Yosemite July 2017 - Day 5/5

Thursday, July 13, 2017

7:30 AM homemade waffle at the Sunrise Inn.
I had previously made a map of the San Francisco-area museums, and had called ahead for both Mills College Museum of Art and the Oakland Museum of California:


Packed up and left just after 8 and got to Mills College Museum of Art at 9:58 for my 10 AM appointment:

Because I had emailed ahead, I was able to see some wonderful paintings back in the storage area:

Winslow Homer - Waiting for Dad (Longing), 1873 watercolor

Thomas Hill - Yosemite Valley From Glacier Point, 19th century

William Keith - Scene in the Swiss Alps, 19th century


I left Mills College around 10:40, and got up to the Oakland Museum of California at 11 - my Peabody/Essex membership got me in free! They have a great selection of Thomas Hill and William Keith paintings!

William Keith - Kings River Canyon, 1878:



Thomas Hill - Yosemite Valley (El Capitan & Bridal Veil Falls), no date:


Thomas Hill - Yosemite, Two Trout Fishermen, no date:


The two Thomas Hill paintings are in the "Yosemite Room":

along with a really cool model of Half Dome:




Traffic was so bad that it took me an hour-and-a-half to get to the airport (instead of 40 minutes). San Francisco has a VERY BIG infrastructure problem - TOO MANY PEOPLE in not-enough-space. Got to the airport in fine time, but my flight was delayed two hours - instead of landing at midnight, it was now going to land at 2 AM.

It was a great flight, and I worked on my new app ("Where's JMW Turner") and listened to iPod on Shuffle all the way back to Boston:


My Beautiful Bride picked me up at Logan at 2 AM (TONS OF PEOPLE there), and I drove home. THANK YOU GOD for this wonderful adventure!!

When I was at The Bishop's Ranch I finished Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., first published in 1840. The current (2001) edition contains an Appendix: "Twenty-Four Years After", in which he describes his return visit to California and San Francisco in 1859-1860. I love his description of late summer in California:

" The breeze freshened as we stood out to sea, and the wild waves rolled over the red sun, on the broad horizon of the Pacific; but it is summer, and in summer there can be no bad weather in California. Every day is pleasant. Nature forbids a drop of rain to fall by day or night, or a wind to excite itself beyond a fresh summer breeze."

Yosemite July 2017 - Day 4/5

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Up at daybreak, packed up camp, Shower/Shave/and Shine - I LOVE HEARING THOSE WORDS!! I'm really tired of trying to sleep in a tent - I felt all the wood chips through the pad all night long, and the previous two nights were not any better. I have to get an air mattress! But now let's hit the day! Excellent breakfast at the restaurant, then headed up the road to Hetch Hetchy - I'm sorry, but how many OTHER CARS ARE PARKED UP HERE:

ZERO = NONE = NADA




I don't know if you could see them in the first photo, but there are 2 roaring waterfalls out along the north side of the reservoir - Tueeulala Fall and Wapama Falls:

So, I figured it out: "Fall" is used for a single unbroken waterfall, and "Falls" is used for a waterfall that gets broken up into more-than-one vertical parts ("Yosemite Falls" is technically made up of "Upper Yosemite Fall" and "Lower Yosemite Fall"), or horizontal parts ("Niagara Falls").

So I started a little after nine, walking over the O’Shaughnessy Dam and through the tunnel on the north side. Pretty easy trail:

with an iconic view:


Wonderful wildflowers along the trail:


About 10:15 I was looking up at Tueeulala Fall:



15 minutes later I came to where Wapama Falls was ROARING!! It was so strong that they had to CLOSE THE TRAIL:

so of course I went around the signs (but NOT ACROSS the bridge!)


I backtracked about a mile, and took the left trail, which is a zigzag to the top of the cliff. I didn't know how far I was going to go (high up just to get a great view? or maybe all the way to Laurel Lake?):

It turns out that because of a fire at the top of the ridge, people were being turned back by Rangers walking down the trail. I was able to gain some elevation:


And got some great pictures, including a very-rare "boat on the reservoir" (scientific water-quality testing):


Well, it was 11:30 - maybe not such a bad idea to turn around and call it a day. It was a GREAT DAY for "Trails and Waterfalls":


I got a sandwich at Evergeen Lodge's General Store, plus a black-and-white poster of Hetch Hetchy Valley back in 1911:


I then headed back into Yosemite National Park, which was actually the shortest way for me to get out on Hwy 140 to the Sunrise Inn in Turlock, CA. I stopped at Cascade Creek:

looped around the Valley to take some photos of Rockslides:


Hey, maybe I'll be back here someday, and hike it again.

Stopped for a 2:30 swim on my way out:



A couple of hours later I was driving through dry, hot Central California:

Not a cloud in the sky.

Checked in a little after 5, unloaded EVERYTHING to organize into
- checked backpack
- carry-on bag
- carry-on briefcase
- (plus my 2 carry-on posters).
Domino's Pizza for dinner, with "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" on tv - interesting because there was some sort of voice-over ("Tris looks disappointedly at Peter"), which was actually quite good because it allowed me to do my packing (and eat my pizza) without having to pay too much attention to what was happening on the tv screen. Lights-out when the movie was over (? 11 ?). THANK YOU GOD for this wonderful adventure!!

Music for driving around today was albums from my purple nano:

The Miles Davis Quintet - Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, 1957

As I was going through the Hetch Hetchy entrance, the young lady heard this and said "Nice music." I smiled and said "Thank you". It was a GREAT way to start the day!

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95, 1997 (2 cds)


Grateful Dead - Live/Dead, 1969 (2 cds)

Yosemite July 2017 - Day 3/5

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Up at 5:45, packed up camp, down to the car, drove around to Camp 4 - pretty cool moon-sighting on the way:


I got to the line at Camp 4 at 6:30. There were a lot of people already there:

(I must be a real hiker/camper dude!)

I read my book and did some sudokus. Somewhat after 8 AM the Ranger came down the line, handing out numbers -- he gave his last two numbers to the 2 guys RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I burst out laughing (OF COURSE, ITS ALL GOD'S WILL)! So "it was now decided" that I was going to camp up near Hetch Hetchy this evening. And since I was already parked in a main parking lot across from Camp 4, I decided to day-hike Upper Yosemite Falls Trail:

The sign behind Camp 4 (where the trail begins) says that Upper Yosemite Fall is 3.5 mi - so how come I hiked 11.07 miles!?!?!?

You can't read it,

but that middle area at Camp 4 restrooms says "Potable Water"

You just turn the faucet and FRESH WATER COMES RUSHING OUT! No filtering!!

I started hiking around 9:30 - not a cloud in the sky (which means it is hot, so keep drinking water!). 45 minutes later, looking back down west into the Valley:

Hikers, and our first sighting of Upper Yosemite Falls:


I will eventually wind up on the peak in the upper-right - Yosemite Point.

After many switchbacks I arrived at the top of the trail (at noon). This open area

is just to the west of the falls, and you go out along the purple line to some great views:



I followed the black-dotted-line down/over to Yosemite Creek, which becomes The Falls





Filtered-and-filled-up my two water bottles, and continued up the dotted-black-line to Yosemite Point:




I LOVE seeing the snow on the mountains in the distance.

Heading down from Yosemite Point, looking north at the "back country":


Heading back down the trail, I say goodbye to Yosemite Valley:


I got to the car a little after 4, returned my bear canister at the main Wilderness Center, and headed out to Evergreen Road and the Hetch Hetchy area:

It is a 2-hour drive to the Evergreen Lodge, and ALL THE CAMPSITES WERE FULL. Since I was planning on dinner at the Evergreen Lodge anyway, I walked to the front desk and asked for any room they had - they were SOLD OUT. Wait, wait - there is ONE OVERFLOW TENT SITE AVAILABLE:

Can everyone say "THANK YOU GOD"!!

Excellent dinner at the bar ("Deconstructed Venison Stew"), plus smores at the campfire afterwards. Brushed my teeth, and crawled into the tent as it got dark.

Music for driving around today was albums from my iPod:

Joe Jackson - Blaze of Glory, 1989


Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends, 1968


Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Blows Against the Empire, 1970