We had a good sleep and woke up early in the morning. I opened up the food locker and got the foods out for breakfast. The squirrels quickly found where our nuts were and tore open our sack and plastic bags! I had to eat what was left by the naughty squirrels. First lesson learned: never ever turn your back to the squirrels with the food locker open, even for one minute!

We went to the visitor center by shuttle and learned that the cables on the Half Dome were up! They were able to put them up the afternoon before. That was the exciting news we had been waiting for. From outside the visitor center, there was a great view of both the Upper & Lower Yosemite Falls.

We took a casual hike to the Mirror Lake, not very impressive, but still OK.

After lunch, we decided to take the upper Yosemete Fall trail in the afternoon. It was a moderate trail, 7 miles round trip and around 2700 feet elevation gain. I guess we didn’t warm up good enough, or maybe it was from the driving, the hike felt more strenuous than it should.

There was a spot in the trail where one can have a good front close look of the fall. That’s where some people stop. We went all the way up to the top of the upper fall, looking down the falls rushing into the canyon. The canyon is narrow and steep, carved by the river. “Water is so powerful”, said Yinan. “No, time is so powerful”, I replied.

Biggest mistake: we thought it’d be too cold for the mosquitos to survive. Wrong! The mosquitos in Yosemete are ridiculous. I had about 15 bites on the left forearm in one afternoon. Mosquito repellent is a must in the park. I got one after getting back to Curry Village.

We came down the trail and waited for the shuttle at the Yosemite Lodge. There were a couple of guys waiting there too. Everyone was moving and waving in a strange way trying to drive away the mosquitoes. I had to take out my jacket and put up the hood, with only my eyes exposed. It was very effective and the other guy was inspired by my good idea. Finally when the bus came, the driver smiled and said “you are glad I came, ain’t ya? Don’t bring the mosquitoes with you.”