On the Frozen Tenaya Lake 12/30/11

SanFancisco Christmas 2011

I went to SanFrancisco for Christmas!!  Had such a wonderful time....I hung out with my Daughter Laura, Son in Law Sean and the Grandbabies......

I also saw some folks I haven't seen in a while!!  

Had a BLAST Christmas Caroling with Mari, Jorma and Mari's Family....

Also had a wonderful dinner and visit with Laura's Grandparents, Helen and Joe, and 1/2 brother Vinny on her Fathers side.

Thanks for making this one of the funnest Holidays!!!

 Helen and Eve

 Helen and Vinny

 Haile and I taking a photo to see who is taller...(SHE WON!!!)

 The Tree at 5am....(we sent Haile back to bed till 7!!)

 The aftermath...

Eve and I on the swing!! YES there actually IS a swing in the living room!!!

A Big Thumbs Up!!

This is Harry.....He is a Beer Connoisseur.  You can always count on him to have the most amazing beers on him when there is a get together.  My favorite so far is the Raspberry Brown

Occupy Yosemite??

Nope...just our Unite Here Local 19 Union march for betterness.....

We did get a feel for how a "Corporate Person" reacts.....4 mounted NPS police, 2 on the ground, and although I do not have a photo of them, there were 4 to 6 Riot Police with semi automatic rubber bullet guns!!  

Thanks to Lesley for taking these pics....  

Caves and Mortars

Maria, a co-worker at the Village Store, and I set out to find some Indian Caves and Mortars we had heard about.  This time on the trail to Mirror Lake.....We scrambled and climbed above this cave for over an hour convinced there were more caves and evidence that the Native Peoples had lived right here.....

After climbing back down to the trail, we headed back towards home.....Our friends had explained that we would find the mortars by looking for a large, flat boulder in a clearing and here it is!!  More caves were nearby barely 50 yards from the trail.....

The cave below has a picture of a Bear that has naturally occurred in the stone....Do you see it??

Fall

Walking through the Valley I hear the sound of crunchy snow underfoot

Treading lightly with knees slightly bent so as not to slip

The snow ads a beautiful element to the familiar...

Village People

What can I say about the wonderful group of women that I have met here at the Village Store....They are amazing, live life to the fullest, play hard, work hard....I have learned so much from them!  Some of them have left and some are on their way out.....I will miss you girls!! COME BACK!!

10/7/11

Yosemite Falls from my neighborhood...(Lost Arrow)

(above)

Note the frozen water(fall) section...

................

Half Dome (view from the kitchen porch in Lost Arrow)

(below)

SNOW!!!

Yesterday and today....

We had rain and snow flurries in the Valley yesterday.....16 inches of snow at 6000' and above...causing Yosemite Falls to pour once again...

This is what my neighborhood looks like today....Yosemite Falls in the clouds.....There is snow on top of Half Dome but I have not been able to get a picture of it yet due to cloud coverage....

Inside the WOB

 This is what the inside of the WOB looks like...Marina and I are pretty much all moved in....

Here the wayside meets the road....

Went for another solo hike today....well, actually I have been taking a walk every morning before work, this one was just longer...(Valley Loop Trail)

 Meandering through the shade of tall trees...so many different barks!  Some with moss....

Listening to Pink Floyd sing about Walls and Flying Pigs.....

Views of butterflies, Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, along the way....

My soul overflows from the love and peacefulness I feel in Nature

How lucky I am to be able to walk out my front door into solitude!!

I laugh out loud when I see Bridalveil Falls...there is hardly any water now, and more than once I have been soaked or misted here...

I take my headphones off for the return hike and listen to the birds, the traffic on the road below, the sloshing of the water in my backpack, and the ever constant ringing in my ears....

I see my friend riding his bike on the trail and he lets me ride it for a bit...we stop to chat and rest at a large boulder where bowls have been carved into the granite by the original settlers of this Valley....

I continue on my way...peaceful, alone, content.....

Orange Beenies and Fools Gold

I saw a kid today wearing a neon orange beenie.  It brought back fond memories of camping as a child...

Seven people in one big tent...Mom's wooden kitchen box...Hoe-downs around the campfire with Mom playing guitar....A scorpion under the tent....Getting busted shooting a gun in Little Rock (CA)....Dad's pennies with flowers photos....Fools Gold....Calexico/Mexicali....Julian for Pie....

And so many other great times growing up camping!!!

It's no wonder I live in Yosemite today... 

Meadow Walk

Neil Young crooning in my ears

Blue Butterfly step

Orange Butterfly step

Yellow Butterfly step

Dragonfly step

Cricket step Cricket step Cricket step

Black-eyed Suzys step

Water Lillies step

Butterflies step...........

We PINKY swore!!!!

We pinkey swore that we would go for a swim no matter how cold it was.....Little did we realize that we would be hiking through an intense thunder storm!!
We drove up to the Lukens Lake trailhead  and arrived there just as the clouds were rolling in.  As I laced my boots we heard some thunder but, hey, Tyler was only visiting for a few days and we were determined to go jump in a lake!!
It's just .8 miles to the Lake.  We made it .7 miles when the rain started and the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed!!  We stayed in the trees as much as possible....We walked around to the far side of the lake and decided to eat lunch a bit downhill and away from the lake......
"Is that all you got??!!!"...I exclaimed as we started hiking back.....
Well, it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature...as it turned out, she had WAY "more than that"...
It was a torrential downpour, with thunder and lightning, SO MUCH LIGHTNING!! and HAIL!!...
We were both wearing shorts, Tyler had on his Chacos, but luckily we both brought our rain shells....
We needed them too...we were soaked to the bone...we ran some of the way through areas with fewer trees...Made it back to the car cold and laughing and the storm really let loose then!!  Drove through hail/sleet/snow down to the Valley....Good Times!!

Tigger/Tyler

It was soooo wonderful to see my good friend Tyler this week...it got me to thinking about  this...

The wonderful thing about Tyler
Is Tyler's a wonderful thing!
Their tops are made out of rubber
Their bottoms are made out of springs!
They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!!

Some times, Walls are a good thing....

Moved into a "WOB" (with out bath) the other day!!  In preparing for the winter season here, it was time to start seeking options for warmer and more convenient digs.  Do to my "promotion" to a Team Lead at work, I qualified for a hard sided cabin!!  It's larger than the tent, has a REAL DOOR with a doorknob and all, 3 windows and WALLS!!!  So I can hang the artwork I have bought and received over the years.  

I wasn't sure I would like living in an actual room, but after a week, I don't miss the tent at all!!

Marina is moving in today....

Dog Day Afternoon

Solitude: the state of being or living alone; seclusion

       The hike to Dog Lake started at the Tuolumne General Store where I said hello to Leslie, a former Valley Store employee who was lucky enough to get to work in the High Country for the summer.  Then through the giant meadow to Soda Springs for a drink of mineral water right from the ground!!
        Did I mention how much I needed to be alone??  After working six 10 hour shifts in a row, I had no energy to give to anyone else!!
        The mosquitoes were replaced by Deer Flies.  You know, the brown ones that don't fly away when you swat at them, and they bite you to boot!!  There are people like that.  You know, the ones that constantly tug at your sleeves even when you aren't wearing any!!.....
        So Dog Lake is a 3 mile hike with a 750 foot elevation gain.  And every step I took was harder than the first!!  I had a lot of emotional and physical hurdles to get through and many times I figured I might as well just turn back.  But I kept on.....trooper that I am.....
        It took the whole way up to slough off some of the irritation from earlier in the day.  I went from shadow to shadow and rested more than once.  Breathing heavily through my mouth with grit teeth so as not to inhale any bugs...
        When I saw my first view of the Lake, I was able to release all the tensions of the day and sat down for a moment by the water's edge.  Such a pretty lake.  Lined with trees....clouds and blue sky resting in the water....I walked to the other side and found a spot by the water to eat lunch and enjoy the view.....I heard a jet plane overhead and watched 2 ducks glide in for a landing on the water...I decided I would for sure go for a swim!!  The lake is shallow at the edges, so the water was "warm" by glacial lake standards...I swam around like an otter for about a 1/2 hour.....
        Sitting on the shore to dry afterwards was wonderful....the sun on my back, my feet in the sand....I sat there for two hours in a sleepy daze.....It was after 6pm when I decided I better leave or I would fall asleep right there!!  It was a temptation I wasn't prepared for.  So reluctantly I headed back.
        I discovered that the trail was a bit steep and I jogged for a while....I saw a deer on my way down and took a picture before he trotted off....I followed my long shadow back through the meadow to my car.....It was a much needed escape...I needed it to be twice as long.....

Euro-love

I love Europeans!!  There are so many of them visiting here in the Park.  They come in all shapes and sizes with just as many accents.  I like to try to figure out where they are from.  I see I.D.'s from everywhere.  Blue ones, pink ones, yellow ones.  Some I.D.'s are just on  folded card stock paper with type written words and a photo stuck on!!  Some pictures are in black and white and seem to have been taken in the 1940's.  I can always tell the Europeans from the Americans....ALL Euro's bag their own groceries!!  It is something they do back home and until I learned that, I used to get weird looks from them when I would thank them for bagging.....I (not so secretly) love to watch them struggle when counting out change...and something I never even thought about is the fact that our nickle is larger than our dime but is worth less!!  That one always gets 'em!!

Above 10,000'

Walk through a meadow to Tioga Lake

Where wildflowers and granite peeks live in harmony,

Up a windy path and into the wilderness,

Where mossy rocks cushion your feet in cool water.....

Inhale the sweet aroma of wildflowers all around you.

Up a steep trail with endless views of distant mountains still with snow.

Fish for shoes suctioned off your feet from deep, muddy puddles.

Gaze upon a heart shaped lake,

Where dreams of home-stead live....

Upward concentration through boulder fields.

Look at where we've been!!

At the top (and chilled to the bone) the views of Mono Lake take your breath away!!!

I did it!! I did it!!

Saying YES to Life

Don't you know what hiking means to me??

It means I get to be "out there", where it's real!  I get to see what Nature (or God if you prefer) designed....I get to touch the Earth and the Sky and marvel at the scenes laid out before me....I get to open my heart to life....

Skipping in the Rain

This is what happens when you hike in the Sierras through a thunder storm!!

The hike to Sunrise Lakes started out simply enough at the banks of Tenaya Lake, a large lake in the Yosemite High Country!!  The banks are shallow and rocky and it was hard to not jump right in!!  But onward with the hike....stream crossing right off the bat.  Gentle upward meandering trail through pine and flowers.....

We got to a beautiful outcropping of boulders and decided to climb around.....a stream was in the distance so  we decided to do a bit of cross-country (off trail) hiking to it.....setting our pinpoints with distant domes and peaks so we could tell our way back (just in case).....the stream was AMAZING and opened up to a large swimming hole, which of course we ended up swimming in....there was a natural water slide there too...we thought, due to our cross country trek, that we were alone in the middle of everywhere.....that is until 8 people walked by on their way to another water slide!!

We continued our cross country walk in the direction of the trail now...the sun peaking in and out of the clouds...up we went, the Lakes are a 1300 foot elevation gain, the mosquitoes were relentless!!  We stopped to eat lunch more than mid way up when the rain drops started and ominous clouds rolled in...wondering what to do, we decided that if the thunder clapped once more, we would head back down.  It is NOT smart to hike on a mountain top in a thunder (and lightning) storm!!

SO DOWN WE WENT....and the rain came harder and the thunder more often and it was so much fun and so exciting, and I just HAD to skip!!

Well, miles later, soaking wet again, hailed upon and mosquito bitten we made it back to the car....

At the parking lot exit, to the left (towards the Valley) was blue skies....to the right were black clouds and the possibility of more rain and thunder.....

So guess which way we went????

I've been keeping a secret!!

And now it's out!!  I have been in training to be a Team Lead at the Village Store for a few weeks and now it is official!!  I went back and forth as to weather or not I wanted to do it, but decided,  why not??  It's a tiny bit more money, and it wreaked havoc on my schedule, but I think all in all it will be fun to have a hand in the daily operations of the store.  :)

Can you believe I kept this a secret for so long Mom and Dad??!!

North Dome Hike...8.4 Miles.....360* Views!!!

Hiked to North Dome today.  Started on Tioga Road.....8.4 miles round trip...Most amazing views of Half Dome, the Valley, Clouds Rest, and pretty much everything all around!!

Lines

There's a fine line between bond and bondage......can you need some one so much, or maybe not even need them, but just think they have the answers, that you hold on to them too tightly?  If there is something really there won't it wait to be found?  When we open ourselves up to some one else, it should be slowly, in all ways.  Too much too soon is never a good start.  Too much information to process is stressful and often things get left out and it just leaves you wondering what the truth is.  Yes, I am learning how to slow down finally.  Looking before I leap.......living life in the slow lane...Oh sure, I find myself with the pedal to the medal at times, but really I think that parking the car and just staring at the view is a pretty good idea..............

I can ride my bike with no handlebars...;)

Road my bike home through pitch black save my head light which creates a tunnel of trees on windy path that can barely be seen when car or shuttle bus with oncoming lights blinds my way.............
Note to self: Keep head light batteries charged!!!

That awesome sound, coming down...

Hetch Hetchy windy road reminds me of Utah...granite waves with wild flowers, manzanita, pines...walk over dam, peer down at water shooting out in arches white and roaring...through a lighted tunnel, water dripping, getting our feet wet (for the 1st time)...along the Reservoir we step over stones and breath the flowery air..."Hetch Hetchy rivals Yosemite Valley", said John Muir...OH beautiful trail!! there is a foot of rushing water on you for me to splash though with laughter and smiles and sunshine...squishy boots finally taken off to dry at rock water slide into cold pool...."Go over all the bridges", said fellow hiker soaked through and through...round the corner at giant rainbow and step onto the first bridge built over the base of the falls...cold water spraying all around and over you, so cold at first, exhilarating! Over second bridge to chase rainbow bubble through the mist....drenched....arms outstretched to the falls above...stone path, another bridge, the other side....giggles, amazement, sheer joy.....soaked to the bone, sunny rock to rest..."Why dry off? We are going back the way we came!!".....and Momma bear scratches the log, ignoring her cubs who climb into a tree and pose for our camera....and we think that THIS one is EPIC...and we drive out and see another Momma bear with her own 2 cubs scurrying across the road and take pictures of them as well.....

In the middle of everywhere...

Have you ever walked alone in the middle of nowhere, right in the middle of everywhere??  That's what my walk  home was like tonight.  Twilight, gentle rain.....So quiet.  I did not see a squirrel, a bird or a bear.  I did not see anyone until I crossed the bridge into Housekeeping Camp, and that was more a hearing than anything.  There were no campers around the fire, no children running with flashlights.....I had the whole walk to myself...the whole of Yosemite Valley was mine for 15 minutes.......I arrived on the other side of Housekeeping Camp just as the Shuttle (which I could have taken home instead) arrived there.  It was jam-packed!! standing room only!! with folks that missed out on a beautiful, wet, warm, quiet, refreshing walk.

In other words

How can a 3 mile round trip hike that was flat and mostly on an old railroad trail take 5 hours you ask?  Well I will try to tell you.....First, park the car at the trailhead and gaze upon the beauty and wonder of the best swimming hole ever.  You can imagine other days when the cool water will envelope you and make you shiver in delight....Then walk beside the rushing river and wrestle with the idea of being so powerful!  The give and take, the roar as the powerful water tumbles over boulders and the serene calm of the deep....Butterflies flitter about and land on the ground, making you stop to look at their beautiful wings as they reach up to catch the sun's rays...they are beautiful blue or yellow.....they mimic the colors of the flowers, yellow, purple, pink...and especially pink, with soft petals that you want to caress and make your own...........The day is warm, but there is a gentle breeze that blows upon you, and you thank it from your heart for the stillness, the beauty, for connecting to something from the heart, soul and mind......you gaze at the rushing power that is the river and it makes you tumble to the ground where the rocks, twigs and leaves sting your body and leave reminders of this beautiful, simple hike that turned into a journey of knowing and wonder of more hikes to come......

Oh and this.....

While scrambling up a hill from the river I casually watched a large rock tumble down and hit me in the leg...no biggie Mom, it's already healing...:)

Words (Between the Lines of Age....)

I went on another hike today with my Adventure Buddy and Friend Jon.  We went to the Mariposa Grove of Trees and did a little cross country to find a quiet spot to eat lunch.  Jon moved a small downed tree and we sat against a boulder on what became an amazing recliner!  We hiked on the trail for a bit and saw a deer.  We hugged a Giant Sequoia that is so soft and furry and although to me is hollow sounding  it is full of life!  We meditated near twin Sequoias where a root grew out of my butt and I became completely relaxed and it was as if I and the trees were one.  Afterwards we drove to the trailhead for Chilnualna Falls.  My legs were heavy so I had to keep resting on the way up,  But as Jon says, it's the journey and not the destination that matters.  There were beautiful Manzanita Trees and pine trees on the trail which was alongside the river for much of the hike.  We stopped to rest near the rushing river, feeling the spray from the powerful waterfalls, hearing nothing but nature, smelling the fresh air.  Clouds floated by....Upward we went over boulders, across small creeks, through woods...We stopped at a view point for the Falls and ate again.  Afterwards we hiked down the way we came, which never looks the same as going up so it's like 2 trails in one....We took another break near the powerful water and I put my feet in, it was cold!  We drove home to Yosemite Valley while the sun was setting and the sky was fire red!  It was another beautiful day in Paradise............
I WRITE all this because somewhere along the trail I dropped my camera...after the initial disappointment and irritation, I became resigned to the fact that I may never get it back...It's OK though.  Pictures never do Nature justice......something is lost in translation....the "feeling" is not there or at least the feeling I get when I am in such wonder.
We stopped at a store down from the trailhead and the employee told us that some one did say they found a camera on the trail, but the lost and found was closed.  Tomorrow Jon is going to call there and ask if my camera is there......He is convinced it is.............................................................................................

Redemption???

Re-deem

[ri-deem]

1.  to buy or pay off; clear by payment

2.  to recover by payment or other satisfaction

3.  to obtain the release or restoration of, as from captivity, by paying a ransom

So, I got a Transportation Certificate from AMTRAK for a "free ride" worth $125, which is what I paid them for my Supermoon Train Ride from hell.  It came along with a letter of apology from the Director, Office of Customer Relations.....Now all I have to do is figure out if I want to give them another try.  It's the only way to "get my money back"....

VEGGIES!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited!  I signed up for a bi-weekly, local farm vegetable delivery!!  Produce is so expensive here at the Village Store.  One tomato can cost almost $2!!   I thought I would start slowly, with a delivery, right to my Bear Box!!, every other week.  A neighbor has a juicer, so anything I can't eat, I can juice!!

Here's a picture of my first box.  There's a head of lettuce, squash, carrots, small yellow potatoes, radishes, an onion and a bag full of the most amazing snap peas I've ever had!  I ate snap peas this morning while I sauteed the other vegs.  Added an egg,   So good!!

A true story

I went to a Spoken Word performance here the other week and heard this.....(by a man named Jim)

"I was driving into the Valley and a coyote winked at me when I drove by...cars of tourists were stopping to take his picture...Later when I was driving out of the Valley, the coyote was sitting on a rock by the side of the road.  A car was stopped and was taking his picture.  The car left and I stopped near the coyote and said, "Damn tourists, always stopping and taking your picture!"...the coyote said, "You stopped..."..."

It's not easy being green

I was thinking about "green" and the being of it.  I always imagined it as a dark color, but today I realized being green (as in NEW) is like the leaves in spring as they first appear, very light.  Then they get darker as they mature and grow.  Some people are so green, they are almost yellow.  I might be new here in Yosemite, but I think all my life experiences qualify me as some deeper shade, maybe like a hunter green, on my way to becoming a forest green...

Rest stop on my walk to work...

Video...(not my best work, need more camera practice)

The more things change...

Life in the Valley is very much like life was in Seattle.  I wake up (late-ish), have coffee and breakfast, shower and get ready for work.  I walk to work, my friends are mostly co-workers, I wait at the bus stop in the dark to get home....The subtle differences are that I use a community kitchen, I use a community restroom/shower, my walk is about 1 mile through the woods and if I get out of work after 10pm, I call the employee "taxi" service to get home.
I have yet to ride my bike to work.  I like to say it's because it's too cold, but really I don't know why.....I am sure in the summer I will ride or walk home at night.  I am still new here.  I have been here 1 month and 6 days.  I am making friends slowly but surely, and that's OK with me.  I am in no hurry.  I feel this place and these people growing on me...

Meet the new house....same as the old house

Last night, at 11:30pm, my roommate Marina and I moved into a different Tent Cabin.  It's the same as the old one, only there are 3 steps to get in; the bear box is on the left; the light inside is closer to the door (making the back 1/2 quite dark) ; and our cabinets are a bit jankier than the first, and as much as we wanted to move the original ones in last night, it was just too much work for 2 girls who worked all night and had parties to attend!!  The bonus of this new Cabin (#14)  is that we are closer to the building that has the internet router, so we can pick it up for free!!  #14 is also in a quieter, shadier area called "The Hood" and 2 of our friends live right next door!!

Swell

Oh! The glory of the view!  The emerald green and snowy white of the falling water; the dizzying leap into the yawning chasm; the roar, and foam, and spray of the deadly struggle with the rocks below; the deep green of the somber pines, and the exquisite, fresh and lively green of grass, ferns and moss, wet with eternal spray; the perpendicular, rocky walls, rising far above us toward the blue, arching sky.  As I stood there, gazing down into the dark and roaring chasm, and up into the clear sky, my heart swelled with gratitude to the Great Author of all beauty and grandeur.  --Joseph LeConte