After our long and strenuous Half Dome hike (19 miles), Audry and I thought we deserved a break on our second day in Yosemite. We decided to hike along the Valley Loop Trail from Half Dome Village to Bridalveil Falls. The guide book described the hike as being an easy flat hike. This sounded delightful and manageable after the strenuous Half Dome hike. We set out with the intention of hiking four miles round trip from our tent to Bridalveil Falls. After we had been walking a while, we passed a sign saying Bridalveil Falls was 3.4 miles. Hmmmmm. That seemed longer than we expected. No worries, we can just take the free Valley Shuttle from Bridalveil Falls back to Half Dome Village.
We continued walking and enjoyed the views the trail gave us of El Capitan.
We could also see Upper Yosemite Falls.
And view Bridalveil Falls as we approached.
It was beautiful! Mesmerizing! And crowded! Strategic camera angles enabled me to crop out most of the people.
After our visit at Bridalveil Falls, we were ready for an adult beverage. We started looking around for the shuttle stop. But couldn’t find one. We saw a sign when we passed the split for El Capitan for the shuttle and so we walked back. And had a few more chances for amazing views. 
Eventually, we found the shuttle stop and made it a little closer back to Half Dome Village before getting caught in traffic and deciding it would be faster to walk. By the end of the day, our simple four mile loop turned into 11.5 miles! Ha! Easy Day!
We earned and enjoyed a pint. Check out what we liked to call our “Yosemite tan” – or just dirt.
