Yosemite Rain Trip - Part 1

[rvator51]

The night before our planned trip to Yosemite Natl Park, the weather wasnt looking too good with a slow moving front encroaching on northern California.



The following morning the forecasts looked doable so we got a start from Phoenix, AZ at 7am. Saw Carlo Hernandez taxiing for takeoff at Glendale airport for his trip to CA to sell his Pazmany in favor of buying a RV-7 wing kit.

As we flew past Big Bear, the weather showed some yellows but the METARs and forcast still showed it as doable.




The first clouds of the morning showed up as we made a right turn over Rosie and Tuppergirl's house and headed north through Techapachi pass.




We soon encountered light rains for the rest of the trip to Merced.

Rain gear went on as soon as we landed.




Driving into Yosemite, part of the road was buried in a massive landslide. A temporary bridge was built to move the road to the otherside of the river, then back after the landslide.

[rvator51]

With all of the snowpack and rain this season, the rivers were really booming.



Our luxury $140 a night tent at Curry Village in Yosemite. After getting settled in, we went to met some friends who had flown in from Albuquerque. As we got to their tent we saw a bear about 30 feet away trying to get into the food lockers that are outside each tent. Was a good object lesson to make sure we didnt keep any food in the tent. This also included items like toothpaste, etc. Evidently bears are not too discriminating! Only think we could keep in the tents was bottled water.





View of the valley the next morning.



Richard poses on a famous promontory at Glacier Point. This is the same spot a famous picture was taken of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir. Sheer drop below all the way to Curry Village.





Half Dome looms in the distance. We came to climb the north side of it. However, it snowed 6 " of fresh snow during the evening and heavy rain all evening the night before we were supposed to climb it. The rangers closed the trail and wouldnt let any one past. The permits to climb Half Dome went on sale in March and sold out in less than 15 minutes for the year.




Richard and Dave set up cameras for a great shot from Panorama Point . The trail to this point is not marked so you have to know about it before hand to get to it. Its about 2500 straight down just a few feet behind of Dave.

[rvator51]

Nevada Falls was really flowing because of all the runoff.



Another shot of Nevada Falls from further down the trail.



Upper Yosemite Falls. There are two more sections to the falls below this picture.




This woman works for the park service. Her grandmother made a lot of the dresses and baskets that are in the museum. All the pottery is made from roots of a certain plant. She said she has to grow them outside the park now to get the materials to make new baskets.



A final view back at the park that Mark took as we head back to Merced. El Capitan is on the left and Bridal Veil Falls is on the right. Half Dome shows in the far distance.




On the way back, we got detoured onto a small road that got worse and worse. Turned out that our AV8OR's GoDrive automotive software was set to bicycle mode so it took the least traveled route to get back to Merced. Would have been ok if we were on mountain bikes.



We came straight over the Sierras back to Phoenix. Off to the right is Mt Whitney, the highest point in California. A trip to hike Mt Whitney is planned for 2012 if we can get permits drawn in the lottery to hike it.



It was a great trip even with all the rainy weather.

[Louise Hose]

I'm envious, Tom. Thanks for sharing. Those are gorgeous photos.

[Bavafa]

Oh, the pictures brought back the memories of all the good years of climbing , many thanks.

[n5lp]

The rain and clouds may have been inconvenient but they contributed to some spectacular photos.

[rvator51]

Originally Posted by Louise Hose

How'd you get pictures without crowds?

Hi Louise!
Tons of rain. The valley was crowded but not too many people hiking! Worked for us. So we were there when the rains broke up each day.