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Yosemite is awesome with its lofty snow covered mountains and domes, its waterfalls cascading down the sheer cliffs, its forests and the rushing river tumbling through the valley. 
On our way from Mariposa Grove we had passed the sad sight of burnt out trees before emerging from a tunnel with the panorama  beyond El Capitan and the Bridalveil waterfall, which resembles a veil in windy weather, towards the Half Dome and Sentinel Rock in the distance.  The second picture is Half Dome with its snow cap seen from the valley near the village centre.  El Capitan rises nearly 3600 ft (almost 1100 m) above the valley and its vertical cliff was not climbed until 1958 but is one that many highly experienced climbers wish to conquer, usually taking 4 to 6 days to reach the top.  The Yosemite Falls are among the highest falls in America, dropping a total of 2,425 feet (739 m) from the top of the upper falls to the base of the lower falls where there were large patches of snow beside the river.