Bacon and eggs on the van stove got the morning going right. Another beautiful, clear, warm day.
From the campsite we took a short drive to the trailhead for Tuolume Grove, one of three stands of giant sequoias in the park. Beautiful walk down through majestic coastal sequoias before the first of the big fellas came into view. We spent half an hour or so wandering around saying 'Wow!' a lot, climbing on and crawling through felled specimens and taking heaps of photos, before walking the 1:3 gradient mile back up.
We were then heading out of Yosemite, but not before another couple of walks. The Soda Springs were slightly underwhelming, but still interesting, especially with the historical background. We'd then intended to climb Lembert's Dome, a hike to the top of a ~10,000ft peak (from ~9,000ft), and had been told it would take about 3 hours. I encountered some resistance from the youngest member of the party, and he got some support when the first 10 minutes were rather strenuous, but we pressed on and it eased off, and we made it almost to the top in about 45 minutes.
Ruth and Dylan weren't game to go for the summit but Finley and I were. Pretty darn awesome. Pretty bloomin' scary, actually, but worth it. Very proud of the little chap.
And that was our Yosemite experience done. A truly awesome place, magical, one might say. I'd love to have had more time, but I think we really made the most of what little we had.
We drove out of the park and back to Silver Lake, where it was really hot still in the late afternoon, being a good few thousand feet lower. Had a chilled couple of hours, which made a refreshing change, the boys playing around the lake, Ruth and I tidying up the van, preparing dinner and generally relaxing, drinking more Sierra Nevada - definitely got rather a taste for that - and getting our first showers in too long, which was VERY welcome.
Red beans and rice for dinner, roaring campfire, giant marshmallows...jet lag hopefully busted, should sleep well tonight.
BTW, we're blasé about bears now, used to putting everything away in the bear lockers but still yet to see any real sign that it's not all an elaborate hoax. Famous last words.
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