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Up early as the first sun hits the peaks |
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Bridal Veil Falls is a very short hike right near the US 41 South
junction. It's the only waterfall that really flows in the Yosemite Valley
area in the fall. The other falls are mostly fed by snow melt flowing down
fairly bare rock and as a result they flow heavily in spring dying off by
summer. There is a lot more greenery above Bridal Veil so it keeps going
through the fall even though the amount of water is greatly reduced. |
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Tunnel View in the morning with the sun streaming in |
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A scenic morning view of Half Dome on the way to Glacier Point |
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I believe that's the Clark mountain range in the distance |
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Half Dome again. You can hike up around the back side of Half Dome and
get to the top, but it's really an all-day affair (as you can see it's
pretty steep and it's about 8.5 miles each way to hike to the top) plus they
had removed the ropes from the top for the season so I decided to skip it.
Maybe next time! |
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View of Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point. It's 3000 feet down to
the valley floor. It's about a 45 minute drive to get up here from the
valley, no hiking required. You can even take a bus. It's considered a
"must" and the views are fantastic. There used to be a hotel here but it
burned down many years ago and they decided to leave it less developed. |
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View of Half Dome from Glacier Point |
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View straight down into the valley from Glacier Point. There are many
buildings, roads, etc. that you can't really even see. They used to do a "firefall"
from here; they'd build a bit bonfire and push it over the cliff, making for
a very cool display for those down in the valley. Of course nothing that fun
can last long, so it has been discontinued. |
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View across the valley from Glacier Point |
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Alternate view from Glacier Point |
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Three rocks right on the edge of the cliff. The rock on the right hangs
out over the cliff and used to be a cool spot to have your photo taken, but
you're not allowed to go out there anymore. I guess being the US someone
would sue the park if they fell. Well actually their family would sue since
I think it's pretty unlikely that anyone is going to survive a 3000' fall
onto rock. |
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This chipmunk was running around the rock hanging over the cliff like
crazy. |
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Chipmunk on top of the rock |
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Cool clouds |
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More cool clouds |
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Another shot of Half Dome with clouds |
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A couple miles before Glacier Point are the trailheads for the Taft
Point and Sentinel Dome trails. I stopped to hike Taft Point before lunch;
I'll come back for Sentinel Done tomorrow. Here is a deer having breakfast
on the hike to Taft Point. I think I was the first one on the trail for the
day because I didn't pass anyone until I was on the return leg of the hike. |
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Trail on the way to Taft Point. It's not all quite this flat but it's
not very challenging. |
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One of the five main fissures at Taft Point. I could not see how far
down they went, so I assume it's pretty far. If you stay on the main trail
area you'll be safely away from them, but if you get adventurous you need to
pay attention where you're going because these things run all along one side
and you don't see some of them until you get right up to them... Or so
I heard. |
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Profile Cliff is the only part of Taft Point with a railing for those
who want to check out the view but are uneasy about walking up to the edge
of a 3000 foot cliff. |
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View over the railing. The views are great but for some reason this
didn't seem to be a very popular hike even though it is quite easy and only
about 2.2 miles |
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View over the railing in the other direction |
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This is the main Taft Point over to the left from the railing overlook |
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View from Taft Point. Pay attention walking around this area or you
could take a much bigger step than you intended! |
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Hiking back to the trailhead |
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Back down in the valley on the way to lunch in Yosemite Village |
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The LeConte Memorial Lodge, built around the turn of the 20th century by
the Sierra Club to honor geologist and conservationist Joseph LeConte. It
was closed for the season. |
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After lunch I decided to drive about an hour up Tioga Road to the "high
country" around Tuolumne Meadow around 10,000 feet ASL. Here is a picture of
El Capitan on my way out of Yosemite Valley. |
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This was the view facing the other direction when I took the picture of
El Cap above. |
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Well along 120 east maybe 3/4 of the way to Tuolumne Meadow there was a nice scenic view
turnout. I think it may have been Olmstead Point - if not it was right past
it. |
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Not too much further along 120 is Tenaya Lake. There are a bunch of
picnic tables here and it would be a nice place to stop and eat if you had
packed lunch. |
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Lembert Dome. The black spot where it gets steep is really two people. I
wanted to climb to the top (there is a steep but hikeable trail around the
back side) but the two people in the picture left and there was nobody else
around for miles and nobody knew where I was, so I decided not to risk it. |
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Instead I decided to take the walk up to Soda Springs. |
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There was a road leading up to Soda Springs but it was gated off so I
had to walk. It was only about 1.5 miles or so and as you can see very flat.
This is looking back down the road at Lembert Dome. |
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View from up by Parson's Lodge near the springs |
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These are the Soda Springs... lots of white minerals from the carbonated
water. |
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Here is a closeup of the water bubbling to the surface |
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A nice view of the river with mountains in the background |
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View one way down the river |
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View up the river from the middle of the bridge |
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Tuolumne Meadows. Very bleak and dry in the fall. In the spring it's all
green and full of wildflowers and the Tuolumne River run strong. In the fall
the river is barely a trickle - you can see some of the dry riverbed to the
right. |
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Cool mountains on the drive back to Yosemite Valley |
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One thing you don't see or hear much about are all the fires and burned
sections of the forest. I drove past two managed fires on my way to Tuolumne
Meadows and there were many large sections of forest that had been burned
all over the park. This section is near the main valley entrance on my way
back. |
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They used to try to put out all the fires but then they learned
occasional fires are actually necessary for the health of the ecosystem. |
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Weak attempt at night photography. Unfortunately I didn't have the right
equipment to take a better long exposure shot. |
