Early Friday morning, we saw a bear across the highway
Um, make that two bear sightings
Yosemite abounds with geology lessons. This one's called "exfoliation"
Classic view of Half Dome, from Olmstead Point
I had heard that Olmstead Point was closed for much of this past summer, and one of the new features is a cool relief map of Yosemite Valley and some of the surrounding Sierra
relief map close-up
Cloud's Rest from Olmstead Point
sky, maybe for a desktop background
Ben, sitting next to the Lyell Fork, bandanna weirdly tied across his nose
Ben, still with the blue stripe
Me, Lyell Fork, and maybe Mt Dana
Nice pool
Ben sitting at a nice pool
Ben standing near a nice pool
dusty trail
six lane freeway, Ben on the offramp
Ben "Tupac" Landauer
At a meadow
Standing on smiley rock, before we knew its name
Smiley Rock. Too bad we didn't get a pic from a bit farther away, where the smiley-face was more noticeable
Rafferty Creek utterly dry, giving us pause
After some climbing, we start to get some views of the mountains surrounding Tuolomne Meadows
Mount Dana is just south of Tioga Pass
Just after we got to the meadows along the uppermost mile or so at the top end of Rafferty Creek, we got some nice skyline views to the northeast
It was pretty cold up there
Parts of the Rafferty meadows had really nice, almost boardwalk-like trail
The views toward Tuolomne Pass and Vogelsang Camp were pretty nice, and we thought we'd gotten up to the pass ...
... and then we thought this was the pass ...
... and then Ben looked like he had found the pass ...
The views northeast kept getting better
Fletcher Peak had some interesting seams of lighter-colored rock
By this time, Ben was making better time than I was
The meadow was pretty brown this time of year
First night's site, above Boothe Lake
My tarp pitched low because it was so cold. Notice that I didn't have my hiking pole with me, so had to use a stick.
Ben has gotten pretty good at setting up his Sololite
View across, above Boothe Lake, with the waning day's rays
View above Boothe Lake after the sun was gone
Saturday morning, frost on the grass
Frost on my tarp -- much of its inner surface was icy
Doug at Vogelsang, next to the lovely composting toilet, which was under reconstruction
The view south, towards Vogelsang Lake, which I'd like to explore next time I'm up in that area
LHS of panorama. Ben was supposed to be pointing up at the funky knob up on the ridge ...
... RHS of panorama with Ben pointing up at the funky knob up on the ridge ...
Looking east across the east end of Fletcher Lake
Ben sitting around, near Fletcher Lake
The east end of Fletcher Lake had a nice snowfield, melting into a small creek; I think this tributary flows down from Townsley aka Upper Fletcher Lake
Between Fletcher and Evelyn, we scared up a marmot
The marmot wasn't particularly shy
Ben, headed toward Evelyn Lake
Ben near the pass before Evelyn Lake
RHS of Evelyn Lake panorama
middle of Evelyn Lake panorama. Our water filtering spot was about in the center of this picture. So ... my water filter remained in that spot for at least the duration of our trip :-(
LHS of Evelyn Lake panorama
Evelyn Lake and rocks
Ben and the west edge of Evelyn Lake
Fletcher Peak rock veins and snowfields
Clear water
Great example of a glacial erratic
Doug, contemplating his next move
Amelia Earhart Peak
View towards the Kuna Crest
Ireland Creek, sheeting on granite slabs
Break time, on the steep way down next to Ireland Creek
We saw several deer along the creek
More Ireland Creek pouroff
Spooky camp, near Ireland Creek's confluence with the Lyell Fork of the Tuolomne River. Ben's tent done, I'm dawdling
Both tent and tarp set up at Spooky Camp
Dinner cooking, Ben taking notes
Sunday morning, two-lane freeway trail (part of the John Muir Trail)
Ben's tremendous treatment of the trail tread tracks
A slow spot in the Lyell Fork.= Were it warmer, it may've been a swim spot
This and the next 8 or 9 images are from the spot we stopped, mid-morning Sunday, to boil water since we had apparently left the water filter at Evelyn Lake
Ben and the morning shadows
Looking down river
Ben, contemplating
Ben taking icicle pix from the log next to the river
Exploring a bit downriver
Lyell Creek, pouring off a small bit o' granite
The spot even had a mini-waterwheel
Here's Ben's icicles shot, from the end of that log
A very clear pool, later on, down the Lyell Fork,
Back in the Valley, a chopper was making a rescue, from one of the meadows next to the Ahwanee
At the visitor center in the Valley, several deer made themselves at home