Google Street View Visits Yosemite

According to the Google Lat Long Blog (the official blog of Google Earth and Maps), one can now see Yosemite National Park in Street View. Besides covering the valley, they photographed Highway 140, Highway 120 (from just west of Crane Flat to Tioga Lake), Wawona Road (Hwy 41), and Glacier Point Road (stopping short of Badger Pass).

I did a some virtual sightseeing and here are eight Street View gems I found...

1. Half Dome

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2. El Capitan

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3. Upper Yosemite Fall

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4. Yosemite Chapel

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5. Tunnel View (with tourists)

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6. The Tunnel

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7. Tenaya Lake

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8. Wawona Hotel

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Admittedly, it doesn't beat visiting the place in person (like we did this weekend), but it works in a pinch (you know, when one just needs to get away, but can't actually get away).

Now that I think about it, I wonder how much trouble it would be to strap one of these Street View cameras to a hiker and have him or her climb Half Dome. If Google did that, tourists could virtually hike it from the comfort of their computers, thereby reducing the crowd of real people trying to reach the top.