Going to bed in our freezing tent was bad, but waking up in it was even worse. I put on as many layers of clothes as possible, grabbed our breakfast out of the bear box and wandered over to the dining hall which was swarming with school groups. Many of the kids wore only jeans, sweatshirts and sneakers!

We joined a group of people at the Ansel Adams Gallery at Yosemite Village for their free daily 9:00am photography tour. Paul picked up a few pointers and I learned a good deal about this hobby of Paul’s, as well as a few things about the park.





Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America, is actually broken up into three distinct falls. We took a short hike to the lower falls, which was quite impressive, especially when you consider that it’s only 1/3 of the whole.



Here's a photo of all three parts of the falls.



Paul had signed up for a 4-hour afternoon photo workshop and so I was on my own for a few hours. I grabbed lunch and then went for a much-needed run. My legs felt heavy and I was stiff from being so cold for so long. While the run didn’t feel great, I felt great afterward. Funny how that works.

I saw a bear while running and Paul saw one (most likely the same one) during his photo class. Wildlife is generally easy to spot as word spreads and a large crowd forms quickly.



With the run, a hot shower and temperatures now in the mid-60’s, I was a new woman and ready to enjoy Yosemite to the fullest. I met Paul after his class and we headed to Mirror Lake for sunset photos.







Once again, the temperature plummeted as soon as the sun set, but I was much more good-natured about it this evening. Upon returning to Camp Curry, we rummaged through our bear box for food and headed to the guest lounge. We feasted on our usual - canned chili, canned salmon and tortillas – but also had wine and chocolate to make the evening more festive.



The WiFi did not work very well and so we read for a while before going back to our freezing cabin. Though not any more comfortable than the previous night, having survived it once somehow made it easier to bear.