The sun sets on El Capitan, Yosemite

Well, what a truly magnificent day exploring the Yosemite valley. My camera was in overdrive and the number of times I mouthed 'awesome' were too many to count!

To quote John Muir, "everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike". Yosemite National Park is surely one of these.

We started the day by giving Kymba a good walk as she was not allowed in the main parts of the National Park where we were to be for the rest of the day. She just loved having all the new smells to explore and clear mountain air to breathe. Our holiday house is set in the trees outside the Village in a specific dog friendly area so she has plenty of space to bumble about in, although we have seen plenty of warnings that there are bears around.

Later in the morning we drove to the floor of the valley, with an elevation of 4,000', and where the autumn colours were just beginning in the oak leaves but it was the pines (apparently ponderosa and sugar) which caught my attention with the enormous fir cones and lengthy pine needles. Every now and then the forrested areas opened out into sienna coloured meadows of dry grasses with dried seed-heads giving the promise of abundant wild flowers the moment any rain fell, but in the meantime the meadows were undoubtedly home to many animals although the only ones we saw was a small family group of mule deer with their big ears. As we drove along the well designed route through the valley, enormous hunks of granite appeared through the breaks in the trees, towering above us, the most majestic of which was El Capitan whose shiny face rises vertically some 3,000' above the valley floor. We stopped at a bridge at the base of this giant as we noticed a large gathering of photographers with tripods supporting some serious camera equipment, all facing one way. On the other side of the bridge was another group with powerful binoculars also trained on the sheer granite face. I chatted to one of the latter group and he let me have a look though his binoculars and to my amazement I saw that what had looked like a speck about a quarter of the way up was in fact a climber with his bag, or something, dangling from his body. Then further to his left was another group, one of whom wore a red jacket! It was a climber's paradise and the onlookers were in thrall at the experience too.

As we continued through the valley we realised that the spectacular waterfalls for which Yosemite is famed were now totally dry with the exception of the Bridal Falls from which a tantalising plume of water was trying to fall over the edge but was being caught instead by the wind, resulting in a mist being sprayed over the surrounding rock without having a chance to moisten the ground below. We spent the whole day exploring the area, enjoying a couple of short hikes and a sunny picnic beside a small and slow moving river. It won't be until the snow falls and then melts that plentiful moisture will return to this valley. At the end of the day, having enjoyed the sunset last night at Glacier Point, we decided to go to a spot called Tunnel View from where we hoped to see another display. Here we found one face of El Capitan to our left with the iconic Half Dome appearing as the white mountain at the far end of the valley. We watched, transfixed, as the sun started to sink lower in the sky and as it did so the light on the mountains changed every second, highlighting different aspects and throwing others into shadow. Once again it reaffirms to me the importance of light in photography as so often this summer I have struggled to get a good shot at home as the sun has been on strike! I have really enjoyed the reassurance that each day will be sunny and full of light.

I had so many good photos to choose from today - blip Christmas! - but I felt that as my backblip yesterday didn't show the full effects of the sunset , (I had opted for the shot with Ranger John) I chose this one today with the sun playing hide and seek across the huge granite formations.

As dusk turned to night we returned to our holiday house and avidly checked our photos before even pausing to pour the wine! I could stay in Yosemite for much longer, there is so much to explore and enjoy, but we are set to leave in the morning and start heading back to Vegas. A long drive is ahead of us!