Pictures by Kirk Fratzke (May 2003) 

Yosemite National Park, California
• Select thumbnails to view larger images and captions •

San Francisco Sea Lions	San Francisco Fishermans Warf	Golden Gate NRA Point Bonita	Golden Gate NRA Sausalito Beach
Pacific Coast Hwy Beach	Pacific Coast Hwy Cliff	Pacific Coast Hwy Lighthouse	Pacific Coast Hwy Wild Flowers
Mariposa Grove Giant Sequoia	Mariposa Grove Fallen Sequoias	Mariposa Grove Cabin	Mariposa Grove Tunnel Tree
Yosemite Valley Tunnel View	Yosemite Valley Tunnel View	Bridalveil Falls 620 feet	North Dome Washington Column
Yosemite Falls 2425 feet	Four Mile Trail Yosemite Valley	Four Mile Trail Hiking	Four Mile Trail Half Dome
Four Mile Trail Union Point	Bottom Yosemite Falls	Cathedral Rocks	Sentinel Rock
Valley View	Bottom Bridelveil Falls	Tenaya Canyon Mount Watkins	Mirror Lake Reflection
Half Dome	Half Dome Kirk Pose	Merced River Half Dome	Three Brothers
Yosemite Falls Reflection	El Capitan Meadow	The Cascades	Illilouette Falls 370 feet
Mist Trail Grizzly Peak	Mist Trail Liberty Cap	Mist Trail Clark Point	Mist Trail Nevada Falls 594 feet
Mist Trail Vernal Falls 317 feet	Mist Trail Vernal Falls	Mist Trail Wet Kirk	Bridelveil Falls Hanging Valley
El Capitan	Hetch Hetchy Reservoir	Hetch Hetchy Kolana Rock	Hetch Hetchy Tueeulala Falls
Tueeulala Falls Kirk Pose	Tueeulala Falls Flooded Trail	Bottom Wapama Falls	Wapama Falls Flooded Trail

More Yosemite
Photos from July 2007

Helpful Links
Yosemite National Park - Official NPS Website
Yosemite Concession Services - Official Concessionaire
Yosemite Visitors Kit - Yosemite Association Store
Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Official NPS Website

• Flew from La Crosse to San Francisco
• Got rental car (an Alero) and checked into Marriott and had dinner

• Drove into downtown San Francisco
• Went to Fishermans Warf and saw the harbor seals
• Got some views of the boats and Alcatraz
• Went on cable car ride and saw some nice views of San Francisco
• Went across Golden Gate Bridge to National Recreation Area
• Drove through heavy fog out to point where there was a lighthouse
• Then down to beach and got feet wet in the Pacific Ocean
• Drove south along the Pacific Coast Highway getting an occasional view of the ocean thru the fog
• Stopped at another beach and another lighthouse
• Once at the northern edge of Monterey Bay headed inland
• Got to Fresno late at night and checked into Marriott and grabbed a late dinner at Denny's

• Continued drive to Yosmite National Park entering through the South Entrance
• Found hotel in Wawona
• Hiked up creak to bridge (cold water from melting snow created a natural a/c)
• Went to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias and took a short hike while we waited for tram ride
• Toured the grove
• Back to the hotel for check in (beautifully decorated victorian room)
• Was early so took a trip into Yosemite Valley
• Stopped at Tunnel View overlook for some dramatic views and took lots of photos
• Then down to Bridalveil Falls where we got a little too close and got drenched
• Back to hotel for nice dinner

• Drove the 40 miles into the valley as we would do each day from Wawona Hotel
• Parked the car and walked around a little trying to figure out what to do
• Decided to hike Four Mile Trail (at least as far as it was open - Glacier Point was still closed the entire time we were there, opening the day after we left - what are the chances)
• Tough trail to hike (specially in the sunny heat) got far enough to get some awesome views of the valley below and Half Dome
• Once back down to the bottom spent some time checking out the valley
• Bottom of Yellowstone Falls and the Village area (had some bad pizza for lunch)
• Back hotel for a nice dinner again and some much needed rest

• Back to the valley, hiked the whole trail around Mirror Lake
• More time to check out the valley (snow melt had Merced River flooding some trails and wadded through some ice old water) nice photos of Yosmite Falls reflecting in water
• Drove the southern end of the valley stopping at some nice viewpoints along the western entrance roads (cascades were awesome)
• Got some sandwiches and had simple dinner back on veranda at hotel

• Did the Mist Trail (taking the upper Horse Trail route)
• Wonderful views of the two waterfalls at maximum flow
• Down to the brink of the first falls and then the very wet and cold exit along the Mist Trail
• Some more time in the valley after changing cloths and drying off
• Made another stop at Bridalveil Falls (less wind this time so didn't AS wet)
• Dinner at hotel for our last night

• Left valley area of the park and went north (Tuolumne Meadows still closed) to Hetch Hetchy reservoir
• Walked across dam and tail to two waterfalls
• Wadded again through icy water since the first falls had the trail flooded
• The second falls had the trail impassible any further
• Started drive back towards San Francisco for flight home
• Stopped in Modesto for dinner at Pizza Hut
• Turned in rental car (put 1,200 miles on it) and waited around for red-eye flight to Mpls
• Finally got into La Crosse around 11 a.m. and home in bed by Noon

[ National Park Photos | My Life | Fratzke.com ]