Friday, February 2, 2001

After stopping at Grammy's to drop another tape off from the book I'm reading for her, we hit the road and were off on our first great adventure of the New Year!!  We were both excited about it, and were looking forward to seeing Yosemite National Park.

Brian, knowing that I would be impatient and ask a bunch of questions like "Where are we now?" and "How much further 'til we get there?" was smart and made me my very own map!!  I turned page by page as we got closer and closer to Yosemite.

We had fun chatting and talking and sitting in silence on the drive.  We were critiquing other drivers (the nutty ones, of course and the oldus fartus that seem to swarm around us whenever we drive anywhere) and admiring the scenery.  My mother, upon reaching the rise of a hill, would nudge my father and say "Look yonder, Will!" in a sing-songy kinda voice.  I thought that phrase a lot on the drive but didn't say it out loud cuz Brian would wonder who about "Will" and, when I explained it to him, he'd give me "That Look" and it just wasn't worth it!!  Just before you get to Yosemite National Park, is the Stanislaus National Forest.  It, too, has beauty to offer everywhere in the rolling foothills of the Sierra Mountains.

Across from the pull-out ("Vista Point") where these pictures were taken, there is a wall of rock and snow-- quite a surprise when contrasting the valley below it.

Anyway, we drove and drove and found beautiful scenery all along the way-- even the remaining evidence of a forest fire is beautiful in its own way as evidenced by these pictures of a lightening fire from 1990 inside of Yosemite.  The pictures below are also of the view from and of Big Meadow (the big snow covered area) which is about a 1,000 years from being another stand of forest trees.
 
 

Of course, you saw the last picture and knew something was missing, didn't you?  Yes, yes-- he had to climb on it-- getting into practice for Yosemite Falls!!

We drove deeper into the Park and it seemed that every corner held a surprise-- there were tunnels and rock walls.

We had left Big Meadow behind and as we turned a corner, I gasped!!  Before us were El Capitan and Half Dome-- magnigicent in their splendor!!  I had no idea that rock-- ROCK-- could be so BIG!!!  We were ten or more miles off and these were mammoth from this distance so I couldn't imagine what they'd be like up close!
 

As we drove into the Yosemite Valley, I was trying to help find where we were supposed to go to get to our room but my neck was craning to see the heights of the mountains around us!!
 

We arrived at the Yosemite Lodge; we checked in and unpacked and headed out to Yosemite Falls.

The entire walk up to the Yosemite Falls is breathtaking in that you see the falls and they are more and more beautiful as you approach them.  On the trail there, of course, there are interesting things to see along the way like giant boulders that have been split in two where they landed-- however long ago that was-- from the side of the mountain.
 
 

Getting back to Brian and climbing on rocks: you had to know, right?  Yep, the photos below were taken "Up close and personal" by Brian climbing on the rocks at the back of the falls in the upper right picture.  No, I was not pleased but, its hard to keep a good man on the ground sometimes!!
 

		The last two pictures were taken either under the footbridge for the Yosemite Falls trail, or on the trail that is beyond the footbridge.

Saturday, February 3, 2001

After we woke up and showered, we headed off to breakfast.  Just in case we'd need to take a picture of something, Brian grabbed the camera-- we were really glad he did!  The picture below are the view from around our lodge building.
 
 

After a hearty breakfast at the Garden Terrace Restaurant, we drove down the road a piece to find the Vernal Fall trail.  On the way there, we found a couple of neat pictures to take:
 
 

The Sentinal

Half Dome

Also on the way to the Vernal Fall trailhead, there is the LeConte Memorial.  On the tour (I'll discuss this more later) LeConte's role in the preservation of Yosemite was mentioned but, unfortunately, I don't remember what it was that he did.  (Sorry!)  The Sierra Club built this memorial building in his honor however in 1903; I thought it was a cool building and made Brian back up to get out and look at it and, yes, play in the snow.
 
 

In order to get to the Vernal Fall trailhead, you have to go to Curry Village (Yosemite Village is beyond Curry Village).  On the way there, we took some pictures of the Merced River.
 

Again, just took pictures cuz it was beautiful country . . .
 
 

I'm not sure where we took this picture from but it is of North Dome which, they say ("They" being the experts that know these things) will eventually be another "half" dome.  Cool, huh?

"THE Hike"

I had done some research on the web to find a moderate scale of hike for us for Saturday; one of the guys that I work with also mentioned it in addition to Brian having been at the fall himself at some point in his past.  We decided to make the hike to Vernal Fall on Saturday and, the following is a progression of pictures on our way up and down the mountain.

This first set of pictures was taken primarily at the footbridge leading to the official trail; the trail is divided after this bridge between the Mist Trail and the Vernal/Nevada Fall Trail.
 

	(See the ducks?)

Once on the official trail, this is the scenery that surrounds us!
 

		Vernal Fall

When we got to the footbridge, we lingered a bit taking a few photos of the waterfall and then moved on up the path to the top of the fall.  Along the way, Brian found some more cool scenes -- pardon the pun-- for taking more pictures.
 
 

I forgot to mention: on the way up, Brian set the camera on a rock and took a picture of us!!  Came out pretty good, huh?

And just when you think we'd be exhausted (and you'd be right!!), we're going on a bus tour of the Valley Floor.  We had wanted to take this tour and were hoping we'd get back from our hike in time.  Well, we were back about 15 minutes before the bus turned up-- long enough for Brian to get us a coffee while I picked up the tickets.

If you ever get to Yosemite National Park, the $20 (per person) paid for the Valley Floor Tour is worth every dime and then some!!  I can't begin to quote you half of the facts that the tour guide told us about but, it is a fascinating tour with information about the "Walnuts" of El Capitan (The Walnuts are named because they are the Nuts who choose to climb the Wall of El Capitan!!) and the blasting of Whiskey Tunnel, which got its name because it is 4/5ths of a mile long.

The first two pictures below are the climbers: the first picture is the entire wall and the second is a close-up of them.  (If you can't see them on these pictures, go to Page 2 of Brian's report as he has the climbers circled!)  The second two pictures are the Wall and a tree growing in the side of the Wall!!
 
 

El Capitan is a breathtaking expanse of granite-- I was so amazed at its size, magnitude and scale!!
 
 

The following are a series of photos that were taken from the tour; the bus would stop and let us off at different points to take pictures or walk around.
 
 

	Frozen Waterfall
	Half Dome
Half Dome & Merced River
	Cathedral Rock

Sentinal Rock from Whiskey Tunnel

At Whiskey Tunnel, the tour guide offered to take pictures of anyone who asked-- needless to say...

We had fun on this trip, as usual-- it seems we always come back from our "vacations" tired and sore but it is always worth it.  Having never been to Yosemite National Park, it was a true experience for me.   I really enjoyed the scenery-- the magnificence of the granite mountains!!

By the way, we weren't the only ones who had a good time . . . the Blazer did, too!  This is a picture of one happy truck!!
 
 

Return to Musings

Return to Meanderings

Home

All Content Copyright © 2001 Marcia L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.