I really enjoyed my visit to Yosemite, it is defiantly not a wilderness anymore but it is worth going out of your way for, but be warned it is very busy.

The view of the Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point (pictured) is the centre of the park, and is a pretty inspiring sight. The sheer face of Half Dome was being scaled by a group of intrepid climbers whilst we were there and it provided a great sense of scale; how small they were compared to the rock face.

The part of the park I most enjoyed was the groves of giant sequoias, they were absolutely massive, I remember being really impressed by the up-turned roots of one of the trees, and being frustrated that I couldn't fit them all into one photo.

We stayed at a nice place called outside the park called Jamestown, in a hotel that had the train from Back to the Future III in it, I spent most of my time watching humming birds feeding next to the swimming pool and also remember visiting the Gold Rush town of Columbia.

I really enjoyed California, it is a very easy place to visit if you have your own transport and has some great places to visit and Yosemite was a highlight (though I also have to give an honourable mention Monterey especially the Crown and Anchor Pub!). The ease of travel however means that it is very busy, the main routes especially, I think if you are used to less visited natural sites you will have to work harder to get some peace and quiet here, but for the casual tourist this is a great site.