Yosemite National Park, California                                        Oct. 17-21, 2016

Away from the maddening crowd …

First, a THANKS to Barry.  While visiting him in San Fransisco he warned me not to stay in a motel outside Yosemite.  It’s over an hours drive in – and out – of the park.  A waste of precious time.  So I reserved a cabin tent while at his home.

Tent 547 in Half Dome Village was my home while I was in the park.  More expensive than 90% of the hotels I stayed in while on my trip.  Damn cold!  Everything except a change of clothes and my camera equipment either stayed in the car or was placed in the metal bear-proof box by the steps.  The second night I got extra blankets …

My tent is one of the tents in this picture.

We see so many incredible images of Yosemite

I can’t hope to compete – I’ll post a couple of traditional images and then move on …

You have to do Half Dome – but seeing it in person is beyond incredible.

Here is the valley below Half Dome – some of my images show Half Dome on the upper right but I prefer this capture.

Here are Upper, Middle, and Lower Yosemite falls in one picture.  I was lucky because the rain that soaked Barry and me as we walked San Fransisco “woke” Yosemite falls.  Three days earlier the falls were completely dry!  The other falls in Yosemite are below earthen “sponges” that release continual streams of water.  There is no sponge above Yosemite Falls and so it dries up completely mid-summer.

Here are Middle and Lower Yosemite Falls.

And this is the Upper Yosemite Falls as it cascades down over the rocks – a picture I prefer to the standard view of the falls.

And this is one of the few places in Yosemite with no water in sight!

A squirrel of the ignored Yosemite …

He asked, “Take my picture.”  Even begged me to take his picture..  “If you’ve seen one waterfall, you’ve seen them all.  You’ve got 178 images of waterfalls – such a waste when a cutie like me is around!”

“Look!  I’ve got to get ready for my big date!  I’ll close my eyes so I can wash up!”

“I clean one side …

“and now the other …

“see, I’ve got to do a good job!

“I need to clean real good!”

“How do I look?”

“Bye!”

Climbing El Capitan

Half Dome is easy.  A few hours and you’re up.  But El Capitan!?!?  That’s three to ten days to reach the top.

A major team was attempting a new route while I was there.  Here’s three members of the seven person (at least) climbing team.  Study the two groups.  They are setting up hammocks on the rock wall, preparing for darkness and a night’s sleep!  They are pulling large canvas bags of supplies with them.  I count five major bags, plus two toilets.  Maybe more than you wanted to know, but they glue a cap to the bottom of a 4″ or 5″ PVC sewer pipe and press fit a removable cap on the top.  What comes out must be carried back down – to an RV waste station!

Here’s a little more detail – a small crop of a 10x telephoto image!  Do I hear anyone who wants to join them?!?!?

The Story of Fire

Controlled burns seem strange.  But they are a critical strategy in Yosemite.

When the first explorers discovered Yosemite they noted than a man could ride easily through the forest.

Perhaps this is what the found.

But this is the reality in much of the park today.  Impossible to ride through.

And the traditional forest of old growth pines is gone.

When the seasons dry up – this forest will be a powder keg.  Lightning used to start frequent fires.  They burned at perhaps 800 degrees.  Flames were a few feet high.  The small sticks, branches, and trees couldn’t ignite the big trees.  Thus the redwoods, cedars, pines thrived.

But forests like these in the last three pictures can ignite the large trees.  Hot fires jump from small to middle to large growth and the entire forest is burned.

To mimic the frequent lightning fires, small fires are set and watched carefully.  All the major tourist areas of Yosemite show evidence of the success of this strategy.