Yosemite 10/28/12

On the road again Sunday Oct. 28


The Chapel was built in 1879, is the only building from the Old Village. It was moved to this location in 1901.


Wooden bridge across the Merced River


Merced River, hard to capture the beauty.


We attended a Catholic Communion Service in the Theater. The Park has a rectory for visiting priests. The 1st & 3rd Sundays the priest comes from Oakhurst to say Mass.


The Park had the Indians dress in costume and put on shows, according to the Indian who gave the talk last night. This is not the way the local Indians dressed.


Toll rates to Yosemite.


Chief's House in the Indian Village.


Ceremonial Roundhouse


Entrance to the Ceremonial Roundhouse


Bark House made of Incense Cedar.


Sweathouse. Indians spent time in there before hunting. Also used for curative purposes.


Acorns could be stored for several years in the Acorn Granary. It is a nestlike container of grapevines and buck brush between 4 poles. It is lined with wormwood.


Found someone from Illinois in the Yosemite Cemetery. We used a book from the Visitors Center to read interesting stories about many of the residents.


Returning to our RV we saw 3 young bucks munching in the parkway.


They were not concerned about people passing by.

It was bittersweet to think of leaving Yosemite. It is a very special place, so serene, beautiful scenery and the weather was perfect, even if it was chilly overnight....28 degrees. Temp. during the day was in 70's in the sun.


On Tioga Road pass. "Few mountain dives anywhere can compare visually with this 59-mile seasonal road. It had been closed for 4 days because of snow.)


Pond as we journey up the mountains.


Yosemite is on the flight pattern from Los Angeles.


At Ohmsted Point, Half Dome in the distance.


I'm hiking to the lookout.


There are many rocks this size that were left by the glaciers.


Phil above the valley.


Phil in the upper right corner.


Tenaya Lake


Tenaya Lake from the other end.


Yes, they had snow earlier in the week.


Tuolomme Meadow, snow instead of wildflowers.


Mountain roads...windy.


Ellery Lake, elevation, 9,945 ft.


This lake has a skim of ice on it. The highest elevation on the Pass was 9,945 feet .


The line across the center is the road we will be going down.


Still traveling down. Our road in lower left. On the flat land we passed a field with many 500 sheep.


We stayed at Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop, CA. Passed people riding their horses on the street.


Full moon!

Location:Yosemite, CA.

Yosemite, 10/27/12

On the road again Saturday Oct. 27


Phil drove me to the Ansel Adams Gallery so I could participate in the Photo Walk that started at 9 am. It was a bit brisk, 37 degrees.


Mike, our tour guide, works at the Ansel Adams Gallery. We headed out to the meadow. He showed us photos that Adams did. Talked about Adams' theories. Then encouraged us to experiment.


It was also a walk learning about Yosemite. The strip down the wall is where Yosemite Falls would flow. The Falls is totally dependent on melting snow, no river or stream feed it. It has been dry since August if not earlier. The first drop of the Falls is 1,430 ft. Second drop is 675 ft. Third is 320 ft. Total of 2,425 ft. Tallest falls in the U. S.


As we walked farther in the meadow we come upon 3 deer just relaxing in the morning sun.


This one was just chewing and chewing away.


Can you see the person walking in the meadow? Shows the vastness of the area!


This is the only Elm tree in the Park. It was planted early in the 1900's.


Before I wouldn't have thought of taking a photo of milkweed seeds. But Mike talked about back lighting.


Another example of back lighting. I learned so much on this Walk. Throughout the day I found myself looking at taking photos in a different. Oh, I still took a lot of traditional photos too.


After lunch we hiked to Mirror Lake passing the Merced River along the way.


Different view of Half Dome. Mirror Lake usually dries up. You can see the sand.


Huge boulders cluttered along the way.


Those are full size trees growing on the mountain ledge.


We took the shuttle bus to #6 stop to join on the Merced Meanders walk led by Ranger Phil.


There are miles of walkways. Just an awesome place.


We have seen 3 or 4 deer each day. Even a coyote crossing the street.


The Merced River just meandering along. We talked to the camper next to us. She brings her 6 year old grandson in the fall when the waters are calm.

We took the shuttle bus back to our RV, had supper and took the bus again to the Garden Terrace at the Lodge for a Ranger talk. He talked about the inception of the National Parks. He is American Indian. He talked about the Parks relations with the Indians.

Bus back to our RV and off to bed. Another full day at Yosemite.

Location:Yosemite, CA