We started early in the morning to enter Yosemite National Park from its east entrance, the Tioga Pass Entrance. At 9,945 ft (3,301 m) you have great views into the Sierra Nevada.

The eastern part of Yosemite National Park offers many scenic hiking trails and beautiful stops along the highway 120.

Tenaya Lake with its crystal clear water under a clear blue sky.

Another shot of Tenaya Lake.

Then we saw this - a managed wildfire directly at the national park! The park rangers occasionally light fires by themselves to help the woods recover. Sometimes they simply let natural fires (for example, from lightnings) burn...

...and put up a sign explaining the fire to the visitors. Sometimes, however, the fires seem to get out of control. At least this was our impression, because the wind blew the smoke directly into the Yosemite valley!

The smoke of the fires got more dense with every mile we came closer to the main valley. :-(

But even with the smoke, some nice views could be seen. We can only imagine how this might look if the air is clear...

View from the Swinging Bridge. Again, smoke prevents a clear picture of the mountains.

Another shot of the Yosemite valley, filled with smoke.

The Merced River flows through the Yosemite Valley. This photo has been taken at the Nature Center at Happy Isles, the beginning of the John Muir Trail towards Vernal Fall.

The John Muir Trail offered full fall colours to us, ranging from light red to yellow and green. Even with all the smoke a wonderful experience.