Afternoon in the Park

After a little rest in the room, we were out again on our bikes heading towards El Capitan. We rode amidst the shady redwoods along the somewhat crowded paths past Yosemite Village, past the Falls, past the Lodge, and found ourselves stopping on the Swinging Bridge to watch the swimmers.  The calm breeze and shade while riding kept us cool, but as we stood in full sun on the bridge we realized: it was hot!  Just as I was about to put my feet back on the pedals, a person jumped into the water.  He yelled up to his daughter, and she smiled a wicked little smile. She looked about 7 years old, and was wearing a life vest over her bathing suit. She had all of the onlookers attention, some of them yelling out encouraging remarks. Another man hurled his body into the water, and that was all it took. Off she jumped into the refreshing pool of water below.  This all happened so quickly that I wasn’t able to snap a photo.  On the other side of the bridge rafters were passing through, and thinking the activity inspirational, I decided to snap a picture of that instead.  I love how Yosemite Falls is depicted in the background.

When we realized that we had cycled around the entire Valley Loop Trail twice, we decided that it was about time to return them.  By now it was early evening, and we were both tired and wanted to relax in our beautiful room.  My legs ached, especially the gimpy one.  I longed for a nice cold beverage, and a baggie of ice resting on my injured, and now somewhat swollen shin.  Before we left the bicycle rental place, I noticed a bulletin board titled, “I Saw a Bear!”  Fascinated, I stopped and read some of the slips that were neatly tacked on small pieces of paper, listing the date and place where hikers had spotted bears.  Glacier Point was the most recent sighting.  It was of a mother and her two cubs.  The people noted that the sighting made them very happy and they’d drawn a smiley face on their posting at the bottom.  I was intrigued.

We sauntered back to The Ahwahnee and I picked up the most delicious truffle at the Sweet Shoppe asking the merchant about bears.  Up until this point, I had no desire to see one, but now I had changed my mind.  I remarked that it might be wonderful to see one from a distance in the wild.  The guy recollected that he’d seen a single bear on a  couple of occasions.  He said that the best times were either in the early morning or sometime in the evening.  Knowing that the next day would be our last opportunity before having to head home, we decided to go to bed early, and also to rise early to make an attempt at sighting one for ourselves. 

             
 That evening, out of our picture window, we watched a wedding in the nearby meadow.  It was a good thing we had decided to go to bed early because their party went on until the wee hours of the morning.  One would think that it would have kept us awake, but no.  We were far too exhausted to be kept awake by a little partying.  Also, we discovered that running the fan in our room went a long way toward drowning out the raucous.  At first light, and after a restful, rejuvenating slumber, my very first thought was to raise the window blinds and begin the day by watching for a bear.  So I did.