Winter in the Sierra, 2005
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About ten million years ago the granitic crust of the earth uplifted and tilted to begin forming what would become the mighty Sierra Nevada mountains of California. About one million years ago glaciers moved through the central Sierra, carving deep valleys in the tilted granite as they moved down existing stream valleys. Ice in these glaciers was over four thousand feet deep in some areas. Eight thousand years ago the forefathers of the Miwok peoples first settled in the midst of the Merced River valley, developing an agrarian culture whose imprint is visible in the broad meadows of the valley to this day. In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln took time out from the miseries of the ongoing American Civil War to sign a bill granting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias to the State of California as an inalienable public trust, and what would eventually become Yosemite National Park was born.
Yosemite is many things to many folk, three and a half million of them visit every year. Most of them visit during the summer months, which is why we tend to visit when it's cold in the winter. I have averaged a visit a year in Yosemite for every year of my life, and delight in continuing that tradition with my Fox and our children. 2005 was no exception. This visit, like every one before it, was unique. This time the weather greeted us with rain before we even got to the valley. A line of storms optimistically billed as the "first fierce storm of the season" was expected to dump snow on the four thousand foot elevation of the valley floor. Unfortunately, mother nature wasn't playing that game, we arrived to a steady, light, and warm rain. The creeks and rivers ran more water than we expected, and the temperatures were in the high forties to low fifties that first day, quite a bit warmer than expected.
Photographic conditions were miserable that Thursday we arrived, so we stayed indoors and relaxed. Friday dawned cloudy and cool, the air temp just above freezing, with scattered light showers here and there. Conditions rapidly improved as the morning grew into mid-day.
These guys greeted us our first morning there. A buck and his does wandered through the lodge complex mid-morning like they owned the place (which, upon reflection, they probably do). They seemed totally unconcerned by our presence and in fact walked up to almost within arms reach of us, stopping about six feet away. They didn't tarry long, but grabbed a mouthful of breakfast or two and moved on. The buck looked a bit service-worn. Half his right antler was missing, he had a nasty scar on his head above his right eye, and he walked with a limp that explained the scars near his right front knee. Yet he was proud and powerful, and looked like he would have no trouble defending himself and his small herd. Smart guy that he was, he chased his ladies away from the humans and towards the less populated areas to the northwest.
One of the most photographed pieces of rock in the USA, this is the famous Half Dome as viewed from the east end of Leidig Meadow, a short walk southeast of Yosemite Lodge.
View looks east, it's a bit past 11 AM Friday morning and the rain has finally stopped for good.
Another view of Half Dome, looking east across the Merced River from a bit farther south in Leidig Meadow. The river is a bit higher and more active than usual for winter time, thanks to the four to five inches of rain that fell overnight. Snow level was above seven thousand feet, we never saw any on this trip.
Near the Sentinel footbridge across the Merced River, in the southeast corner of Leidig Meadow. This view looks southeast, down valley, to the cloud-shrouded formation known as Cathedral Spires. The massive bulk on the right is the foot of El Capitan, the largest single chunk of granite in North America. It's about noon Friday.
This slightly blurred image is quite enlarged from an original by Adam using his Canon Rebel XT. This little lady crossed our path on our way back from the meadow to the lodge. She seemed mildly annoyed by our interrupting her search for lunch, but did not deviate from her course one bit, passing within an easy stone's throw of us as we walked towards the lodge complex.
She wandered on towards the meadow herself, looking over her shoulder occasionally to see if we might choose to join her. Katie captured this image of her, again enlarged from the original, with her Canon A95 as our friend went off to pursue her morning.
Adam setting up a shot with his camera. This is the Ahwahnee Hotel, with the Royal Arch Cascade falling from above along the right side of the image. It is about 3 PM Friday afternoon, this view looks due north. The Ahwahnee was originally opened in 1927 after an eleven month construction period which cost a total of $1,225,000. Due to its remote location, the construction of The Ahwahnee was the most complex trucking endeavor of its day. Over 5,000 tons of stone, 1,000 tons of steel, and 30,000 feet of timber were hauled over the challenging mountain roads to build it's 99 rooms and 24 outlaying cottages. During the Second World War, from June 1943 to December 1945, the Ahwahnee was conscripted into military service as the foremost rehabilitation hospital for the Seventh Fleet, United States Navy. The Hotel was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 1987.
Another view of Half Dome, taken from the Ahwahnee Meadow, just south of the Hotel. View looks due east.
Leaving the rest of the crew to take the shuttle back to the lodge, Adam and I chose to walk back from the Ahwahnee by way of the village. Along the way, Adam captured this image of the late afternoon sun in the trees near the old orchard just west of the village with his Canon Rebel XT. This is uncropped, unenlarged, his original composition.
Another view of Half Dome, looking across the Merced River late on a Saturday morning from near the east edge of Leidig Meadow. Washington Column is visible beyond the foliage to the left. It was considerably colder this morning, thanks to the absence of cloud cover. Overnight lows in the mid twenties, daytime highs were in the upper thirties.
Katie and Adam, patiently waiting for their father to quit fooling around and get back to the hike. Leidig Meadow, near noon.
No, it's not a bad picture. It's flipped 180 degrees. This is a reflection of Yosemite Falls in the calm of the Merced River near Sentinel Bridge in Leidig Meadow.
This is what they should look like. This is upper Yosemite Falls,in which Yosemite Creek tumbles first 1430 feet, then descends another 675 feet in cascades to the lower falls, which are 320 feet high and out of sight in this image behind the trees in the distant foreground. Thus this is the highest waterfall in North America. View again looking due north from Sentinel Bridge.
I said it was cold! Frost and ice formed on Sentinel Bridge overnight, to be melted away by the late morning sun. Here we see the frost still existent in the shade of the railings of the bridge. View looks west into Leidig Meadow, just before noon.
The full extent of Yosemite Falls.
If the stunning scenery weren't enough to persuade one of God's presence and love, one can always wander into church in the heart of Yosemite Valley. Across the Merced River to the east from Yosemite Lodge, the church is near the site of the original Yosemite Village. At least two weddings were performed in this small structure while we were in the valley. While The Fox and I were warming ourselves in the bar at the Ahwahnee Hotel we spied not once, but twice, a wedding party complete with fully gowned bride. It's cold on the east side, here the church is in the shadow of Sentinel Point, which towers three thousand feet above the valley floor. It's early afternoon, the air temp is just below freezing here. You've really got to want to get married in Yosemite to brave sub-freezing temperatures on your wedding day!
The sun sets early in the depths of the valley. It's 4:15 Saturday afternoon. Adam and I are between Yosemite Village and the Lodge, near Yosemite Creek. This view is looking east. The valley was devoid of sunlight within ten minutes of taking this picture.
Early Sunday morning. Ice has formed from spray as Yosemite Creek plunges into the valley, clinging to the granite cliffs. As the sun warms the rock, great chunks of ice break away and fall to the jagged rocks below with a thundering crash that can be heard across the valley. A telephoto image from the Lodge complex, looking north.
El Capitan, 10:30 Sunday. View looks east-northeast across Bridalvale Meadow, up valley. This 3,600 foot tall massif, rising to 7,925 feet above sea level, is reputed to be the largest single piece of exposed granite in North America, perhaps the world. "ElCap" is one of the most highly regarded and well used rock-climbing adventures there is. Yosemite's official (and patented) by-line of "Go Climb A Rock" was coined at the base of "ElCap". Yet no climbers were evident this December day, the walls and floor of the valley were quiet. Difficult to see in this picture, frost clings to the grasses and fallen trees in the foreground.
Another view of El Capitan and the other features of Yosemite Valley. This is the classic photo most folk envision when thinking of Yosemite, variants of this image have appeared in many publications in many media by many artists. The view is looking a bit north of east up the valley from "Discovery View". This viewpoint is at the eastern (downhill) end of the Wawona Tunnel on highway 41 as it enters the valley. In the far background is Clouds Rest (9,926 feet), just to the left of Half Dome (8835 feet). Beyond Clouds Rest, in the north end of the park, is Tuolumne Meadows, arguably the best summer-time camping destination Yosemite offers. Some day we'll check it out and archive it for you... The three jagged outcrops on the right are known as the Cathedral Rocks, the tallest is 6,544 feet high. Beyond them is snow-covered Sentinel Dome, 8,122 feet.
Yosemite Valley lies beneath a major air traffic corridor known as Victor 244, which arches high overhead on a line between San Francisco and points east.
The Fox and the coyote in one of their favorite places.
Another mood picture from Adam and his Rebel XT, taken while underway as we drove over the south road between Chinquapin and Wawona. The National Park Service fire suppression crews were conducting controlled burns of the undergrowth and dead timber all along the highway all through this area. Mostly it was a minor distraction what with the reduced visibility in smoke, but occasionally we would see flames along the roadside and twice saw the crews actually firing the piles of dried out brush and timber near the roadside.
By the time we got down to the South Fork of the Merced River the skies were clear again, and we greeted another old friend. This is the main building of the old hotel at Wawona, on the south road between Chinquapin and the south entrance to Yosemite. The structure seen here was built in 1879, other parts of the hotel date from 1876. The most recent buildings of the group were built in 1918. Wawona was originally a stage stop between Fresno and Yosemite Valley, the name is a native American term for "Big Trees" (no doubt referring to the huge trees in the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees section of the park, just to the southeast). Wawona and the area around it became part of Yosemite National Park in 1932. There are 104 rooms in the hotel. Wawona is one of the the largest existing Victorian hotels within the boundaries of a national park, and one of the few remaining in the United States. As such, it is listed in the National Register as a National Historic Landmark.
The crew in '05. Adam, The Fox, Katie, the ol' dog, Gloria, and Fred. Three generations of Sierra travelers! Taken around the noon hour at Wawona, just west of the old covered bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River. The bright sun was in our faces! From this point we bid a fond goodbye to our friend Yosemite, and look forward eagerly to our next trip when the weather will be better and the hikes longer. Within a few hours we would be back in soCal's dry, warm, and odd-smelling air...
... that looked sort of like this. While not actually in soCal yet, this is more of what we're used to seeing a sunset look like. Once again from the lens of Adam's Rebel XT, this photograph was taken on highway 99 in the farm country somewhere north of Bakersfield near Delano. Within twelve hours of this photograph being taken I was back on the job...
Thanks for sharing our trip with us!