Biking in Yosemite Valley: Paws (in their Chariot) and Friends....!

River along 140, West Entrance to the Park

Monday, April 22, we were up early and on the road for a biking expedition in Yosemite Valley. We drove
up to Mariposa, CA, then took CA 140 into Yosemite, thus avoiding the many curves on CA 41 from Oakhurst. The road is good! It is a little longer (65 miles compared to 53) but the time is about the same. There is a slide on 140 just outside the park entrance (hence signs limiting vehicles to under 45'). Signs indicate up to a 15 minute wait. We experienced a much shorter wait. This is a beautiful drive into the Valley, along the river!

Mirror Lake, before the sun hit it!

You might recall that the week of April 22 - 26 was free entrance to National Parks. But Monday, about 8 AM, we had the entire A parking lot to ourselves! We unloaded the bikes and put all the pieces on, and

Paws and One Friend at Mirror Lake

Sun just beginning to top the mountain on Mirror Lake

were off! We tackled Mirror Lake first--and were very cold as the trail was entirely in shade. It was chilly! In hindsight, we should have gone west through the valley, then circled around to Mirror lake. But, what we did worked! We were the first up to mirror lake, and even with the "crowds" later in the day (when it became quite warm!), we experienced a very relaxed day, biking the paths through the valley!

We rode from Mirror Lake (the eastern most point) around to the west past Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls, making a "large" (relatively speaking!) loop on the dedicated bike paths through the valley. We stopped near the Lower Yosemite Fall to eat our lunch, then continued leisurely around the loop, stopping many times for pictures. We determined that another trip, this time for hiking up to at least falls was in order!

Did we say that we really enjoyed Yosemite...?!!!! Thanks for taking this bike trip with us! Check back with us for the walk to Bridalveil Fall and Lower Yosemite Fall AND the visit to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias!

Roving Riders

Some of our pictures of this day: