Yosemite Valley…a Quiet Sunday

This weekend’s adventure wasn’t so much a hike…as a meander up and down the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Rick and I love visiting the Valley in the Fall. It’s one of the best times to experience the Park without the high season crowds!

We spent Sunday afternoon exploring the Merced River and its sandbars from first the Cathedral Picnic area and then Sentinel. The Merced this time of year is itself meandering without the brisk water flow of Spring. Although it’s usual for the Merced to be low in the Fall…this drought year it’s much lower…so much so that we could have crossed without the water getting past our knees.

Our quiet Sunday on the Merced gifted us with time to ourselves, a myriad of floating leaves both airborne and shore bound, and an array of wildlife.

Rick captured an image of a second or third season bear as it came up from the river. As soon as he noticed us, it rambled up on over the bank leaving too quickly for a close encounter or any close up images.

A boisterous female Mallard made her presence well-known as she waddled to within 10-feet of us and proceeded to either scold us for being too near her waters or to beg for picnic morsels. I liked to lean on the side of scolding…because she wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with her begging. A brief Mom note: PLEASE don’t feed any of the animals in the Park no matter how cute, or needy, they make themselves appear. Rick and I both are HUGE advocates for keeping Yosemite wild…feeding wildlife always does more harm than good!

Bird spotting also rewarded us with numerous Raven flybys, several raucous Steller’s Jay sightings, and perhaps the most exciting, for me, two Pileated Woodpeckers! The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest Woodpecker…and looks, I think, almost pre-historic with its long neck and distinctive stripes. We found one drinking from the River, while the other was busy pounding away mid-tree debris flying. Be sure to listen to the Pileated’s call on The Cornell Lab site link above. This bird definitely makes its presence known both in its Flicker-esque call and its rather loud tapping…both are captured in the recording.

I think my biggest surprise of the day was the joy I found within my own photo captures…admittedly on my iPhone…still…here’s my favorite photo of the day:

Shhhh…be very quiet…Rick’s hunting photographs…tee hee!

We hope you get a chance to explore Yosemite soon!

– rickeri

Fuller Buttes

Friday found us on Minarets Highway heading out of North Fork. A gorgeous drive into the Mammoth Pool area, Minarets Highway eventually hooks up with Beasore Road. The full Beasore Road Minarets Highway loop (Sierra Scenic Vista Byway) makes for an interesting to challenging drive depending on the weather. The loop is closed during Winter months.

Everything is still green in this part of the Sierra National Forest except you can definitely see remnants of the Aspen Fire which raged through the area last July. We contended with quite a bit of smoke and ash in Ahwahnee thanks to the fire and A LOT of smoke on our adventures in Mammoth during the last week of July.

Our first stop Friday was at the Mile High Vista, a great overlook into Mammoth Pool and more importantly for Rick an excellent view of the higher peaks: Electra, the Ritter Range, Mammoth Mountain, and the Silver Divide. We also had great views of Squaw Dome, Fuller Buttes, Balloon Dome, The Balls, and Eagle Beaks.

Our original goal was to top Squaw Dome, or Piyau Dome. But…the road to Squaw Dome Trailhead was blocked about a half mile in by a downed tree way too big for us to move. We ventured down one of the other “logging” roads…to South Fork Trailhead and it too was blocked by a downed tree…this one had obviously blocked the road for several seasons.

Taft Point

I LOVE this picture Rick took of me as we headed out to Taft Point…I look so teeny!

That’s what Yosemite is all about…”Hugemongous”…”Breathtaking” views. Taft Point doesn’t disappoint and offers hikers a super interesting side view of El Capitan. Interesting for several reasons…1…there is only one guard rail on the tallest of the vertigo inspiring drops…2…it shows off the North Valley Wall and the actual structure of El Capitan itself…and 3…the unique perspective makes El Capitan actually seem small…and nowhere near as commanding as it is from the Tunnel View and especially the Valley Floor!

This hike confirmed…we are officially locals because…1…Neither of us linger to “ooh” and “aah” over the Tunnel View (Rick will particularly disagree to this statement on any storm day)…2…We headed out of the house by 8am to bag a quick hike before meeting up with best friends in the Valley at 2pm for wine & pizza at the Pizza Deck in Curry Village…and 3…I earned an eye roll from a woman at the Taft Point Trailhead when she asked me where I was from!

As this Taft Point link suggests…the hike is an “easier” one…confirmation earned when we passed a woman and her husband who both carried their coffee cups with them on the hike.  Another confirmation is we passed a lot more people on the trail who are a lot less talkative than hikers you meet on longer trails.

One of my favorite things to do while hiking…besides pretending I can sketch…is bird watching.  We heard two of our favorites up top…the Canyon Wren and the Black Capped Chickadee, or what we refer to as the “Hey Baby” bird. Check out The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds site to identify both birds AND hear their song.

If you have a couple hours (or more if like us you tend to hang out at the tip top to soak up the ambiance) and crave an unusual yet totally spectacular sky high view of the Park…then Taft Point definitely makes the must-hike list!

rickeri

Hidden Lake, Yosemite National Park

Rick got the day off unexpectedly last Friday…coincidence? I think not!

Our lousy Winter weather gave us an unexpected…yet much appreciated…gift…Tioga Pass opened at noon on May 2nd. This clearing marks a tie for the second earliest opening since 1980…the earliest recorded was on April 29, 1988.

I was way excited to get into Yosemite’s High Country…it’s easily one of my favorite places in the park.  I think the view of Tenaya Lake with Mt. Conness in the background beats out the Half Dome, El Capitan, Tunnel View any day! Blasphemy, I know!

We got into the park early that morning and took a detour to Washburn point on the way to Glacier Point…another equally iconic view of Yosemite National Park. On the way out we saw a way too tame Coyote fearful of neither car nor the humans who hung out their windows…cell phone in hand…eager to capture his wild image.  Obviously more than one park visitor has ignored the “DO NOT FEED THE ANIMAL” warnings scattered throughout…it was truly a sad thing to see.

Anyway…off to Olmstead Point. On the drive out to the point we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of snow still covering the peaks and the north-facing slopes. If you’ve listened to the news at all lately…you mostly likely had the same notion we did…NO SNOW to be found in the High Country. The reports of low snow pact are not entirely incorrect…perhaps slightly exaggerated.

We ventured off trail…something I’ve been known to utterly dislike…mostly because my worry-wort nature has me entirely convinced that I would NEVER be able to find my way back if I was, “poof”, stranded by myself for any length of time! Rick, however, LOVES going “off trail” and thankfully route finding is one of his Sierra specialties.

As tempting as it is..it doesn’t seem fitting to go into detail where Hidden Lake is from Olmstead Point.  Suffice it to say it’s about a mile from the parking area…armed with a decent map…you should be able to find your own route.

Hidden Lake is gorgeous…with everything we’ve come to expect a High Sierra lake to be…quintessential reflections in crystal clear water…little or no people…and especially…a tranquil moment to hang out together…just us.

rickeri