Yosemite National Park is one of the oldest parks in the world and subject to some extraordinary wildfire, plants and cliff sides, producing beautiful waterfalls. Yosemite National Park is a cheap and efficient way of seeing some of the Natural beauty in California. From $20 you can drive through with a family for 7 days pass, to see the acres of natural landscape. Just like Sequoia National park there I campsites located all over the park.

Yosemite Valley

Following the ‘120’ into Yosemite, following the way towards Yosemite valley, will take you past ‘El Capitan’ A cliff 7,569ft high, which is a extreme rock face for climbers as the worlds hardest, made of pure granite, it is a popular destination year on year to see for extremists and general public.

Plate 1- El capitan, one of the most famous cliff faces for rock climbing every year.

Further along emerging deeper into Yosemite valley you will next come across a famous dome shaped cliff face, a stunning sight reaching a great 8,842ft towering over Yosemite valley , which is known as ‘Half Dome’. You can capture some great pictures off ‘Half Dome’ before entering ‘Mirror Lake’ from between the open canopy in between the forestry at the Tuolumne Meadow and reflection on the lake.

Plate 2 – Half dome – Featuring the stunning dome faced cliff face at a great height, towering above the pines.

Fascinating Plants

Walking through Tuolumne meadow you can capture some great sights and botanical interesting plants. The meadow is filled with tall rushes and grasses, wild growing yellow star thistles (Centaurea solstitialis), the spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa).

plate 3- Centaurea maculosa (Spotted knapweed)

According to ‘Yosemite team’ the wild growing Centaurea, blackberries and verbascum thapsus are taking over as invasive plants and competing with the stunning native plants the park has to offer, I found particularly interesting and fascinating are the purple Milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia). Which have vibrant unusual purple flowers in late spring/early summer (May-ju;y) and then produces these unique oval shaped seed pods covered in spikes, giving public all year round interest, and a reason to want to come back for more…..

The invasive plants such as the blackberry are however posing a problem at Yosemite as they are effecting the native wildlife such as the purple milkweed. The Himalayan blackberry has ‘displaced over a 100 acres of native vegetation in meadows.

New plant botanical technology has recently become available which allows Yosemite staff and groundsmen to document invasive plants by taking pictures and a GPS point. Which is available for smartphones at CalFlora: calflora.org.

Plate 4- Asclepias cordifolia, a native plant to California, showing the large spiky seed pod.

Anatomy and botany of Asclepias

Asclepias contains latice, which is a milk liquid also contained in Euphorbia’s, which help provide wound healing and help with digestive problems within the vascular tissue.

The latex is a milk fluid containing complex molecules, being activated from physical barriers and defences. Some plants immediately secrete latex when the leaves, stem or flower are injured. The latex flows for a few minutes until a clot forms in the tissue around the wounded area. which then protects the cambium meristem (where the cells divide to growth, used in mitosis).

In the summer it has complex flower structures very much like orchids, which go into the fall turn into large seed pods containing 100s of seeds that are flown across by the wind, which uses a unique and complex structures. I have become ever so more interested in the common ‘Milkweed’ and even more so in my research for this latest blog that I’m writing now. However there is far more to cover to understand the unique setting of Yosemite and other features that will persuade the public to see before they die, but for the plant lovers and fanatics I promise to do a dedicated blog on the Asclepias cordifolia.

Moving on… Upon moving through the Tuolumne meadow you will move to the first bridge (known as sentinel bridge), overlooking one of the most flowing lakes, known as ‘Mirror Lake‘ already stated.

These photos speak for themselves in pure beauty showing you the true sights Yosemite. Mirror lake is surrounded by stillness and colour, the water is a refreshing cool, perfect on a hot californian day to cool your feet. Covered with tall pines, fragrant cedars and sequoias.

Plate 5- Mirror Lake, picture taken from the sentinel bridge.

Moving further on into the valley you can take the bus to different routes such as hikes up certain cliff faces, or to the waterfalls depending on the time of year you choose to travel to the California’s, Yosemite.

We choose to take the shuttle bus to Vernal Fall as we planned to see many of the falls such as Ribbon fall (1,612ft) a cliff of west side of ‘El capitan’, the largest waterfall in Yosemite and North America, However due to the time of our visit (Early August) most of the water caused by the snow had dried out and only the Vernal fall was still active, so WARNING IN ADVANCE.. if you will wish to see many of the amazing falls on offer at Yosemite, try to travel there between May – June time.

Vernal Fall

After arriving at the shuttle stop, you will take a 3/4 mile walk up to a bridge known as the ‘Happy Isles bridge’ here you will be able to take some fantastic photos of the flowing water from the bottom of the fall against the rock formations and loose boulders at the bottom.

Plate 6 – Happy isles bridge view.

From then onwards is a trail upwards towards the top of the vernal fall, where you can take in some breathtaking views, however it is quite strenuous, for about 3 miles up to the top of the Vernal fall (about half an hours walk uphill) you can walk just up to the footbridge which is at 0.75 miles uphill which will give you a great view of the water crashing down into a stream, where the rock and cliff formation falls down and levels off, many people usually go down to the large pool of water for photos. On the uphill path past the bridge you can capture some awesome scenes of running water besides little pools, gigantic trees with roots climbing to rock faces towering above you on either side all your way up to the foot bridge.

At the foot bridge you will get the chance for some great photos of Vernal Fall from atop, the water flowing down from the drops in the rock formation where the bridge sits, a usual place for people to go down to the water pools and cool down.

Plate 7- Platanus racemosa, the western sycamore of Yosemite on the way up to vernal fall.

Continuing further on past the bridge you can choose to take a 1.2 mile uphill path to the top of Vernal fall where you can take in stunning views, on the way up you can also take the trail to your right which leads to ‘Nevada Fall’ due to the time of year we choose to go, Vernal fall was the only active waterfall, the rest had all dried out.

On the way up you will discovery great mountain falls overlooking giant sequoias and collections of the native California incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), native ferns growing in little pockets between the rocks, as you get closer and closer to the fall. When we got to the fall. Soon people choose to see the fall from below, watching the water rush down into a large scenic pool of water.

Moving further up we walked to the top of the fall, where a safety railing is set out all round the edge of the fall, where you can capture great sights of the fall, crushing over the edge of the mountain side and 100ft down into a pool of water. If you venture further across the fall you will discover a beautiful lake, where people swim, built in between rocks that have fallen down. It is a truly magic sight and going to see Yosemite for just the falls along is a very just cause!

Plate 9/10- Views from Vernal fall on the way up to the top of the cliff face, entering the pool.

Plate 11- Views from atop the Yosemite Vernal fall.