Photograph by A. C. Pillsbury
GLACIER POINT HOTEL AND CAMP
3,254 feet above the Valley and 7,250 feet above sea level
Mirror Lake and Happy Isles
In the early morning let us go to Mirror Lake. This beautiful little sheet of water lies not far from the village and in a natural bowl at the foot of Half Dome and Mount Watkins. The mirror effects are best seen in the early hours shortly after sunrise.
Photograph by J. T. Boysen
A FOREST FRIEND
He prefers sweets, but he will accept eagerly any form of nourishment—and he does not scorn tobacco
On the way back stop for a half hour at Happy Isles. That brief visit will not suffice you, for you will find time, even in a short stay in the Yosemite, to slip away for several half hours to the quiet shades and laughing waters of Happy Isles. The Merced has woven a necklace of sparkling waves about these little wooded islands, and made of them an ideal retreat for a sunny afternoon. If you rest there late in the day look for the dainty little water bird that John Muir calls the “water-ouzel.” I watched one for an hour on the lower island. He has his nest close to the surface of the stream, and he plays joyously, half in and half out of the water, part time flitting over the spray, and part time dipping under, until his sleek gray-black coat shines like satin.