Yosemite - Bridal Veil Falls, Steller's Jay and Half Dome at Sunset

After the excitement of San Francisco we spent a day at Yosemite National Park. Highly recommended. That is Bridal Veil Fall in the background.

We spent the night in Merced and then headed to the park early in the morning. Here is the Merced River rushing down as we drove toward the park. It is a pretty narrow, winding road but the traffic wasn't bad at the times we traveled.

This is, I believe,Upper Yosemite Fall. Just pulled off the side of the road and took the picture.

This is El Capitan, I think.

Half Dome.

Lower Yosemite Falls. The Upper Falls are behind the trees on the right. I think this is the spot where John Muir had a cabin for a while. Nice view out the front door.

A Steller's Jay.

These guys were hanging around the concession area picking up crumbs.

I think this Mule Deer must have been on the park payroll. He was right next to the path going up to Yosemite Falls.

Upper and lower Yosemite Falls. It really is a spectacular place. Should be on everyone's must see list.

Upper Yosemite Fall again.

The Merced River.

There are 2 groves of Giant Sequoias in the park. We took a drive and hike to one of them. Hard to get a picture that shows the size in perspective but know that the pine trees to the right and left are really big for pine trees. These are the largest living things in volume although other trees are taller.

See Sequoiadendron

This passageway was carved in this stump as a tourist attraction during the early part of the 20th century.

These trees are cousins to the Coast Redwood.

In the afternoon we drove up to the top of Glacier Point to see the sun set on Half Dome. Spectacular views. This is a long view of Vernal Fall and Neveda Fall. Glacier Point is almost 8000 ft in elevation.

The developed part of the park is relatively small. Mostly just the main canyon. However the park is huge and there is a lot of wild area for hiking and camping.

This is Half Dome as the sun is beginning to set.

A close up as the sun is setting.

I went back at re-editted this picture of Half Dome at sunset. I added a little more sharpening, tried to reduce the vignetting (not very successfully), and tried to reduced the haze slightly.

The new one is a smaller size but I'm interested in which you think is better.