On the way out of the Valley, we stopped to photograph a grove of aspens in the meadow near Yosemite Village:

This was the angle I had been thinking about since we arrived, but this is the first time we were here at the right time of day:

The old Ahwahnee guard house:

We left the Valley via Highway 41, but before continuing south out of the park, we drove out to the Sentinel Dome parking area to hike up to Sentinel Dome, which affords a view of the Valley from above.  On the walk, B found a large pine cone:

The hike was somewhat steep, but at the top we were rewarded with a view of Yosemite Valley from above:

Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls to the right:

Half Dome:

El Capitan from the opposite side as yesterday’s Tunnel View.  In this photograph, it’s on the right:

The dry Yosemite Falls:

From Wikipedia:

Sentinel Dome is known for a Jeffrey Pine that grew from its peak.  The pine was photographed as early as 1867 by Carleton Watkins, and was the subject of a well-known photograph by Ansel Adams. The tree died during the drought of 1976, but remained standing until August 2003.

I photographed the tree when Trish and I visited in ‘93, I photographed the already dead but standing tree.  It looked like this.  Today, only the trunk remains:

At this elevation, there was some snow on the trail:

Coming down from Sentinel Dome, we drove south to the south entrance to the park, unhitched the RV. and drove on the “no trailers” road up to the Mariposa Grove, home to the largest living things on Earth, the Giant Sequoias.

While not as tall as Redwoods, the Sequoias are far larger by volume, with basal circumferences of over 90 feet:

The Grizzly Giant is 1800 years old and in 96 feet around at its base.  Note the people in the lower left corner of the photograph:

This tree was tunneled for the passage of cars.  Despite the hole, the tree is still alive.  Here the kids stand inside the man-made arch:

It was pretty dark by time we finished the trail amongst the sequoias.  Here are son shows off the Sugar Pine cone he found:

We spent the night in the Walmart of Selma, CA.

  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.