After a great breakfast at the B&B we decided to explore the Southern 'Wawana' side of Yosemite. Pamela an excellent source of information offering help on where to go for short hikes around the park. Each room had guidebooks we could take with us, she suggested we get ourself a packed lunch from the Fish Camp Village store, made to order to collect and we did as there are few places to eat on the way. The park would be busy again today, and after a failed attempt to get up to Glacier point due to traffic queues waiting two hours in a holding area we decided to visit Mariposa Grove to have a go at one of the loop hikes to see the Giant Sequoia trees.
These native trees are huge and differ from the Giant Redwoods as they don't grow as tall, yet grow wider at the base. Some of the trees here are over 3000 years old. While hiking our way round we saw quite a few squirrels and deer not far from us and didn't seemed concerned by our presence. The hike topped out high at the famous Grizzly Giant one of the oldest and biggest trees in Yosemite. I'm quite proud of Helen, not usually a hiker stuck with it as we both did the loop in high 80 degree heat, we soon got in the shade to eat our wonderful lunch in such a great setting. It seems that natural forest fires are a good thing as they add nutrients to the soil that allow the Sequois to germinate and grow from seed. Early settlers started to destroy their habitat by unwittingly putting out fires, years later they realised the number of new trees were diminishing, so fires caused by lightning strikes are now allowed to burn.
Later, we went for a cool off with a paddle in the creek near Wawana before heading out for a late evening meal at a nearby hotel. The night sky was amazing, never seen stars so bright before.
Helen taking her time in the shade. I got chance of a rest too!
Feeding a group of 'Stellers Jay' from the room balcony while having a beer using supplied peanuts from the kitchen.
