vacation: Yosemite and Wine

On the way to Yosemite. San Luis Reservoir

Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite

Too big to fit in the frame

The Bachelor (in the background)

The Grizzly Giant

210 ft tall, 30 ft diameter, ~2000 yrs old

Some of the branches were bigger than most trees

The Grizzly Giant

One of Grizzly Giant's huge branches

The California Tunnel Tree

Cut out in 1895

Walking through the Tunnel Tree

Big trees have big pine cones

I like to sing when I juggle enormous pine cones...

The Bachelor

Trees.

Camping in Oakhurst... Worst campsite ever

Thats our car, tent and picnic table and our neighbor's tent about 2 ft from our table. There is a little river and then you can see a warehouse and parking lot on the other side. We didn't have to worry about a night light with the gentle glow of flood lights...

And to top it off... RVs right above us...

Map of Yosemite Valley

After losing an hour getting a campsite at Bridalveil Creek in Yosemite we headed to Glacier Point. This is an overlook at Washburn Point where we also took a traffic survey... our answers would have been much different after we visited the valley. This is the first time we saw Half Dome.

Panorama from Washburn Point

Views from Glacier Point

From Glacier Point

Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point

We decided not to pose for the picture below on that rock that juts out on the left.

Closer view of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. The trail to the top is along the green slant towards the upper left. It looks like quite a hike.

North Dome and Washington Column... I think...

Lower Yosemite Falls

Upper Yosemite Falls

Posing at Glacier Point

Western Fence Lizard

Panorama of Glacier Point

Checking out Half Dome

Nevada Falls (upper) and Vernal Falls (lower)
We hiked up to the bottom of Nevada Falls and then took the John Muir Trail up from Vernal to the Right and back down

We went up to the high point in the middle and down to the right along the big cliff

Its Half Dome

View of the top of Vernal Falls. We hiked up there the next day

View of Vernal Falls. We went up the mist trail along the green, grassy part to the right of the falls.

The top of Nevada Falls. We didn't get up that far. (we might have if we were smart enough to bring lunch on the hike...)

Half Dome

Still at Glacier Point

Starting on the trail up to Sentinel Dome

Getting closer to the Dome

Upper Yosemite Falls from just below Sentinel Dome

Upper Yosemite... check out the crazy switchback trail to the left

Testing the zoom

The bottom of Upper Yosemite Falls

Half Dome from Sentinel Dome

View of the mountains from the top of Sentinel Dome

Sentinel Dome panorama
There is an amazing 360 degree view from the top

Hanging out at the top of Sentinel Dome with Half Dome in the background

The Jeffrey Pine
It died during a drought in 1976-77 even though people carried buckets of water up to it and finally fell in 2003

The Jeffrey tree on sentinel dome before it died

Looking at the entrance of the Valley from the top of Sentinel Dome

Checking out the view

Yosemite Falls in the background

Half Dome

Mountains to the North from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome from Sentinel Dome

Sentinel Dome panorama

And another...

Resting

Top of the Dome

Flowers

Roots

Going along the trail from Sentinel Dome to Taft point along the edge of the valley

Yosemite Falls along the trail

Pointy rocks

Lower Yosemite Falls along the trail from Sentinel Dome to Taft Point

On the trail to Taft Point

Near the top of Sentinel Falls

El Capitan from Sentinel Falls

Yosemite Falls

El Capitan

Western Fence Lizard

View on the way out to Taft Point

Looking out at Taft Point

One of many crazy fissures near Taft Point

Taft Point and El Capitan

View from Taft Point

Another fissure

Out at Taft Point
Its dizzying to stand there next to a 3,000 foot drop to the valley floor

El Capitan and the Valley from Taft Point

Taft Point Panorama

Looking over the edge of Taft Point

Neat rocks near Taft Point

Finally going into the Valley... Tunnel View
just on the valley side of the tunnel

Sentinel Falls

El Capitan

Views from the valley floor

Yosemite Falls

On the way up the mist trail to Vernal Falls

View of Vernal Falls from the bridge on the mist trail

Climbing the Mist Trail stairs... there are a lot of them...

Vernal Falls from the Mist Trail

Rainbow just below Vernal Falls

Vernal Falls
It was tough to keep the lens dry here

Vernal Falls

Rainbow below Vernal Falls

Vernal Falls
Still climbing those stairs

A little closer to the top...

Vernal Falls Rainbow

Vernal Falls

Looking back at the Mist trail from the top

The top of Vernal Falls

Top of Vernal Falls

Looking down the falls

The overlook at the top of Vernal Falls

The Silver Apron and Emerald Pool just above Vernal Falls

Silver Apron and Liberty Cap

Emerald Pool

Silver Apron

Walking up above the Silver Apron

Silver Apron and the bridge on the trail up to Nevada Falls

Looking down at Silver Apron from the bridge

Nevada Falls

Top of Nevada Falls

Nevada Falls

Neat rocks by Nevada Falls

Looking back down at Vernal Falls from the John Muir Trail

Crazy people standing on the railing

Liberty Cap

Tree growing on the side of Liberty Cap

Liberty Cap

Going up on the John Muir Trail when we just wanted to go down

Nevada Falls

We decided not to go all the way up to Nevada Falls and ended up even with it as we went 'down' from Vernal Falls on the John Muir Trail

Going down the John Muir Trail
(finally down = going lower in elevation)

Looking back at the Valley as we headed back up to our campsite at Bridalveil Creek

El Capitan

Campsite at Bridalveil Creek
We got the campsite with the fun rocks to climb on

Pasta while camping

Going back into the valley to check out Yosemite Falls

In the valley

Yosemite Falls

Walking in to Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Falls

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Falls

'Hiking' with coffee on paved walks at Yosemite Falls

Half Dome

Leaving the Valley

Rain as we left the Valley

Merced River in the Valley

Driving up to Tuolumne Meadows

Driving to Tuolumne Meadows

Half Dome from Olmsted Point

Olmsted Point

Tenaya Lake

Near Olmsted Point

Crazy tree at Olmsted Point

Watch out for that Indiana Jones-style boulder behind you

Tanaya Lake

Tuolumne Meadows

Mule deer hanging out near the Tuolumne River

Our campsite at Crane Flats in Yosemite

It was a little hike down from the car across very large ruts in the ground

The O'Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy

For some reason the water used to generate hydro-electric power is launched at the rocks along the river

The water is really clear

Tunnel on the other side of the dam leads to several trailheads around the reservoir

One of the bigger falls was dried up already but would have been falling off of the rock face to the left of the center

Dinner at our 'Les Petite Maison' cottage

Ahi tuna (cooked rare) with garlic rosemary mashed potatoes and broccoli raab and grilled, marinated squid. We cooked the tuna and squid on the gas grill on the patio of our cottage. It was really nice. Everything was from Sonoma Market which is a really great grocery store.