Clark's Point

We walked to Curry Village for Peet's coffee with Rick and Meg. Over our pastries we planned our day.

We all set off for the 'mist trail' to Vernal Falls, so named because usually the spray from the falls soaks the trail and the hikers trudging up it. Today however, there was no mist, and barely enough water in the falls to make a splash in the pond at the bottom. Although OilMan and I have done this trail many times, it was in more youthful days. it climbs steadily upward above the Merced Creek until we reached the stone steps, many of them18" high. Serious determination was required to keep the quadriceps and the lungs working. I wasn't above taking some of these steps on all fours and others by reaching for handholds in the rock and pulling myself up.

We toiled up the endless flight of steps stepping gratefully aside to catch our breath and let the hoards of young people in their 'environmental education' groups scamper past, finally arriving at the plateau at the top of Vernal Falls and the base of Nevada Falls. Slabs of granite slope gently toward the precipice over which the water flows. 

Rick had turned back before the steps and the three of us still standing agreed that we didn't want to descend the giant staircase,  so we took the alternate route down which counterintuitively involved climbing more steps upward toward the top of Nevada Falls, an altitude gain of 2.000 feet. We paused partway up to take today's picture of Clark's Piont (the light colored dome on the left is called Liberty Cap)  before descending an endless number of long switchbacks before reaching the shuttle stop at the bottom.

After beers, showers, and a rest we met for dinner in the grand dining room at the Ahwahnee. The huge room has open beamed cathedral ceilings two stories high, seats 350 diners (while still maintaining a quiet and intimate feel) and is flanked by a set of eleven floor to ceiling windows. One can only wonder how these huge pieces of glass were transported to the valley floor over steep winding roads by the earliest  motorised  truck in 1925.

Our meal was delicious and we marveled at the numbers of seaters, waiters, servers and, busboys required to provide us with the perfect dining experience. There aren't many hotels left that know how to de everything right.