Of Yosemite and Wildfires

We spent our last day in California yesterday in both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, which on the map look sort of close together. But, um, they're not, really. Mostly because you have to go over mountains to get in and out of each, and that kind of takes a while. But we had a fun day, and are glad we fit them both in before heading out of the state tomorrow.

You may know that California's having a lot of wildfires this year, and a big one apparently broke out near Yosemite on Friday. In just two days it spread to 18,000 acres. They had to close the road leading to the western entrance of Yosemite, but the road to the southern entrance, which was the one we were on, was still open, and the ranger at the welcome station seemed pretty blase about the fire, some fifty miles away. So we went in, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the park for a few hours, but we could smell the fire, and see a pall of smoke over to the west. Even last night at the hotel, hours and hours later, our clothes still smelled like a campfire. (A very large campfire) A strange experience, but I guess not too unusual for Californians. Here's some pics:

Smokey sends a message that doesn't inspire confidence in us:

BridalVeil Falls in the park. It's late in the summer, so it's not as powerful as usual.


Near El Capitan, a peak that extremely daring rock climbers attempt to summit. No one in our family volunteered.
My favorite view is below. Isn't it gorgeous?