Yosemite National Park

November 14, 2018

Yosemite National Park

3 Nov 2018 Sat

The flight from Hong Kong to SFO was punctual and comfortable, empty seat between me and another guy. Food was really so so. Reached SFO on time. Some pics taken from the plane.

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It was a very warm day. Long drive to Yosemite from SFO (4 plus hours). I drove past Mariposa, one of those gold mining town.

After checking in at Cedar Lodge, i took the advice of the receptionist and rushed to see the sunset at Tunnel View. The sunset was amazing. There were so many people there taking photos.

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V1. Tunnel View Sunset

After visiting Tunnel View, i drove to the valley proper in the dark. I was not sure where to eat inside the valley and just randomly drove around, and saw a cafeteria full of people. It turned out that dinner at Valley Lodge Cafeteria was a good decision. They have chinese food available and the food was not expensive. No wonder its so popular with diners.

I also found out that Valley Lodge Hotel that i bumped into is the centre of everything in Yosemite:

1. even though the bus stop is number 8, not number 1, all shuttle buses stop here for sometime before starting their looping journey, making this stop an unofficial terminus some sort. Last bus starts from here at 10pm.

2. You can buy tours/walk tickets here, not at the NPS visitor centre as the tours are not organised by them.

3. It is near to the yosemite fall bus stop, the starting point of starry sky night walk. You can just walk over from here to the gathering point.

It is such an important place that i come here on a daily basis for various reasons.

It was challenging to drive in the dark and i was totally unfamiliar with the roads, some are one way and some are out of bound to cars.

After dinner, i drove back to Cedar Lodge, which is outside the valley. The indoor swimming pool in Cedar Lodge was warm and fun.

Tonight midnight marked the start of daylight savings hours (shift back time by 1 hour) which means extra hour of sleep haha.

4 Nov 2018 Sun

This morning, I went to the NPS visitor centre to get some information. The trees outside the visitor centre have beautiful colours.

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Some photographs taken at the board walk near the visitor centre.

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Lower Yosemite fall dried up so i skipped the Yosemite trail. In the spring/summer months, one can hike long distance to see Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls.

During this time Mirror Lake was basically gone, left only a sand bed, but the journey to mirror lake was beautiful with golden autumn leaves. One thing good about coming to Yosemite in November, everywhere was crispy yellow. The only draw back: only 3 water falls still running due to extremely dry temperature this year.

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V2. Walking towards Mirror Lake

I headed towards Nevada Falls by accident. I walked out of Mirror Lake, not sure what to do next. Both Yosemite Fall and Mirror Lake were dry, and i already ran out of waterfalls to visit. A tourist couple (German?) came to me and ask me where Vernal Falls was. I didnt know the direction but decided to find out the direction and see if the fall still running. A family that walked out of the park convinced me that the waterfall was well and alive, showed me their video, which was well taken. I decided to give Vernal Fall a try; I am not sure if i had enough time to do Nevada Fall as it is already afternoon by the time i enter the entrance.

Nevada falls and Vernal falls (misty trail) turned out to be day saver. I trekked real fast in order to get out before dark. After i reached the top of Vernal Fall, i need to make a decision: to continue to Nevada Fall or to return. i decided to go ahead, but not sure if it is a good idea as sun is setting fast. The few trekkers that came down all told me still a long way up to the top of Nevada Fall and it involved trekking upwards, not flat. I nearly gave up on finishing the trek to the top of Nevada Falls as the sky was really getting dark and i scared i dont have enough time to make it down in daylight. Thankfully one couple came down and told me its only 15 minutes more to the top. It was 335pm at that time but the sun already ready to go home. I gritted my teeth and finished the trek to the top. The view was all worth it.

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22. Walking up Vernal Falls:

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V3. Vernal Fall

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25. Half Dome at the top of Nevada Falls

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V4. At the top of Nevada Fall

It was there i saw a man doing skin dipping in the stream leading to Nevada Fall.

Along the way i also met a couple who did Half Dome climbing. they told me to start early at 6am so as to finish the dome in daylight. Now that the ladder is already down, this couple used their own rope to climb up. There were another couple i met who did Half Dome starting from Glacier Point, which was much further than starting from the valley. They were in such a hurry they didnt even have time to answer my questions in detail as the distance was simply too short and the sunset was getting earlier each day. I will probably do half dome trail next time if i can get the permit next time.

The shuttle bus captain was so kind to have stopped for us as i was walking towards a stop in the wrong direction. Later i noticed that they actually stopped for passengers that flag them down even if they are not at the stops, if it is safe to do so. Also one need to announce where he wants to go during evening ride, as the bus may not cover all stops in the evening, especially during shoulder season like now.

There was a signboard near the Vernal Fall that said two young kids were swept down by waterfall as they were just wading in the upstream of the waterfall. These incidents happen every year so NPS prohibited people from swimming in the upstream of any water fall, no matter how calm the water surface looked.

I nearly miss the dinner time at valley lodge as i reached the restaurant at 745pm, 15 minutes before closing time. They gave me extra portion since they are closing soon.

Drove to the Half Dome Village in the dark and got assigned a heated tent number 454. I lost my swim trunk and my towel as i was transferring luggage from car to the tent. Good thing i booked a heated tent as it was very cold at night. i couldn't imagine how would it be like without the heater at this time of the year.

Half Dome Village has wifi available at guest lounge. The lounge is opened till 10pm everyday.

28. The guest lounge:

When i walk back to my tent, i could see a very starry night sky even just at the car park.

The toilet near the tents were closed for daily washing at 10pm, so i went to another toilet that requires number code to get in. I coulnt get the hang of it at first, only managed to get in after a few tries.

5 Nov 2018 (Mon)

Finally had a good look at the Half Dome Village in daylight. The tents were surrounded by trees.

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Walked somewhere else to take pictures.

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Took some photos at the Sentinel Bridge, where one can see reflection of half dome in the stream. A very friendly couple helped me take my photos after i helped them took theirs.

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V5. Sentinel Bridge Half Dome View

I went to see the climbers doing El Capitan climbs. They seemed so small on the rock face I could hardly identify them. The Japanese couple who were there tried their best and pointed the climbers out to me. The lady told me that her boyfriend next to her just finished the climb of El Capitan yesterday. I congratulated him. They also told me about this climber who did El Capitan free solo in 2017. I didnt know about the news honestly. The documentary about this free solo climb was directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Jimmy's wife) and won the Oscar's Best Documentary (Feature) in 2019. The news clippings are in picture 157 below.

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Went to Glacier Point Road to Taft Point and Sentinal Dome. By the time i reached the car park, its already afternoon so i trekked to Sentinal Dome real fast. After that i quickly trekked to Taft Point. if you recall Taft Point was the place where the Indian travel blog couple fell to their tragic death. it was here that i saw the Yosemite highliners practising their skills. They were amazing. i filmed a couple of them in action and promised to send them links once i uploaded them. on the way out i saw a couple taking their wedding photo in the woodlands of the trail, totally cool.

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51. Yosemite highliners in action:

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V6. Yosemite highliner at Taft Point

Saw one couple taking their wedding photo on the way out of Taft Point. Good choice.:

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Now i would drive slightly faster to make it to the glacier point before sunset. it was just in the nick of time before i reach. I quickly set up my gear before the sun went down. Very helpful photographers there taught me how to use manual mode to take night starry sky pictures. Turned out hes a pro from San Diego.

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V7. Sunset at Glacier Point

Returning to the tent to find a strange guy who were burning the fallen leaves near out tents probably out of boredom. The smokes of the burnt leaves seeped into my tent and i was near suffocation. Luckily a ranger came and asked him to stop as no burning is allowed.

6 Nov 2018 (Tue)

This morning i woke up really early for sunrise photos but realized that i couldn't find the location called valley view. after a few turns i finally found the spot. it was there i bumped into a film photographer. incidentally a Singaporean couple who happened to be there quickly asked to buy a roll of film from him. He sold it for 16 dollars.

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Sentinel Bridge in the morning. There was a sign reminding everyone about the great flood in 1997 that submerged many parts of Yosemite.

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National Park rangers had a talk in the morning (15 mins) on animals in Yosemite and another longer talk (1.5 hours) on geology. I would start with the morning talk. the ranger wanted us to guess an animal found inside yosemite, which has 4 legs and breathe through its skin. None of us guessed it correctly, lets see you can guess the identity of this unusual animal.

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The afternoon talk on geology by Ranger Shelton was way above expectation. He managed to bring out geology in the most interesting way, the kids were clearly entertained. He even did poetry. We all bowed to his professional yet light-hearted talk. There was no way i would believe that he is already 60. Hes totally passionate about his job and he engaged his audience well. He used to work in Yellowstone National Park and Great Basin National Park. He told us Great Basin National Park is one of the best kept secret and we should visit it one day.

Speak about geology. In 1996, there was exfoliation on the granite, where 100 tonnes of granite was shed off near half dome. the air explosion caused trees to be uprooted and damaged the ranger hut that was just restored. The air around the area was glimmering for the rest of the week due to the silica content still linger in the air. The climbers opposite witnessed the whole incident. One visitor died.

Another such big scale rock skin peeling off was in the 1980s. The superintendent determined that the situation was something very unusual, something he had never encountered before - strange cracking sound heard by climbers in the El-Capitan. The superintendent made a very daring call to close the road. Half an hour later 160 tonnes of granite fell to the ground. It was a daring call because nobody can tell when the exfoliation will happen. Its geology time we are talking about.

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After the talk, i drove to Tunnel View for another viewing of the sunset. A very friendly photographer taught me how to superimpose the shots with incremental exposure stops.

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85. This photographer told me to take picture at Valley Point.

After the dinner at the usual Valley Lodge Hotel, i attended a starry sky night walk program. We were supposed to buy tickets at Valley Lodge Hotel and gather at Lower Yosemite Fall bus stop for our guide at 830pm. Its a one hour tour. Timing couldn't be better cos it was new moon tomorrow. We were supposed to walk into the boardwalk on top of the meadows opposite the bus stop to observe the stars. Zack our guide was so good. He showed us the stars, shared some scientific facts and some stories. It was totally amazing experience. We found Mars, Big Dipper, northern cross, the Pleiads (7 sisters), a small part of Orion (its a fall constellation but only visible fully around midnight, you wont see it during summer). We also learn to identify Pegasus, Andromeda and the dolphin. Legend has it that. During the viewing, some of us even saw shooting stars, it happened twice.

I asked Zack when is a good time for watching Milky Way, he told me summer months are good cos Sagittarius will be a prominent part of the Milky Way. One participant told me that i must try Big Ben National Park in Texas in order to see Milky Way with only naked eyes.

Super long day today that stretched from 530am to 10pm. Totally drained. Slept like a log till i was woken up by weird howling and barking sounds of two animals not far away, followed by screaming of women and banging of door. i suspected it was coyote fighting with a dog, but the cleaner that i spoke to the next day told me could be coyote fighting with another coyote or a racoon.

7 Dec 2018 Wed

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I extended my stay Yosemite by booking 2 more nights in Cedar Lodge. The photographer i met asked me to consider extending my stay here as there are more photography opportunities here, which i agree.

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I went to watch the 2 films shown in the theater about Yosemite. President Lincoln actually took time off civil war to sign the bill that protect Yosemite. President Roosevelt further protect the area by making it federal land. Omstead the architect that helped design Central Park New York helped suggest ways to preserve the park rather than commercialize it. John Muir was the one figure that lobby for status and recognition from political figures including President Roosevelt to grant resources to protect Yosemite. Clarke was the one protecting Moraposa Grove.

V8. Yellow leaves dropping at Yosemite Village

In the afternoon, i attended another talk by Shelton on prominent figures that shaped Yosemite of what it is today. He welcomed us by blowing an Indian flute he carved by himself. The films i watched helped me to understand what Shelton was trying to explain. He made all of us squeezed inside an ohmacha to feel how it was like in a traditional tribe hut. He also told us that the traditional tribe was very wise in choosing sites of their houses - none of the ohmachas were found in rock fall or flooded regions. He even walked us to the cemetery to see the tombs of some great figures.

Normally big floods here happened in winter. When there's a lot of snow and tropical storms close in from Hawaii during the winter, be prepared. During the last big flood in 1997, Shelton saw 60-70 waterfalls around him near the meadow field.

Another interesting feature he pointed out was the presence of apple trees in Yosemite - a farmer from Virginia migrated here to supply fruits to the gold miners and escaped the civil war. Sequoia was planted in Yosemite as a tactic to attract tourists. The apple trees near Half Dome Village were eventually removed to prevent bears from keep coming in for food.

89. Ranger Shelton led us like a piper.

89A. The omacha that the 15 of us squeezed in:

90. Apples:

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After the talk, i went to Valley View to photograph sunset. There was another kind photographer that taught me how to do bracketing in order to capture the sunset. His wife took good pictures with a point and shoot too.

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V9. Valley View sunset

After dinner, I went back to the boardwalk to try identify the stars that i saw yesterday and try capture them. it was quite scary to stand on boardwalk alone, with autumn leaves dropping add to creepy noise. Not long after, another gentleman came to do his own star studying. i got him to help me identify the northern cross and he used laser to point it out to me.

96. The Pleiads (7 sisters):

97. Can you identify the Northern Cross?

98. Northern Cross

99. Milky Way?

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101. Mars.

I was checked into a different room in Cedar Lodge. Good to be able to watch tv again and learnt that Democrats gained Congress while Republicans kept Senate.

8 Nov 2018 Thu

Today I drove along Wawona Road to Mariposa Grove, in order to see the sequoias. To be on the safe side, I filled up petrol at the very expensive station near El Portal.

102. Cedar lodge

It turned out that there were shuttle buses linking car parks and entrance to the park. Those giant sequoias were huge! It was 3.6 miles up to Wawona Point. I managed to walk there and have a good view of the land below.

103. Field opposite Big Tree Lodge.

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119. Really luck to capture this woodpecker!

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Some flowers seen near the car park:

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V10. Tunnel Tree Mariposa Grove

The visitor centre was already closed but there was a small shop there. i bought some stuff from there before going back to the motel. The drive on the way back was beautiful.

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V11. Golden drive along Wawona Road

I saw coyote again on the way passing by the national park entrance/exit point. They tend to loiter in the same area every night.

There was a book by Duncan on Yosemite Grant 150 years of anniversary in a drawer in the room. I finally have time to read through it, and read that Shelton actually guided Opray before. It was simply amazing. He was awarded the highest award by National Park Office.

9 Nov 2018 Fri

The next morning turned out to be an unusual morning. First it was incredibly cold. My car showed -2 degrees C on the dashboard.

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What made this morning really unusual: I was taking pictures at Sentinel Bridge and omg i saw two beautiful ladies riding horses across. They asked me to take pictures of them with Half Dome as the background. Beth and Savanna have beautiful horses with them. Savanna was back from college and gave her mum Beth a surprise last night by coming home unannounced, so sweet. I followed both of them to the meadows to take more pictures in the sun. The ladies and the horses sure looked awesome in the sunlight. The boardwalk was a bit slippery due to the frost on them so they have to ride really carefully to get to the meadows. The horses like me petting them.

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i didn't realise that you can get different date stamps for different locations within Yosemite till i saw a lady busy stamping her passport away. Her national park passport was way bigger than mine and she has been keeping for 32 years with many stickers affixed. I brought out mine, the one i bought yesterday at Mariposa Grove and did the same. They have stamps for Wawona, Happy Isles, Badger Pass etc. You will have to ask the rangers as these stamps are not normally displayed outside. Only those bigger national parks have these.

Afternoon talk was not by Shelton this time but by another ranger. We walked quite a bit. The ranger told us that there were 2 days in April where Yosemite was flooded. Right now California was having a wild fire that destroyed Paradise town.

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Saw a bear and two cubs as I was driving out to Tioga Road back to San Francisco. I dare not get down of my car, as it is not even a place for car to stop to start with. I just took whatever photos a could with the 200mm lens. The cubs were so cute, by blocked by the bushes lining the road.

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Drove along Tioga Road back to Redwood City near San Francisco. It was a very scenic route with many curve narrow sections on high elevation. The road surface was already frosted on some parts due to its elevation. I stopped by some vista points to take pictures of the flat land and mountains below. One consolation was that they have some gasoline stations so you just have to watch out for those if your tank started to run low. I even passed by a place called Chinese Camp town, presumably was a place the pioneers from China settled at during the gold rush era.

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When I finally reached Goodnite Inn in Redwood City, I asked the receptionist about the fire at was damaging Paradise, she said it was bad, the air smelled bad last night.

The next day I received a text saying that my return flight to Hong Kong will be delayed by 3 hours, so i had time for lunch before returning the car. I went to a nearby chinese restaurant but it has closed down for business. I went to Safeway in Redwood City and surprised to find a counter there that sell Chinese take away. I queued and bought my food.

The flight to Hong Kong was not really full, i managed to get an unclaimed aisle seat with an empty seat next to me, pretty comfortable in the flight. Apparently the delay was due to a previous aircraft that required a change of parts, hence the change of aircraft in Hong Kong that caused a delay at departure of 3 hours.

Some observations:

1. Gas price inside Yosemite is expensive, do fill up before you head towards the park.
2. Staying inside the park can be expensive but save you time in commuting. It is especially so in summer months.
3. Hertz in SFO was a good experience as usual.
4. Tioga Road and Glacier Point closure dates in November must be closely monitored.
5. Your neighbours decides your stay in Half Dome Village, whether it was pleasant or not all depends on them. Stay away from toilets and car parks and you should be able to minimise noise and headlights interference.
6. When you bought shuttle bus at night, do mention your destination to the driver as they may not ply all stops. You can flag the bus even if you are in between stops in the evening, but you have to make yourself visible in the dark for the driver to notice you and stop safely for you without obstructing the vehicles behind. Apparently you can call for courtesy shuttle after 10pm. no more shuttle bus but a courtesy van will pick you up if you call 372-1000. bus captain joked that its an insider info only.

7. Coyotes and racoons do loiters around in the evening. Bears can be found near road side even during day time. If you intend to do night walk or star photography, do be aware of your surroundings.
8. There are many one way roads in the park, some lanes reserved for shuttle bus, do note.
9. There is mountaineering school in the valley, if you intend to try on rock climbing.
10. The guided walks by NPS rangers are totally superb, try not to miss them in between your hiking trips. My two trips guided by Ranger Shelton was totally amazing.
11. Yosemite has something to offer in all 4 seasons. Spring will be waterfall, summer for trekking, autumn for photography and winter for snow shoeing.
12. The giant sequioas in Mariposa Grove was amazing. They have free shuttle bus between carpark and the entrance. The trek to Wawona Point was good.
13. In order to capture the sunset, bracketing of shots with HDR merging is worth a try, tripod and cable release are must.
14. During the autumn/winter months, you should be able to see the northern cross, orion and The Pleiades.
15. The starry night sky walk tickets as well as tickets for other tours can be obtained from the Valley Lodge Hotel.
16. More shuttle routes available in the summer months.
17. Highliners do their stunts near Taft Point, do dropby if you are interested.
18. Do bring enough water for trekking as there may not be water refilling point along the way. Same thing for your car gasoline.
19. If you stay in Glacier Point after sunset, you can see a night sky full of stars and also rock climbers on the far away cliff with the lights turned on.
20. Car parks at Tunnel View, Glacier Point, Taft Point and Valley View can easily fill up, do go there early.
21. You can actually reach Yosemite Valley from the airport by train and YART bus, but it will be a long journey with transfer.
22. If you intend to do Half Dome climb in the summer months, you need to get permit. You will need gloves with good grib and shoes with good traction.
23. Snow chains are required in the winter, once they announced. Normally it starts from mid November, do follow the NPS website for latest updates.

Misc:

151. Fire at Paradise

152. Shooting incident near LA:

153. Two weeks after I returned, they close Tioga Road and Glacier Point Road.

154. Snow started to fall two weeks after I left Yosemite.

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156. National park passport and stamps.

157. Really surprised to find Singapore flavor noodles in Yosemite store.

158. Free solo, the documentary about a 33-year-old climber Alex Honnold who completed the first-ever free solo of El Capitan in Yosemite in 2017, won the Oscar's Best Documentary (Feature) on 24 Feb 2019. Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi were the directors.