Tuesday 15th April 2008
YOSEMITE.
WOW! Breathtaking, Magnificent, Stunning, Amazing.
And we saw our first Bear! Had a very good view for quite a time, he was a Black Bear, the ranger said about 2 years old, he was actually brown and very scruffy looking, he was walking around a meadow area looking for food, it was great, Very exciting.
In Yosemite natural beauty is just all around you, towering granite cliffs, with waterfalls in abundance, because of the time of year the waterfalls were huge with water cascading over the edge of the granite cliffs, I guess in the summer time they are not as spectacular, some of the roads are still closed because of snow. There are more giant Sequoias groves and of course wild flowers everywhere, a new one to me was the Pacific Dogwood,(I think this beautiful flower could have a nicer name) this is white daisy style but so delicate grows on the tree before the leaves come out, the flowers do not last long and then the tree is all green for the rest of the summer.
ps we are seeing them now with leaves on the trees, they are beautiful.
We stayed on a campsite inside the park, each pitch has a metal Bear proof cupboard for all food and drink, any food that is left in sight like on the front seat of a car the bear will wreck your car to get to the food or drink, Bears can smell food from 3 miles away, a notice read “if a bear takes your food do not try and get it back” as if!! Yes Boo Boo you can have my dinner says I !! it is very serious not only for our health and safety but if the bear gets aggressive it has to be put down, So it is up to everyone who visits this amazing place to be “bear responsible” all the trash cans are bear proof as well. I did not dare leave my window open, found it very worrying really, there were folk having BBQ’s how brave were they!
The valley which makes the park was carved out by glaciers in 2 ice ages, at some of the overlooks you can really see the U shape of the valley that the glaciers make as they push and cut their way along the valley floor.
There was also a controlled forest fire as we were leaving the park the smoke was awful made ones eyes sting also did not do my chest much good, but at least there was no danger, just fireman and fire trucks all over the place.
What I haven’t told you about these amazing trees is - the reason they do not die but fall over is because
1) the bark is so thick that insects and bugs etc. cannot reach the inside of the tree and cannot therefore do any damage or cause disease.
2) When there is a fire the bark may be burnt, BUT the clever tree can repair it self,
3) the lower branches fall from the tree; only the big, thick branches which are above all other trees are left, these are of course above the fire line. Some of the trees can be seen with fire scars, when a tree falls the rangers can tell how many fires the tree has survived. Isn’t nature a wonderful thing.
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