3 posts tagged “vacation”

Yosemite 2006

I've created a collection of images from my trip to Yosemite last month.

Enjoy!

Trip Report

I decided to take a mini-vacation and fly across the country to spend a long weekend camping at Yosemite.  I'd been to Yosemite once before, in June 2003, and was barely able to get a campsite even though I made the reservations five months in advance first thing in the morning on the day the reservation system allowed me to make them.  In June the temperatures, water levels, and crowds are high.  The opposite is true in November.

FRIDAY: I was a little nervous about camping in early November, and the forecast as the weekend approached wasn't looking great.  I flew into Oakland on Friday morning and drove to my friend's house.  Making the trip with a friend who lived in the area made flying much easier, as it meant I didn't have to bring any camping gear in my luggage.  We got to Yosemite around 9PM PST.  It had definitely rained earlier in the day, but fortunately had stopped by the time we got there.  We set up camp, bundled up to stay warm while sleeping, and I crashed (having gotten up at 4:30AM EST for the flight to California).  Wearing the hat while sleeping helped a little, but it came off easily as I shifted position, so I got a restless sleep as I'd get cold and have to put the hat back on.  The next two nights I wore a balaclava that fit more snugly over my entire head and it worked much better.

SATURDAY: We awoke on Saturday to beautiful weather.  I'm not a morning person even on my best days, and could have used more sleep, but didn't want to waste any daylight in Yosemite.  Even with a simple breakfast and making PB&J for the trail it was still after 10am by the time we left the site (although I was also delayed slightly by taking pictures like the one of the sunlight through the trees pictured above).  The first hike was just an easy walk in the woods along Tenaya Creek and Mirror Lake.  It was a beautiful wooded path with lots of color from fall leaves.  I was glad to see that we hadn't missed the fall colors.  Mirror lake dries up and becomes a meadow with stunning views.  It would be the perfect place for a fisheye lens.  You're surrounded by the 3000 to 4000 foot cliffs with Washington Column, North Dome, Basket Dome, Mount Watkins, and Half Dome.  There were several people just lying on their backs and drinking in the view.  After getting back to camp we went to Curry Village to clean up and browse the (heated) store.  We skimmed a couple hiking books and found a likely candidate for the next day's hike before heading up to the Wawona Tunnel View to watch sunset.

As expected, the vista parking area was crowded and we had to park at the end away from the valley view.  Things got really busy when a couple tour busses arrived, but they didn't stay long (one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of organized tours).  There was a photographer with a large format camera.  He was doing lots of fiddling with the camera and his wife was waiting patiently, something I'm sure she's used to doing.  The sun was mostly set and it was starting to get cold.  The large format camera was packed up and the couple left.  My friend had gone to the car to warm up and avoid the crowds while I was taking pictures, so I went to the car to say I was done.  Now that the crowds had thinned and she'd warmed up a little, she wanted to get out for one last look, so we walked back to the other end of the parking lot.  While we were standing there I saw the moon peeking out from behind the clouds, right next to Half Dome.  We spent the next half hour transfixed by the full moon rising next to Half Dome, forgetting about the cold.

SUNDAY: Day 2 was another beautiful morning.  I managed to get through the morning routine much faster and we were on the road, heading for Glacier Point, by 9am.  The first hike of the day was through Mono Meadow to an overlook of Mount Starr King and other valley domes to the north and east.  The distance to the overlook was only about 1.5 miles and made a wonderful spot for lunch.  We had the entire trail to ourselves, and it's nice to be able to get away from the crowds (such as they are in November) when at a major national park.

Next we made the trek to the top of Sentinel Dome, which is one of the tallest domes in the valley and provides remarkable views in all directions.  The couple with the large format camera arrived at the summit shortly before sunset, and I managed to refrain from telling him about the moonrise (perhaps he already knew, anyway).

The last stop for the day was Glacier Point, where we sat with a bunch of others waiting for sunset and moonrise.  The rising moon was beautiful, but not as spectacular as the previous evening since it was dark by the time it was visible and any picture that showed detail in the moon left everything else black.

MONDAY: Our last day in the park, and once again off to a beautiful start.  We broke camp and headed north to Tioga Road.  Before leaving the valley we stopped at Sentinel Bridge to get the classic view of Half Dome reflected in the Merced River, although the with the low water levels it was a little tricky.  When I was at Yosemite in June of 2003 the water had been raging, so waterfalls were a big part of the attraction.  It was strange not seeing any water flowing over Yosemite Falls, but interesting to see the park at a different time of year.

Along Tioga Road we stopped for a few minutes at Olmsted Point, but soon continued to Tenaya Lake (planning on stopping for a while longer on the way back).  We did a short walk along the southwest shore of the lake, which was very photogenic with its reflections and clear water, and ate lunch.

We continued along Tioga Road to the Tuolumne Meadows and walked around, once again pretty much having the place to ourselves.  Eventually it was time to start heading back.  We stopped at Olmsted Point again, taking the time to make the short trail to the point for a better view of Half Dome, although by now it was started to cloud over and the lighting wasn't great.

Heading back to the Bay Area we were treated to a beautiful sunset that seemed to last forever.

TUESDAY: My flight wasn't until 10pm.  As you might recall I had dinner plans with Mark and Nancy.  I spent the day exploring Sausalito and waiting for the fog to clear around the Golden Gate Bridge.  The fog cleared a little, and I was eventually able to get in a few pictures before heading back to Oakland for dinner.

OK, so I just found out why D left with the feeder the other morning.  He was showing someone how to use it so they could feed me while he was on vacation.  I hate when D's on vacation.  I just overheard D mentioning that his vacation has been canceled.  Sucks to be him.  Apparently he was going back up to the Canadian Arctic and the icebreaker he was going to take is currently stuck in the ice just off Barrow, Alaska.  I guess I feel sorry for him, but I'm glad he's not abandoning me.