Breakfast on the limb

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - We spotted this young guy out for his morning breakfast stroll through a nearby meadow. The deer here are quite small - - bigger than Key Deer but not as big as normal deer. They are aware of humans but don't seem skittish and will hang around for photos and cross the road in front of people / cars / buses and wander where they want.

Floating

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - The temperature today was mid-90s, the water temperature of the Merced River is a bit above 60....so why not rent a raft and spend about 3 hours floating slowly downstream with spectacular scenery all around.

Da Bus

YOSEMITEN NATIONAL PARK, CA -- Introducing.....Da Bus. This is what we (mainly) drive five days a week. (Some runs, like Rafting Pickup, utilize Bluebird school buses.) It's an electric /diesel hybrid for low emissions. The hump on the back roof holds 900 batteries. They charge under deceleration but not braking. No super-big extension cord is used to charge overnight. Basically the bus is a $500,000 rolling computer with a steering wheel. If a problem light shows up on the overhead console of 30 lights one of the remedies for curing the problem is shutting the bus down completely including power....waiting...turning the power back on and re-booting the 27 computer system.

Yosemite gets lots of visitors...so the 44 passenger seating is just a start. A lot of times it a rolling sardine can stuffed with 80-90 people at a time. We use a clicker to count people on our 1-hour runs. I've hauled 400 which is a lot of cram them in, shove them out.

Another fall(s)

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - On our joint day off together we took a hike to Hetch Hetchy, another area of the park. It features more waterfalls, a snake-like winding road to get there and a reservoir which holds water for San Francisco.

Above, the long view of Wamapa Falls
LH takes a pic of GVV who takes a pic of LH while the water cascades through the lower falls area behind.
And another black and white water-spray, slick-rock pretty pic

El Cap photos

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - The highest point on El Cap is 3,600' not 3,000 as i mentioned in the previous blog. The difficulty of the climb and the sheer height kept it unclimbed until 1958.

On the shot above two climbers are about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the top. It's 4pm and they may have to spend another night on the wall. The shot below has one of four climbers in a team. He's the last guy / gal on the line with the gear/food in bags on a separate line dangling below. This is maybe 1/4 way up a different route from the shot above and already in the shade. They will have morning sun.

NOTE: to get a better view double-click on the photos to enlarge.

Hanging Out

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - El Capitan's 3,000' vertical wall draws rock climbers from all over the world to challenge it. Very Good climbers ascend in three days or a bit less; experienced climbers may take five days; those who have bit off more than they can chew are hanging out for , maybe, seven days. Now, maybe, one of my readers could relax their mind and slip onto a sleeping mat anchored to the wall with nothing but 2,000' below you and fall asleep. I prefer my sleeping bag on the ground.

Our wi-fi connection is being overused so the pics may not go up. if not, then I'll try to put them up tomorrow.

North Dome trail pics

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - As Lydia's blog notes, we took a 9.5-mile hike on our day off. So, what do you need for a good hike??? Packs, hiking poles (optional) and a good book on trails.
Good scenery
And, maybe, a rock formation which is the only one in the Park. Indian Rock is the only arch in YNP