Yosemite Valley, looking east from Tunnel viewpoint.Bridalveil Fall on right.
Lady M enjoying the sunshine.
Beautiful!
Bridayveil Fall, a bit closer.
Looking up from near the base of Bridalveil Fall.
Lunch by the Merced river, with Yosemite Falls in background.
Yosemite Falls.
Yosemite Falls from meadows along the Merced river. Wind will blow the fall back and forth; notice the darkened rock on either side of the upper fall.
Yosemite Falls; marvelous!
Yosemite Falls and the Merced River.
Snowplant, a saprophytic species.
Snowplant, Sarcodes sanguinea. Lives on decayed organic matter. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcodes
Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.
One hears a variety of the world's languages while walking towards Yosemite Falls.
Dogwood tree in bloom.
Lower Yosemite Fall.
Michèle sunning herself near the base of Lower Yosemite Fall.
Michèle's view. Lots of people stop at this spot to have their picture taken, then zoom off. Surprisingly few just hang out, like we did.
Bonjour!
Lost Arrow Spire, just east of Yosemite Falls.
Yosemite Falls, with the lower fall featured.
Upper Yosemite Fall. The wind was blowing the fall back and forth quite a bit.
Upper Yosemite Fall. There's a ledge that the water hits just a little ways down that projects the water out away from the cliff face and creates the feathery appearance lower down.
Yosemite Fall in full song. Low-qual video (I rotated it and it lost some resolution) but it gives an idea of the speed of the water's descent.
For iPad and smartphone users who can easily tip their screen sideways, here's the unrotated higher-def movie of Upper Yosemite Falls.
Stoneman Meadow just north of Curry Village. View to west.
A different view of Upper Yosemite Fall.
Looking from the edge of Stoneman Meadow (we took a delightful short nap there) south to Glacier Point.
Dry-camping in the National Forest just outside Yosemite National Park along the Evergreen Road near Mather.
A prior camper had built a fire-ring here, but we did not build a campfire. This area has been logged previously.
The last glimmers of sunlight through the western trees.
First view of Hetch Hetchy along the approach road. Visible is Lower Wapama Fall, Tueeulala Fall, O'Shaunessey Dam, and Hetch Hetchy reservoir. Mist at the base of the dam is due to water release.
Preparing lunch.
We had the area almost to ourselves.
Making lunch.
From the parking area: O'Shaunessey Dam and Hetch Hetchy reservoir. To the right in the distance are seen the thin thread of Tueeulala Fall and the base of Wapama Falls.
The dam's spillway was in use; the lake was completely full!
Looking down into the gorge of the Tuolumne River from the center of the dam. Water coming out of the dam, and also water at left from the spillway.
Another view of the water exiting the dam.
Water coming out of the dam outlets, and also from the spillway; noisy!
A swallowtail butterfly in trailside bushes, with the reservoir and a glimpse of Lower Wapama Fall in the background.
