we spent the first full day of our visit to yosemite within a space about a mile on a side: tuolumne meadows.

the meadow has an artesian spring, which provides carbonated water:



it's apparently potable straight out of the ground, though filters are strongly recommended.

tuolumne meadows are in a valley, so the view is great in all directions:



( more pictures )

my whirlwind trip to yosemite worked reasonably well. i'm not going to post all the photos, just the four i like the most.

these two, of bridal veil falls, are probably my favorites:





the second is with a long telephoto lens run out all the way and a very fast exposure. you can just barely see individual water droplets coming over the falls.

the walls of yosemite valley had these pocket forests clinging to them:



this view is from most of the way up to columbia rock, so about 900' above the valley floor: