Yosemite Rocks (May 18)

The weather forecast consistently has indicated a 100% chance of rain on Wednesday. Imagine our surprise when we woke up to blue sky, but snow low on the hills we can see from our hotel balcony.

We started and ended the day at Tunnel View. You could probably stay there for an infinite amount of time and never see the same thing twice. The light changes; the clouds come and go; the fog sits low or high; you wait for one or another of the features to reveal itself. This morning there was a lot of fog, but the snow overnight provided added interest on the rocks and trees.

[Momentary interruption while I watched the recap of the Canucks 7-2 win over San Jose.]

When we parked at the Sentinel Beach picnic area, the snow falling out of the trees made it seem like it was raining, but next to the river, it was sunny and warm. There are good views of El Capitan from here, and Jerry noticed some climbers about halfway up the face. That meant getting the binoculars in addition to the high power camera lens. The green bivouac tent stood out clearly against the granite, and as we watched he/they started to ascend further. Turning our gaze in the opposite direction, we could see Sentinel Creek cascading down from snow-covered heights to the valley below.

The Cathedral Picnic Area provided some great views of Bridalveil Falls and the Cathedral Peaks.

Our next stop was Swinging Bridge. It doesn't really swing, but it does move when people walk by as you are trying to focus the camera. The views of Upper Yosemite Falls from the north side of the bridge are lovely.

We parked the car at Curry Village and took the free shuttle bus to stop 17, the head of the trail to Mirror Lake. The “trail” (paved 2 way road) follows alongside the tumbling, roaring, rushing, Tenaya Creek to the “Lake” which is actually just a wider, quieter portion of the creek. It was a great picnic spot, and we chatted with a variety of people up and down. Mirror Lake is at the base of Half Dome, and you can also see Mt. Watkins.

We continued past Mirror Lake into Tenaya Canyon, heading for the 2009 rockfall that has closed the loop option...you can hike to it from either side,, but not cross it. A couple on the way down said you couldn't actually see the rockfall from the end of the trail, and we were getting tired, so we turned around.

Rather than going directly back to the car, we rode the shuttle to The Ahwanee Hotel, a national historic landmark built in 1927. This is where the rich and famous stay and eat. I would bet that my parents stayed there when they visited Yosemite not because they are either rich or famous, but because that's the kind of place my dad loved to stay. We wandered around to the Great Lounge, various other sitting areas, and the dining room before taking the shuttle back to the car.

A young couple from Switzerland parked next to us in a little rental car asked if we could assist them as they had left the lights on and now had a dead battery. We had our jumper cables in the back and got them back on the road again. As we headed “home,” it started to rain. I guess that 100% chance was correct, but we were fortunate it came late in the afternoon and didn't last long.

On the way out of the park, we stopped to look at one of the huge boulders that has been split in two. In the “Spirit of Yosemite” movie we watched yesterday, it impressed me that Yosemite is really one giant slab of granite, and the features such as El Capitan and Half Dome are exposed through millions of years of natural forces. The smaller boulders (you know, the ones that are only 30 feet high and thousands of tons in weight) were deposited by glaciers which also formed the valleys.

After dinner back in our hotel room, we returned to Tunnel View for sunset. Our timing was excellent as the granite faces were bathed in orange light. Half Dome was teasing us with persistent clouds hiding it from view, but, as I said at the start, if you have patience, in spite of the fact that the rocks, domes, waterfalls, and trees aren't going anywhere, the view changes constantly.

There is a story that is retold in everything I have read about Yosemite. A ranger is asked, “What would you do if you only had one day to visit the park.” He responds, “If I only had one day, I would sit on a rock and cry.” It is wonderful to be here with plenty of time to visit, and in some cases, revisit, places in the park. Over the next two days we will venture to Wawona and Hetch Hetchy, then spend our last day back in Yosemite Valley. But first, tomorrow morning I'll bite the $9 bullet and connect to the Internet in the hotel lobby, check email, send blog posts, and try to figure out how to record a voicemail greeting on that darned cell phone. Hope no one has tried to reach us as I think the service is fairly sketchy at best.

I apologize for the weird placement of the photos. I am still learning how to wrangle this whole blog thing.