Day 171 - Ansel Adams

Breakfast at Curry Village, strange choice of name as there is no Indian Restaurant in the complex!  I couldn't face food after the pizza last night so I grabbed a filter coffee (rank!!) and headed to the free Wi-Fi zone with excitement! However, so many people and so many devices meant I couldn't get logged on, oh well - you are gonna get four blogs in on day, you lucky people!!!

Then at 10:00 off we went to Vernal Falls, we were on a slight mission as we had to back at the Ansel Adams gallery by 13:00 for my photography walk. The trek was meant to take 3 hours so it was tight.....we could do it quicker, we are hardcore!

So we started the ascent, whizzing past the group of Japanese with their walking poles.  It was a hard climb and when we finally caught sight of the falls that is when the real tough part started....afterwards both Melissa and I said how much it reminded us of day 2 on the Inca Trail....all uneven rocks at a steep incline....but thankfully much shorter!  We finally made it to the summit for a stunning view...but no time to bask in our success and so we descended at speed the way we came! Once again whizzing past the same pole wielding Japanese group.  We got to the bottom just after 12:00, how impressive was that!!!? 

Then it was time for a cold pizza lunch, leftovers from last night - which we had left in the car boot.  I was slightly concerned as the guide on Friday did say that bear's sense of smell is amazing and they have been known to rip open cars to get to the food.....I had a horrible vision of finding our hire car ripped open like a can of sardines.....but thankfully it was untouched.

The cold pizza was surprisingly good and then the ladies escorted me to the Ansel Adams gallery for my 4 hour photographic walk before they departed on the shuttle bus to do a trek to Mirror Lake, known for its reflections.  There were only six of us on the walk, and our guide Mike was excellent - that guy didn't stop talking for the entire time.  He gave us camera techniques, composition tips, Yosemite insight and the history of Mr Ansel Adams himself. If you don't know Ansel was a photographer who is famous for his black and white photos, and many of his iconic shots were taken in Yosemite.  All my photos today are black and white, trying to capture something similar to Ansel's atmospheric shots!

Also I found out that Curry Village was called that because of the family that opened it - nothing to do with a Vindaloo!!! And the ladies Mirror Lake was water-less, due to lack of rain - it was just a meadow!!!!

My walk was a great 4 hours, but with this and the challenge of Vernal Falls....I am done!  I'm blogging, Melissas journaling and we are sipping our Heineken Lights!!! Well talking of lights, it's only 7:45 but they will be out very soon!

Yosemite has been amazing, part 4 tomorrow - Monterey and the coastal road!