Yosemite - Mariposa Grove

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and drove to the nearby Mariposa Grove parking lot.  This forest is home to over 500 mature giant sequoia trees.  It has experienced many iterations of tourism practices.  There are photos of Teddy Roosevelt riding in a car through a "tree tunnel".  The California Tunnel Tree is the last one still living - all others have fallen down or a tunnel has been cut through a tree trunk that was already dead.  At the visitors center there are shuttles transporting visitors up the two-mile access road for the grove.  We were immediately enveloped in towering canopies and a rich understory  of shrubs, pine cones, chipmunks, and deer.  Most of the "paths" are paved roads that were previously used to transport visitors through the grove.  Today it is nearly all footpaths except for use by those with limited mobility.  Vehicles with special permits are allowed to drive up the park road and along some of the old paths.  We made our way to some of the notable old Sequoias and then climbed higher to an old cabin.

When we returned to the parking lot via the shuttle it was getting pretty warm outside.  We stopped at some picnic tables in town and ate our lunch while being pestered by flocks of birds.  We had a siesta in as much shade as we could find at our campsite and later had a chill dinner - one more meal of dehydrated pouch dinners!

Hans' cold was really taking a hold of him tonight.

The next morning our only goal was to head back to San Francisco and then we would take a flight in the morning back to Maryland.  Along the way we stopped for some really good coffee and a chance to stretch our legs.  For lunch we went to a Mexican restaurant for extreme Micheladas and ceveche / aguachile 

 

 

 

 
Rear of Grizzly Giant

 
Grizzly Giant

 

 
California Tunnel Tree

 
Giant sequoia cone

 
Giant sequoia bark

   

  

 
Galen Clark cabin

   

   

  
Creek running through the Wawona campground

  
Micheladas like these would be right at home in Milwaukee drink culture!  
My aguachile lived up to it's name and was at times alarmingly spicy!

Yosemite - Hiking the Upper Valley

Our time in the valley was over and so once again we packed up our campsite.  After a stop for showers we took our time getting back on the road - we had a long day of driving ahead of us.  We went to the Ansel Adams gallery and I bought a print by California artist Tom Killion.  I saw a set of notecards with his art at the Valley visitor center and I was drawn to his woodcut print style.  I'm really happy that I got to bring one of his pieces home.

After a stop for coffee we drove across the valley one final time and kept our eyes peeled for climb-spotters.  A few cars were pulled over next to El Capitan so we joined in.  The morning air was bright blue with picturesque wispy clouds.  Up on El Cap was a tiny spec, possibly two tiny specs.  Even from standing at the base of the mountain we were agog over how minuscule the climbers appeared.

Next, we headed back up to Glacier Point Road and made a parking spot a little ways from the Sentinel Dome trail.  This short loop trail climbed about 400 ft and ended on top of its namesake.  To date it's one of the highest peak hikes we've ever done, at 8,100 ft.  By now we'd been in and all over the park for several days so the climb was very tolerable.  From a distance the dome itself looked intimidating and sketchy to ascend but once we got to the final hill it was no problem.

We ate some lunch in the car and drove all the way back across the park and down to Wawona campground, our final location for this trip.  It had been a long day in the car and out here it was even warmer than in the Valley.  We went into town and picked up a few beverages at the convenience store and took advantage of the WiFi.  Nearby is a park visitor center at Hill's Studio.  English painter Thomas Hill had studio on the grounds of the Wawona Hotel and today the interior is decorated to replicate an artist's salon display.  The former billiard room, now full of taxidermied species that are found in the park, appeared to be jusssst big enough for a billiard table and not much else!

When we returned to our campground for the evening we enjoyed some tasty local beer and relaxed in the shade with our books.  Hans has been coming down with a cough on this trip and so during the night Hans went to sleep in the rental car so that he was not coughing on me or waking me up.

El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks

Oh, my chilly-willies!



Sentinel Dome, from the lead-up to the final ascent

From on top of this dome you are about 600 ft below the summit of Half-Dome

Telephoto view of the top of Half-Dome.  Look at all of those tiny people!

There were lots of bossy ravens on the summit

Looking back towards El Cap

Hill's Studio on the Wawona end of the park

Milky Way view from our campsite

Yosemite - Hiking the Lower Valley

This morning I hustled over to the shower facilities and came back for a breakfast of oatmeal that I reinforced with a couple of scoops of peanut butter.  We hiked the Vernal Fall trail.  It gave us a workout as we steadily climbed to a bridge over the Merced River.  Because it is early autumn, there wasn't much of a "fall" to see from the footbridge.  From here it is optional to continue along the John Muir trail all of the way up to the top of Half Dome but we had other plans today.  We turned around and hiked back to the bottom of the trail and turned north towards Mirror Lake.  The seasonal lake was a dry bed today but the views were very nice nonetheless.  If it weren't for the clouds of gnats that chased us for what felt like a quarter mile it would have been a very chill hike.

We had a little lunch back at the campground and then went for a meandering drive for the afternoon.  We stopped at the well-known Tunnel View overlook and then climbed up to Glacier Point Road.  Along the way we stopped for a "Bear Jam" of traffic and made our way gradually to the Glacier Point overlook.

In the evening we played some more of our tile game but the absence of proper camp chairs was starting to hurt both of us.  The campground picnic tables are fine for short sits and not much else.

At sundown I took a camera and tripod over to the Merced River bed but a good distance off of the road and into the woods for some improved night photography conditions. 

 

Vernal Fall hike

Mirror Lake trail

Mt. Watkins in the middle

Tunnel View

Bear!