Yosemite

A great nights sleep and another glorious day awaits. I'd sort of got used to the Sierra's cereal free continental breakfast narrowing my menu down to two toasted apple & cinnamon bagels with jam, two danish pastries, three glasses of orange juice and one cup of uniformly tasteless coffee pretty much a big meal early on simply because all being well come lunchtime i'd be in the middle of nowhere (well out in the wilderness of Yosemite). Unfortunately the day started off with a wrong turn, found Hwy 395 easy enough but first road sign i saw showed Bishop was 20 miles closer than when i started (so i was heading to LA instead of Yosemite). One detour and i was back on track, was shocked to be told Yosemite Valley was shut for 3.5 hours (still no idea whether this was Saturday overcrowding or some backburn issues), not really an issue as Tuolumme Meadows was todays destination. First stop Lembert Dome a massive exposed rock (9,450 feet), awesome views on the way up and then simply do it yourself trail to the rather suicidal top (who knows how Australia with its public liability woes would handle places like this!). Back to the bottom and in awe of rock climbers tackling the sheer 900 foot cliff face. Realised i was only a mile down the road from the campgrounds and, more importantly canvas restaurant. Best cappucino on the trip so far and a very good Chili as well as a yarn with a family travelling to Vegas for volleyball championships. Back to the dome car park and off to beautiful Dog Lake, after an idyllic paddle (and a lie down) decided i'd follow the Pacific Crest trail through some incredible scenery for an hour before turning back (forgive the gushing writing but only pictures - and i have heaps! - can express the beauty). Personal highlight foot long trout encountered on rather 'hairy' river crossing coming back via Pacific Crest trail, closely followed by seeing the rock climbers finally reaching the dome summit just before i left. Days don't get much better than this (well maybe they do if the next two days are anything to go by - explaining the lateness of this post).