During our trip to San Francisco, we picked up a hire car and navigated the city traffic, heading east over the bay to Yosemite National Park, about a four hour drive away.

The scenery wasn’t very interesting until we got into the mountains, and descended into the spectacular Yosemite Valley. Driving in we didn’t know where to look first, with magnificent waterfalls streaming over the huge granite cliffs on either side. Yosemite Falls cascades in three separate sections from a height of 2425m and are the tallest falls in North America. We went for a short walk to the base of these and almost broke our necks looking up at them.

We were glad we had arranged to visit the national park during the week so there were less people – even so there were still lots of tourists. The park has shuttle buses that loop around and drop you off at the start of different walks, to discourage people from driving through the park.

We caught one of these and went on a hike to the base of Vernal Falls. It was at the end of the valley, so the valley walls closed in and we walked alongside the river – the scenery was beautiful. The weather was much warmer too and we were in shorts and t-shirt. On the way we saw some small squirrels, birds and blue lizards.

Later, on our way out of the valley in the car, we saw some Mule Deer, so named because of their big ears.

That night we stayed at the old Victorian Wawona Hotel, about 20km south of Yosemite Valley. Accommodation in the valley is hard to come by unless you want to sleep in a tent so we opted for a bit more luxury and there were sights to see nearby too. The hotel was old but gorgeous, with the old style fittings and antique furniture. We ate well too – the restaurant was really good which I was particularly happy about as I was craving a big steak.

The next day we visited Mariposa Grove near Wawona, to see the Giant Sequoias. And giant they are – it’s amazing to think how old they are.

From there we headed north again to Glacier Point, an elevated spot from which you can see the whole valley across from and below you. The view was absolutely breathtaking – even the amazing beauty we had seen in the valley didn’t compare to the vistas from that place. It was one of those “traveller moments” and we had goosebumps.

Down in the valley again we went on another walk to Mirror Lake, so called because it reflects a rock formation called Half Dome. The area was very pretty. We did the two and a half hour walk right around the lake but as it was later in the day there weren’t many people about. Sara started to get a little spooked as there wasn’t much daylight filtering in amongst the trees and there were signs to say we were in mountain lion territory. Add to this the possibility of meeting a bear and she was more than a little nervous after about half an hour of no other people around. However in reality the only thing we were in danger of being eaten by was mozzies!

We made it back to the shuttle stop in one piece, just in time to see a bear! It was about 15m away and not interested in us at all, nosing around in the bushes. Unfortunately as timing would have it, the bus came up the road and scared it off.

A short time later we saw another one. We were back in the car and about a dozen people had gathered by the side of the road, looking into the forest. We got out and had a look too – it was a juvenile bear foraging around. As we kept watching, it became apparent that two coyotes were giving it a hard time! They tried to attack it a couple of times and the poor bear was forced to climb up a big tree. We all watched for about twenty minutes and eventually it came down and took off further into the forest. Amazing stuff and certainly the highlight of our Yosemite trip.