A major portion of the Lembert Dome trail looked much like the typical hike in the woods.
A good portion of the Lembert Dome Trail was similar to many other trails we hiked through a wooded area. The path was often wide and clear. There were patches of snow all around and as we got higher on the mountain, the pockets of snow became more prevalent and at times, larger!
As this picture indicates, portions of the trail were thawing quickly and relatively dry, but that didn’t mean it would be that way in other areas as you will see in the post of Day 169!.
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.
NOTE – This is the first photograph in a series of eight that will be presented over the following days to give readers a sense of what it was like to hike the Lembert Dome Trail. Previous Year of Yosemite photographs and descriptions were mostly individual presentations without providing a narrative to portray the essence of the hike.
Exiting the initial wooded area, there is a rock shelf with numerous cairns
Before arriving at this massive rock shelf, we hiked from the parking area and through a grove of trees, i.e. woods. The trees soon gave way to a clearing and we were presented with many cairns. Some were simple while others were more elaborate.
Hikers debate whether cairns are reliable and/or helpful because there are some who might mislead future hikers intentionally or because of ignorance. There were so many cairns in this area and they were all leading in the same direction and therefore hikers could “hedge their bets.”
In any event, the path was rather obvious and we had a trail map that we consulted to make sure. Except for the Valley Loop Trail, I would say that most trails were rather easy to find and follow. When considering the size of Yosemite, I should also add that they were probably marked as well as they could be.
NOTE – Whenever I hike, I take three cameras. One of them is a simple point-and-shoot which only captures JPEG images. If this sounds foreign to you, then you can skip this paragraph. There will be several pictures which were taken with my Canon PowerShot AS590 and are intended to be “pictures of record” and not picturesque portrayals or renderings. This photo is one of them.
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 167 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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A large boulder with moss sits in the Merced River
While walking along the path at Happy Isles, we spied this rock with beautiful textures and colors. It may a bit unusual to be visiting a noted national park with all of its monuments and major attractions and to focus on a moss covered rock.
I was struck by several things. Look at the colors of the moss on that rock. The shades range from medium brown, to gold to light green. Whatever light came through the clouds was highlighting the yellowish growth. Additionally, the warm tones of the fallen log in the background and the sound of the rushing water made this a true sensory experience.
Several posts ago, I spoke about the “small miracles and gems” and perhaps I am the only one who would consider this as such, but that is what makes nature what it is. It is a person-specific connection and wonderment!
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 166 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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A water feature was created along the Vernal Fall Trail
I have spoken about the wonder of our national parks a number of times as part of my blog posts. Considering the amount of funding and the scope of the task, I have to say that the workers in our parks should receive a lot of praise.
There were many instances as we hiked, we would come across a feature that took time and energy to build and probably did not receive the recognition it deserved. These individual touches give personality to our parks and add natural, artistic touches to the hiking experience.
Although it may be difficult to discern in the photo, just above the fern was a wall of boulders and water was dripping down that wall creating a perfect environment for shade loving plants. The park crews built two retaining ponds with the natural stone and it created a much appreciated water feature that added to both the visual and aural the pleasures of hikers as they passed. I do hope many of the visitors note and admire these distinctive touches!
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 165 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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The various bus stops throughout the park are generally very nice with overhangs and benches
Years ago, many national parks devised an intrapark transportation scheme that encouraged visitors to take buses rather than drive from trailhead to trailhead. By and large, I think this has been a very good transition for both the visitors and the parks.
There is less vehicle traffic which is an advantage for the native flora and fauna. We have found the buses very efficient and most, if not all, the drivers very helpful and friendly. Once in a while we were able to ride on a bus with one of the rangers and we then could use this opportunity to gather more information.
Our experience has been that the buses do not use gasoline and therefore there is a reduction of air pollution; always a good thing.
The bus waiting area pictured above is fairly typical of the waiting areas. There were some that were composed of stone and they were works of art. The frequency of the rounds was also very comfortable and waits were not too long. Needless to say, your experiences may vary when crowds surge, weather interferes or other unforeseen circumstances occur.
The managers of our national parks did this the right way!
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.
A closeup view of Vernal Fall taken from the top of Sentinel Dome
**NOTE** – The waterfall pictured above is inaccurately referred to as Vernal Fall when this was initially posted. It has now been corrected to reflect the appropriate reference to Nevada Falls.
Standing on the top of Sentinel Dome, was like having my head on a 360 degree swivel mechanism. All I could do was turn a bit and stare and then turn a bit more and stare until I absorbed as much of the 360 degree view as I could. While I had seen many of these Yosemite features from other areas of the park, it is much like looking at a spouse or good friend and noticing something that perhaps was not as memorable prior to that instant. These familiar features took on a different character because of the change of perspective when viewed from Sentinel Dome.
I hope this photograph conveys the power of Nevada Falls. The curtain of water had prominent cascades with the new waves of water trying earnestly to overtake those that went before. This, my friends, is a first-hand example of the power of the natural world.
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 163 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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El Capitan is well within view from the top of Sentinel Dome
Moving up onto the very top of Sentinel Dome and looking west, El Capitan stood out among all of the other mountains. This colossus of the valley asserts itself into the minds of Yosemite visitors as well as the camera rolls of numerous smart phones.
Also shown is the topography of the distant hills as well as the dome. Sentinel Dome’s colors and textures where on display as it drops off into the wooded hillside below.
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 162 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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Yosemite Falls viewed from the top of Sentinel Dome
It felt like I was standing on top of the world. Obviously I knew intellectually there were many places that were higher, but when walking across the top of Sentinel Dome, which was quite wide, it seemed as though I could see most of Yosemite’s major sights.
The picture above is a distant view of Yosemite Falls. Because of the height of the dome and the distance, a larger portion of Yosemite Falls is visible and it was splendid. The torrents of water spread out as they fell into the basin and then traveled down the crevice into the rest of the valley.
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 161 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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Below is the photo from yesterday’s post. This was the top of Sentinel Dome as seen from a distance.
A view of the top of the dome from the trail
Since I had my Canon SX50 HS bridge camera which has quite a reach, I decided to take a picture of a person standing on top of Sentinel Dome from the place in the trail where the above photograph was captured. I could see people up there, but I could only recognize them as abstract shapes.
This is a picture taken with the Canon SX50 HS super zoom camera from basically the same place as the picture above.
A hiker standing on top of Sentinel Dome stops to take a picture
I was gratified when reviewing this picture that it captured as much of the detail as I had hoped. We were very far away and only the zoom lens made this a possibility. Thank goodness for image stabilized cameras!
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 160 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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As we worked our way up the trail, we arrived at a point where the tree line thinned and because of the altitude the trees that remained were not quite as tall in many places. As we rounded part of the trail, the top of Sentinel Dome came into view. While Yosemite has many domes, Sentinel Dome had a very round shape while others, like Lembert Dome, were only round-ish.
That rounded mound of Sentinel Dome looks relatively close in this photo, but was a fair distance off and of course hikers need to stay on the designated trail which wasn’t a straight line forward, but circuitous. Tomorrow’s post will proffer some indication of just how far away we were when I took this photograph.
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 159 YOY – Year of Yosemite
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