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Yosemite is pretty big. If you've never been there, this map shows the
areas I'm talking about in the comments for the photos for the next couple
days. All kinds of Yosemite info is available here:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/
This was my first visit to Yosemite and I really enjoyed it. Fall was a
nice time to visit - the weather was perfect for outdoor activities and
there were virtually no bugs. There were light crowds down in the valley and
very few people once you got away from the valley. |
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Here is a 3-D map showing most of the major stuff in Yosemite Valley. |
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The drive from the San Francisco area to Yosemite is not particularly
interesting, though some parts are fairly scenic. I saw this huge timer
facility during part of my drive. This pile of logs was absolutely enormous. |
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For quite a few miles before the park entrance the road gets pretty
steep and curvy. Of course I got stuck behind a truck moving a modular home
section at about 5 MPH. And despite the frequent turn-outs (you can see one
on the right of the road in this picture) he simply would not pull over to
left traffic pass. I was towards the front - there were many, many cars
backed up behind me. |
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This is a shot across the valley showing how the roads are just carved
right into the side of the mountains. I had plenty of time to note such
things since I was only driving 5 MPH. |
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Finally in the Yosemite park. This is a stop near the west side (route
120) entrance. |
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A stop right before the tunnels headed to Yosemite Valley. |
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The road in Yosemite Valley. |
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El Capitan. Yosemite, like the Grand Canyon, is one of those places that
pictures do not really do a good job of conveying. The grand scale of
everything is lost when it's squeezed down to a photo. The top of El Cap is
a couple thousand feet from the valley floor. Even in the work of someone
like Ansel Adams you get no true is no true feeling of size. |
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Again driving along the valley floor |
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Another angle from the valley floor |
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Sentinel Dome |
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View of the river and down the valley |
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Another view across the river and valley |
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Vertical shot down the valley. I think this one turned out pretty well! |
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Next I headed south out of the valley. I stopped at "the" photo spot,
Tunnel View, which affords an elevated view down the length of the valley.
Here is a zoomed in shot of Cathedral Rocks. |
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Here's a wider angle and slightly different location. |
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This is the "classic" Tunnel View shot. Left to right: El Capitan,
Clouds Rest, Half Dome, Sentinel Rock, Sentinel Dome, Cathedral Rocks |
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Cathedral Rocks in the center |
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Vertical shot down the valley |
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About 45 minutes south on route 41 to Mariposa Grove, the largest (and
most developed) of the three major groves of giant sequoia trees in the
park. The lower trail is quite flat and paved. You can take a narrated tour
on one of those motorized tourist tram things with a dozen or so open cars
pulled by an engine car. Or you can hike up higher and get away from the
crowds. There are two main hiking trails, a 2 miles loop through the lower
grove that goes past several interesting trees and a longer one about 6.5
miles that runs through the upper grove to a little museum. The information
board said there are about 250 giant sequoias in the park. This fallen
tree is right near the main entrance and is named the Fallen Monarch. |
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This gives a little perspective on the size of the trees - I took this
picture with the camera at eye level. The downed trees are considerably
taller than me. |
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Cutaway of a downed tree |
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This group of trees is called the Bachelor and Three Graces (the
bachelor being the big tree in the foreground and the three graces grouped
together behind it). This is also near the entrance. |
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Heading up the lower loop hiking trail. |
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Some interesting white flowers growing on the floor of the forest. |
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8-point buck. He glanced at me and then went back to eating. I guess
they are pretty used to people. |
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Further along the lower trail is the California Tunnel Tree |
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Detail of some bark and moss |
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This was well up the 6.5 mile upper grove trail. |
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Sunset through the sequoias... followed by me hauling butt to cover
about 4 miles back to the parking lot before it got totally dark since I
didn't have a flashlight! |
