Road Trip: Death Valley and Yosemite

Friday & Saturday, May 25 & 26, 2018

Friday and Saturday turned out to be big driving days as I headed home.  I had planned to stay on the road until Monday, but things didn't work out that way.  Pongo was dead tired all day Thursday and continued to be tired on Friday in spite of our relaxed schedule the previous day.  I decided to get closer to home rather than stay in Utah.  If he bucked up we'd stay where we were and if not we'd head home.

Capitol Reef National Park, UT

We drove through Capitol Reef on our way to Panamint Springs in Death Valley, which was our ultimate destination for the evening.  We only stopped for a few pictures.  This is one of my favorite parks.

Capitol Reef National Park, UT

Koosharem Reservoir, UT

From there, it was a long, straight shot to Death Valley, which is another of my favorite parks.  We booked a campsite in Panamit Springs for two nights.

Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley National Park, CA

In the morning we drove up a rough road to an old mining site.  It was pretty cool.  Pongo wasn't any better, though, and the campsite felt small and cramped with the Memorial Day weekend crowd there, so I decided to head for home up 395.

Death Valley National Park, CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

Rainbow Canyon, Death Valley National Park, CA

Death Valley, CA

Owens Valley, CA

We lucked out on the drive home.  Highway 120 through Yosemite had been closed the week before.  My friends had tried to use it on their trip out to Canyonlands and had to turn around.  My plan was to take it if it was open, figuring the park folks would push to get it open for the big holiday weekend, or I'd go on up to Tahoe and take I-50 into California.  Well, 120 was, in fact, open.  We saw some spectacular views before driving into fog near Olmstead Point.

Yosemite National Park, CA

See how much nicer it is when there's a few clouds in the sky, or even a lot?  Makes me happy.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Yosemite National Park, CA

Yosemite National Park, CA

All in all, it was a good trip.

Yosemite National Park

January 2, 2016

Pongo and I spent Saturday afternoon in Yosemite Valley.  It was a cold, wet, overcast day.  The park was extremely crowded.  Still, it was a worthwhile trip in many regards.

Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite National Park, CA

The roads into the valley--even 120--were clear.  I suppose that at least partially explains the large crowd.  The fact that it's a holiday weekend is the other part of it, I'm sure.  Poor planning on my part to go on this particular weekend.  No planning, actually.  I was going to take Pongo camping at Pinnacles but thought we might give it a go at Yosemite instead.

El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, CA

Clouds filled the sky for most of the day, but the sun cracked through here and there.  The crisp, cold air felt refreshing with only a slight bite to it.  If I had been alone I'd have stayed and camped out overnight.  It was too wet for Pongo, though.  With all the melting snow in the campgrounds he'd have had to stay in the car all evening.  We'd have slept in the car, but still it didn't seem like a good situation for him so we only stayed until nightfall.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Upper Yosemite Fall, Yosemite National Park, CA

The overcast skies paid off here and there.  I was able to take my best shots of Yosemite Falls yesterday.  The upper falls usually get washed out out in the bright light, but the muted light kept that from happening.  The water wasn't flowing high, but at least it was flowing.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA

There are all pretty standard shots of the valley, at least for me.  It's not a large place and I tend to hit the same places.  I like these spots.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Soundtrack:

• Flatbed -- Like a Rocket
• Blondie -- Parallel Lines
• Neil Young -- After the Gold Rush / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Sierra Vista & Yosemite

Smoke on the Water

August 22, 2015

The Sierras are on fire.

Again.

I didn't take that into account when planning my day Saturday.

Bass Lake, CA

There are dozens of wildfires burning across the state right now, including a big one known as the Rough Fire in King's Canyon.  I tend to think of King's Canyon as being a long ways away, and it is.  It's a long way from my house.  It's not too far away from my target destination on Saturday, well under a hundred miles as the crow flies.

As the smoke drifts.

Redenger Lake, CA

Pongo

  My plan was to drive the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway.  It was a warm day, so Pongo and I would stop to swim when opportunity presented itself and I would take pictures of the sweeping views made available on the drive.  However, it became pretty clear as we ascended up the byway that the smoke was going to put a damper on those big views.

Sierra Vista Scenic Byway, CA

I just wasn't feeling it.  So, after getting fifteen miles or so into the scenic byway I turned around and headed back down to Bass Lake.  Pongo and I had a nice dip in the lake and I decided we'd take the long way home through Yosemite.

Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, CA

It was smoky in Yosemite Valley, but not nearly as bad as what I'd been seeing on Sierra Vista.

Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, CA

Pongo was excited when we got to Tunnel View.  Yosemite usually means a long walk to him and maybe we'll see some deer.  We did get a little walking in, but not as much as on a normal visit.  We were just taking the scenic drive home on this particular day.  He met a bunch of people while I took pictures, though, and he did very well with them.

Yosemite National Park, CA

I was hoping to take a final swim in Don Pedro Reservoir, but dogs aren't allowed there.  Lame.  It would have been our third swim stop of the day, so it wasn't the end of the world or anything, just a bit disappointing.

Don Pedro Reservoir, CA

Yosemite Valley

Soundtrack:

• Modest Mouse -- We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Pongo and I made a trip to Yosemite this weekend.  It was a wet one.  I'd hoped the rain would drive off the crowds.  No such luck.  Damn people brought their rain gear.  So much for my noble plans of having the place to myself.

Merced River, Yosemite National Park, CA

The rain darkened everything.  The sky was dark with clouds.  The granite walls of the valley were darkened by the water.  The pictures I took reflect all that.  Unfortunately, the photos also reflect the fact that I didn't make an effort to get them right.  Neither my camera or my dog are waterproof, so I was doing a bit of dashing in and out of the car to quickly get shots.  Pongo came with me most of the time, so by the end of the day the inside of the car was almost as wet as the outside.

Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, CA

This weekend's rain isn't going to do much to help with the drought.  The snow pack was 5% of normal this year in the Sierras, this was just a one day respite.  The reservoirs will be tapped after this year, meaning if we don't have a good winter next year California is going to have serious problems.

Yosemite National Park, CA

California Mule Deer -- Yosemite National Park, CA

I saw a few deer.  Pongo didn't see them.  Too bad, he likes deer.  We had a deer walk right up to us last time we were in Yosemite.  She probably thought we'd feed her, but that wasn't going to happen.  I do my best to follow park rules.  Well, I tried to sneak Pongo onto a paved trail once in Sequoia National Park but stopped about 100 yards in.  A young lady called me out and she was right.  Not my greatest moment.

Yosemite National Park, CA

Bridalveil Fall -- Yosemite National Park, CA

Yosemite National Park, CA

If you're wondering how bad things are looking, see the photo of Don Pedro Reservoir below.  Given the time of year, that's likely to be the high point for 2015.  Yikes.

Don Pedro Reservoir, CA

Yosemite National Park: Panorama Trail

Bring on the Night

July 12, 2014

Jim, Sam and I had an epic hike on the Panorama Trail in Yosemite yesterday.  An epic hike is not a good thing.  It is a hike in which one finds one has not properly prepared for but at some point there is no choice but to complete it.  An epic is not necessarily a disaster, either, but by definition it has all the makings of one.

Nevada and Vernal Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA

The Panorama Trail begins at Glacier Point and ends 2,800 feet below at Happy Isle.  It's a little over eight miles long, descending down the sides of Nevada and Vernal Falls below, both of which are clearly seen from Glacier Point and look too far away to actually believe they can be part of the day's hike when first seen.  There is also an 800 foot hill to ascent and descend between Illilouette Fall and Nevada Fall, making the total height ascended/descended 4,400 feet.  I have done a nine mile hike in just under five hours, so it seemed reasonable to assume we could finish this hike in five to six hours.  That hike was at sea level and only had a few hundred feet in elevation change, though, not over four thousand feet of change starting at over seven thousand feet.  Big difference, at least for me.

Half Dome and Nevada Fall, Yosemite National Park, CA

Everything took longer than expected on Saturday, including the bus ride from the valley floor to Glacier Point.  We were pretty sure the bus driver was drunk.  The driver made a lot of stops.  It was a tour bus, not a shuttle bus, it turned out.  That is the only bus option up to Glacier Point, though.  We saw a couple of coyote on the drive.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA

We embarked on our journey down at 3:30.  That would give us five hours of sunlight.  At worst, we figured we would have to do the last mile or so with headlamps under moonlight.  It was a full moon, a super moon in fact.  The sky was clear and the super moon shines 14% brighter than a normal full moon.  We weren't too concerned.

Half Dome, Nevada and Vernal Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA

The first stretch of the path goes two and a half miles down to Illilouette Fall.  That was the easiest part of the hike and it still took us almost two hours.  I say we, but Sam and Jim could have gotten down a lot faster on their own.  My joints just do not do well going downhill.  It was not a good sign in terms of finishing the hike in daylight.  Still, it was a beautiful stretch with amazing views of Half Dome and the surrounding area.

Illilouette Fall, Yosemite National Park, CA

The trail crosses Illilouette Creek above the waterfall.  Sam and I used the bridge, but Jim crossed over on the rocks.  Unlike Nevada and Vernal Falls, we only saw the top of Illilouette Fall from the top.  It is a beautiful creek up there.

Illilouette Creek, Yosemite National Park, CA

Illilouette Creek, Yosemite National Park, CA

After Illilouette Creek, we had to ascend and then descend 800 feet to the top of Nevada Fall.  That ascent really took it out of me.  By the time we reached Nevada Fall we were seeing the last rays of sunlight for the night.  We were way behind schedule and would have to do the rest of the hike in the dark.  What we didn't know was that there would be no easy going from here on out.

Yosemite National Park, CA

The descent down the side of Nevada Fall was steep.  There were not stairs so much as strategically placed rocks.  We never saw the bottom of Nevada Fall, it was too dark.  The stairs down the side of Vernal Falls were steep and uneven, often with no railing to hold on to.  Sam and I both struggled down the 600+ steep steps.  We made it, though.  About half way down the fall is a lookout point.  Vernal Fall is only 317 feet tall and the flow of the Merced was very low (there was no mist at all on the stairs), but glowing in the moonlight as it did that night it seemed like the most powerful and majestic waterfall that I had ever seen.  That moment made the trip for me, it is something I don't think I will ever forget.

Panorama Trail, Yosemite National Park, CA

We reached the car a little before one in the morning, and we still had the three and a half hour drive back to the Bay Area ahead of us.  I felt bad, Sam and Jim could have finished that hike a lot faster without me.  Then again, it felt like a real accomplishment for me.  I do not think I will ever want to make that hike again, but I also do not regret it.  It was one hell of an adventure.

Nevada Fall, Yosemite National Park, CA