Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 106 (Owl’s Clover – Hetch Hetchy)

Owl's Clover at Hetch Hetchy 

Owl’s Clover (Castilleja exserta) at the Hetch Hetchy section of Yosemite National Park

It was very interesting for me to see this variety of Owl’s Clover at Hetch Hetchy because we have a variant of this plant in our Sonoran Desert. It looks slightly different, but the relationship is unmistakable.

The plant is not really a clover although it does look a bit like one. An interesting fact about this plant is that it uses host plants to derive some of its sustenance. It may not be parasitic, but it does have a symbiotic relationship of some form.

The purple against the brown grasses made for a pretty setting on this overcast day.

Learn more about Owl’s Clover at the California Native Plant Society

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 105 YOY – Year of Yosemite

File Name: 0427.CR2
Capture time: 12:03:30 PM
Capture date: June 11, 2016
Exposure: 1/200 sec @ f/6.3
Focal Length: 53mm
ISO 100
Canon SX50 HS

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 105 (Be Aware When Hiking – Floods)

Merced River Walkway Happy Isles

Walkway along the Merced River in the Happy Isles Section of Yosemite

Keeping with yesterday’s theme about potential danger in our national parks, I want to explain another problem hikers and explorers may face during certain times; floods.

Storms are always a major concern when hiking. We were once making our way up Mount Humphries in Arizona which is the highest peak in the state. We were within 500 feet of the top and had been hiking for a long time with many switchbacks. As we took a break to eat our lunch at the saddle, it began to sleet and snow and rain. And if that wasn’t bad enough, lightening soon followed. We had no choice, but to begin our descent. We were exposed and it was risky either way, but staying on the mountain top was not a choice.

We always try to pay attention to the weather, but the potential of sudden storms and perhaps flash floods is a concern. Try to keep an “escape plan” in mind. Is there high ground nearby? If it gets cloudy and threatening, reassess where you are. Always select the safest option. He who turns and hikes away, lives to hike another day!

While visiting the Happy Isles section of Yosemite, we walked along the Merced River. The water was flowing quickly, but we knew that from our previous days.

Merced River Walkway Happy Isles

Did you happen to notice the kiosk across the river in the picture? There was a sign under the kiosk, but it was too small to see in the first picture (circled above).

This is a closeup of the sign

Merced River Walkway Happy Isles

This underscores the point…what seems like a relatively calm, placid, user-friendly place can become dangerous and some times rather quickly.

As Cheryl Strayed wrote in her book Wild, “The universe, I’d learned, was never, ever kidding. It would take whatever it wanted and it would never give it back.”

Stay vigilant my friends!

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.