A little history lesson for the day. Yosemite Valley was once a simple river running through the valley of a huge mountain range. About 300 million years ago during the ice age, the valley filled with ice and a huge glacier formed. Large rocks carried down the glacier gradually carved out the valley, eventually, when the glacier finally melted, forming a deep 'U' shape with steep polished cliff faces. These can be easily seen surrounding the valley, especially from many of the spectacular lookout points beside the roads through the park. Glacier point overlooks the whole valley, and although it was an hours drive, was well worth it for the view.
The park is covered with pine trees and during the hot dry summers, lightning causes many wildfires. Large areas of the park show signs of both recent and past fires. The famous saquoia trees also grow in the park and can be easily identified on various walks by their huge girth. Some are thought to be over a thousand years old.
A lovely relaxing day was had, touring around the lookout points, trying to get wifi in the cafés and then back to camp for drinks and dinner.