Yosemite Revisited

I did two more trips back to the park on Wednesday and Thursday. Each day more people came; I can only imagine what it will be like on the weekend.

I have a lot of different shots of this tree, but this one shows how big it is. Of course, the root is spectacular. It reminds you of someone's bad hair day.

From time to time, I try to see patterns in nature. They usually involve the bark on a tree, but there are others that I will show you as time goes on.

                              
The sun is lighting the path through the grove. A very inviting atmosphere for the hordes. I hope they appreciate Mother Nature at her best.

Unfortunately, I didn't enlarge this picture enough; however, there is a bee having a good time on the flower of the hawthorne bush.

Wandering down along the Merced River at high noon, this is the idyllic scene.

What happens in a lightening and thunder storm in Yosemite? You get your head whacked off

At the top of Granite Point, the scenery is spectacular and the terrain rugged. Yet again, another shot of Half Dome.

Meanwhile, back at the river, I'm practicing shots of running water. There's something for everyone at Yosemite. Look up, Look down, Look all around you!

Speaking of looking up! A person could get a serious neck ache here.

Location, location, location. How about perspective? Off to the right is a car on the road to give some idea of how big this tree is.

So this is one of my artsy fartsy moments: a flowering thistle, stickery weed, but oh so pretty! Below is a dead tree which I have entitled Naked.

I'm not sure why they made this cut-out in the tree other than maybe it was in the way of the path? It's partially burned. Below is a view of the ceiling of the cut-out. I read that they can tell a lot from these slices that they take from the trees; for instance, the weather and the amount of moisture during each one of the rings that represent the years of growth. It looked like a beautiful representation of the patterns in nature.

Beautiful Yosemite

I left Fresno Monday morning for the 50 mile trip up here to Oakhurst to High Sierra RV Park about 17 miles from the park entrance. It's right on the Fresno River which is getting lower every day. It's really great for experimenting with my camera. This what I can see from my campsite. This wouldn't be such a good spot if there were more water, because it's a designated swimming area.

You'll notice that I like reflections.

This is a California wildflower called Everlasting Sweet Pea. They grow wild along the river bank.

These pictures are from Tuesday when I first ventured into the park. All national parks have tunnels, right? At least the ones I have visited out west. Come to think of it, I don't recall any I've visited on the East coast except for Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola.

This is what you see when you exit the tunnel. There are two big parking lots to accommodate all the tourists.

Bridal Veil Falls at a trickle. Still an awesome sight!

This is Half Dome. No, there was never a whole dome, but a few of us were joking about photo-shopping one into existence.

Half Dome reflected in the Merced River.

This is El Capitan, another impressive granite formation.

Meet my little duckie friend having a great day paddling the Merced. I was frustrated that I had missed some good shots. So I went back on Wednesday. The next blog will be the new and improved pictures. Naturally, I wouldn't show the lousy ones.