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)
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