|
Yosemite National Park (may 03) The best part of this trip was coming around a bend in the trail and being face to face with a black bear. And more than one of them staring me down eye to eye. This trip happened because had 3 1/2 days off from Enterprise and I needed to get out of Reno. I called up Yosemite, surprisingly a campsite was available, and left the next morning. I checked the weather before leaving and knew it was unstable. As you can see on the way I came straight into a storm on Donner Pass. "No late season storm is going to stop me," I thought as I drove through the whiteout.
This is Donner Pass. I knew then that it would be a cold trip in Yosemite and it was. I pulled up to my campsite in Yosemite and freezing rain was coming down.
Rain jacket went on and I went to the pub for some pizza and beer. No kidding, I needed to warm up inside somewhere. At this time I thought the trip would be a all time disaster. I wanted to do some hiking anyway in the weather and headed up the vernal falls trail. It was raining lightly most of the time and I enjoyed the fresh air his short hike.
It was such an odd time to be in Yosemite. The weather could not decide to rain or snow. I loved how pronounced the snow level was on the valleys walls. The waterfalls were going pretty good, but it would be another week or two before they really let loose.
Half Dome with clouds swirling by. Another photographer and I waited for the possibility for a hint of light to peek through. It would have been good with the dramatic clouds. It never did.
After spending the night in the back of my truck (No way was I going to set up a tent in the rain/mud ) I awoke to blue bird at 5am. I was eager to snap some shots with my new digital camera, a sony F707. I had a mountain bike with me and started a loop of Yosemite valley that would take about 4 hours.
El Cap welcoming the morning sun and blue skies with its massive granite walls.
A shot of the Merced river carrying huge chunks of ice down stream from the upper elevations. The Upper Yosemite falls shown here would be my destination of a day hike.
As I biked by there were a few photographers hovering around this reflecting pond, next to the road. I joined them and got the shot.
The next day I hiked to the base of upper Yosemite falls. This hike was steep switchbacks most of the way. There was many valley views along with lots of people on this trail. I rounded a corner to this sight of a mass of water cascading from above. I had lunch near the falls and began the hike down.
Another short side trip. This is shot from the trail on the way to the base of Bridal Veil Falls.
Today, I would return back to Reno. But first I would take a short hike at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The parking was at the damn and I hiked past the large falls seen in this picture and back. The area seemed very desolate and dry. Not many trees like the lush Yosemite valley.
Some people on the trail warned me that they saw some bears about a mile in my direction. A mile later I was head to head with a huge black bear and 3 cubs. We both froze and stared at each other. I spotted these 2 bears in the picture about a quarter mile farther down the trail. On this single hike I saw about 6 bears!! The ranger looked at me with disbelief when I told him on the way out.
The color of moss along the trail.
On my way out of Yosemite I stopped and hiked another trail to a grove of sequoias. They were massive and impossible to photograph. I liked the soft moss growing on the trucks of these giants. I made my way back to Reno and had lots of stories for Sam. It was a successful trip, Yosemite is filled with endless things to do and contains everything a mountain lover could ever dream about.
|
