock climbing is done in this park!

Wouldn't want to do this trip without Chuck and Melissa!!

Who would have ever thought we would get to Yosemite
 National Park and on a camping trip, none the less?????

This is that famous vista - left to right is El Capitan, Horsehair,
Cloud (something), Half Dome, and Cathedral Rocks.

All the greenery adds to the beauty!

Bridalveil Fall

You can follow one path of the water from
top to bottom looking almost like separate fireworks!

From the vista, we drove to Yosemite Village, the whole drive about 30 miles from the CG.  We unloaded our bikes and got on the bike trail heading to Mirror Lake.  The ride to the trailhead was beautiful.  Once there, we took off on the 2 mile trail that went to Mirror Lake, again seeing some wonderful and breathtaking sites before getting to the lake. 

Really is a postcard moment!

The size of these rocks is amazing!

So many gorgeous pine trees throughout this park and they are huge!
You hurt your neck trying to view the top of the!!!! 

What a beautiful place to ride bike!

The mule deer here are not very frightened of the visitors!

Actually, the lake was rather disappointing.  Over the years it has filled with sand and silt and is now just a small watering hole!  Also, by then there were some clouds and the mountains, trees and rocks were not mirrored images in the lake.  We continued on the hike for about another .75 mile and then turned around and got back on our bikes.

Our 1st look at Mirror Lake!

Not much water but the surroundings were nice!

Really not much water at all!

Another view of the gigantic rocks!

This is a "baby sequoia" that the park is not
certain how it got there.  It is not an area
where they grow!  Surprise!!!!

It was a very nice trail for hiking!

These aren't sequoias, but they are 2 big trees!

When you walked up the stone steps you saw all the cairns
people had built from the flat rocks!

Quite impressive!

When we got to the parking lot, about 1:00, it was time for lunch.  (Probably the earliest we have eaten since arriving here.)  By then the sun had disappeared (it did come out later), so we loaded the bikes and drove to the Country Store to get some food items and also take advantage of having internet service.  We both called our mothers and our daughters before heading back to the CG.  We arrived around 4 and I prepped for dinner.

Another great view for eating lunch in a parking lot!

Then Ken and I headed to the office so we could connect to the internet and he could check on bills, the weather, do some e-mails and I could work on this blog.  Not having phone service at all at the CG is becoming a bit frustrating.  What did we do before all these services were available????  

After dinner and clean-up we got together with Chuck and Melissa and watched The Voice while playing games - they have Dish!!!  Tomorrow we will probably go back into the park to do some more hiking if the weather cooperates!