It was a long, but lovely drive to Yosemite. Because of the very heavy snow fall this year, the Tioga Pass was still closed, as was the Sonora Pass and even higher up, the Ebbetts Pass, so we had to go all the way up via the Carson Pass, named for the scout Kit Carson.
We stopped at the alkaline Mono Lake, America's oldest, where we saw the tufa towers, formed by the underwater accumulation of calcium carbonate. Some reach as high as 10 metres.
The patriotic town of Bridgeport.
Picnicking in the middle of nowhere.
Snow banks at the top of the pass.
A frozen lake, just starting to thaw.
At last we arrived at our accommodation for three nights, Evergreen Lodge, Yosemite.
Our cabin. We had the left half of this.
Falls on Big Oak Flat Road, as we drove into Yosemite Valley. The snow melt after such heavy falls meant exceptional water falls everywhere this year. It also meant there were long rows of cars, with all the visitors here to see the phenomenon
Swiftly flowing water everywhere.
The granite monolith, El Capitan.
It is stunningly beautiful where ever you look.
Yosemite Falls in the background.
Yosemite Falls thundering down. At 740 metres, it is the highest waterfall in the US.
Yosemite Falls, just seen through the soaring redwood trees. By now it was after lunch and the weather closed in on us.
Trying to pretend I wasn't soaking wet and freezing.
Next day the weather was clear and we spent it at Hetch Hetchy Dam, near Evergreen Lodge. Our aim was to walk the 10 kilometre return trail to the Wapama Falls, seen in the back ground. It was very pretty and mercifully crowd free.
Water gushing from the controversial Hetch Hetchy Dam. It was completed in 1923 to supply water to San Franscisco and was strongly opposed by conservationists who wished to keep the wilderness of Yosemite National Park untouched.
We passed under several small waterfalls as we progressed and the trail was quite wet in parts. We wondered how we would get across this stream.
Fortunately we spotted these stepping stones.
It was also a very rocky trail in parts.
The view across the lake from further down the trail.
Some of the lovely wild flowers along the way.
At last we made it to Wapama Waterfall. By now it was quite warm and we were trying to shed our layers. On the return trip we were told there was a black bear walking along the trail. We teamed up with a young Australian couple who we had picnicked with at the falls and we walked along in trepidation and excitement, banging rocks together as we had been told. Sure enough we spotted it climbing on the rocks in front of us, but unfortunately we weren't quick enough to get a photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment