The Nysaverse

Is Evil…

Okay, so I’m back-posting a little (if you don’t see a post of May 4 below, I probably haven’t finished them yet), but I’ve gotten galleries up of the trip to San Francisco/Yosemite. Check the Photography page.

Woke up this morning (later than I wanted, but hey, it’s vacation and I suck at mornings anyways), grabbed some breakfast and snacks for backpacking, and headed into the park.

Not much to say about the drive, other than that I did snap some pictures of the rock slide. There’s no good angle from the roadway, and you’re not supposed to stop on the “detour,” but I was able to prep the camera prior to driving across and snap some pictures through the windshield. I’ll try and update with one of the pictures, later…

The plan today was to go hiking, and go hiking I did! I trekked back up towards Vernal Falls, and stopped to snap pictures of some Steller’s Jays that were bravely perched about 3 feet above some picnic’ers’ heads. At this point, while munching on some trail mix, I was acosted by several squirrels looking for food. Needless to say, I soundly defeated them, and continued uphill leaving their battered remains for the… okay, really, they were a good bit cuter than Minnesota squirrels, and after posing for me for several pictures they were probably rewarded by a trail-mix peanut or two that slipped out of my hand.

I wandered up the trail a ways until I found a large, flat rock on which I could scoot out over the river. I setup the tripod and sat for a while taking pictures of Vernal Falls and people hiking up the Mist Trail below it. While packing up, another guy wanders out to take some pictures, and complained to me about how the glare off the falling water was preventing good pictures. I asked if he had a cincular polarizing filter on, and when he said yes I pointed out that the function of a CP filter was to reduce precisely that type of glare. I just find it strange that someone would have a CP filter on their lens, know it, but not know what it’s for…

The plan was to hike to the top of Nevada Falls, and possibly beyond into the “Little Yosemite Valley” a little upriver from the falls. There’s two trails that go up there, the John Muir trail on the southeast side of the river, and another trail branching from the Mist Trail on the northwest side. Not wanting to take the Mist Trail and chance all my gear getting soaked (people coming down from the trail described it as being inside a torrential rainstorm along some parts), I took the “winter trail,” which bypasses the Mist Trail altogether and leads up towards Nevada Falls along the John Muir trail.

Not a whole lot to describe about this part of the trek - like most alpine switchback trails, occasionally I’d find myself at some good vantage point and take some pictures, but the rest was me slogging along upwards for about an hour. At some point, the winter trail reaches a lookout, from which you can see Nevada Falls and there’s a trail connecting back to the Mist Trail. I opted to continue on the John Muir trail, which heads up to Nevada Falls from the south side. The approach to the falls is along a rather sheer cliff, with some water trickling down - this part definitely looks like some serious construction took place.

At long last, I reached the top of Nevada Falls - total time about 3 hours 30 minutes, including time spent taking pictures. While there’s not a lot to see at the top, you can look out over the falls, to the river below, and up the river at the rapids above. One nice feature of the long trek is that not a lot of people were at the top. I was able to spend a quiet hour relaxing at the top. I took a lot of pictures, but for much of the time I was lost in thought and probably took more pictures reflecting my mood than ones that qualify as “good photography.” Extremely tranquil up there, considering the constant roar of the falls.

Eventually I decided it was time to head back to the valley. Other than a brief shot of Nevada Falls from along the cliff trail back, I didn’t stop to take any pictures. Part way down, I encountered a couple that I’d seen leaving the top of Nevada Falls a good half hour before I left - they were about two switchbacks below me, yammering away and making an aweful racket. As I got to within a switchback of them and they could see me, one of them called out about there being a bear between my switchback and the one below. I didn’t see one, so I assume their yammering chased it away, or up a tree, or something. Otherwise rather uneventful. Total time down was 1 hour 20 minutes.

By the time I back into the valley it was starting to get dark. I got some pictures of Mule Deer grazing in the valley twilight, and then decided to head back to Mariposa…

Unfortunately, by the time I left Yosemite it was getting really dark! I don’t mind the windy, narrow road next to a steep drop towards a river - provided I can drive it during the day! Even though the speeds along this road was 50+ during the day, when you can’t see past your headlights to see the next turn you end up driving maybe 30. And a tense 30 at that! What takes an hour in daylight took me about 1:45 in the dark. I’ve decided the next time I’m at Yosemite I’d like to stay in the park, and skip the daily drive to Mariposa!

So at long last I’m back at the hotel, fed, and ready for sleep…