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Monday 10/02/06 
Yosemite National Park
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Today I headed due east out of San Francisco to see Yosemite National Park. After a partial recovery from LA during my stay in San Francisco, I went to Yosemite in search of my lost soul. I would have to say I found a bit more of my soul here in Yosemite. The park is quite majestic, and I spent several hours driving and roaming around the impressive landscape. I have my friend Jackie to thank for my visit to the park. I had mentioned I wanted to go there, but nearly gave it a miss until she brought it up the day before I left San Francisco. I'm really glad I went there. It was a very moving experience. The first stop I made was just inside the park, at the Merced grove, which is home to several giant Sequoia trees.

I headed down the steep trail in search of the legendary trees.

I have always wanted to see a sequoia up close, and I finally got my chance.

On my way into the grove I saw the first huge tree.

It turns out that although this was a truly massive pine tree,
it wasn't a sequoia at all. They resided a mile into the trail.

They stood towering like silent giants above the rest of the trees.

It wasn't until I approached their massive
trunks that I realized how huge they really are.

One of the trees had a growth on the side of it the size
of a Volkswagen, which translates from German to "people's car"

(Just a bit of trivia there)

I took a panoramic image of the trunk of the great sequoia as it
was too big to fit in the normal camera frame
(now that's big)

Click on image below to view panoramic

I then got some clod walking down the trail to take
a picture of me next to the tree to show the scale

These sequoias weren't nearly the biggest that exist. Standing next to this giant tree, dwarfed by its magnificence, I realized just how insignificant they really were. They are huge, but they grow in secluded groves in the Pacific northwest and really have little bearing on my life.

Moving on...

I stopped at the latrine near the parking area at Merced grove after my relatively short but exhausting hike. I marveled at the sign in the latrine as if it were a giant redwood...

I surmised that it would indeed be difficult to
remove trash from these flushless style toilets.

I almost dropped some trash in to try and take away the otherwise glamorous and highly
desirable job of Yosemite Park ranger, but decided against it. I'm just not that mean.

After my adventures in the potty I rejoined route 120 and headed Southeast into the park toward the famed Yosemite valley. My next stop was at "Crane flat" which overlooked a meadow that had once been a lake. The lake had filled with sediment over time, and turned into a meadow. The meadow would soon fill with brush, and eventually trees would grow, overtaking the meadow in the relentless cycle of nature. The clouds swooped into the valley and immersed the area in a pillow of pure white. It was quite lovely.

After fighting the other tourists to get out of the parking area at Crane flat, I
headed back down the road where I came upon the first in a series of tunnels.

This is the outside of the tunnel

and this is the inside

Just then, as I exited the tunnel, it started to get cloudy

I would say it started to get foggy, but these were
clouds, as the altitude I was at was well within the cloudbank

After driving through the foggy clouds, I emerged at the first picturesque section of the park. The sheer cliffs plunged upwards into the clouds, revealing a turbulent history of the earth being forced upwards by the relentless forces within long ago. All that remained was the granite after the other minerals had been eroded away. Or so said the sign.

I took a panoramic image of the east side of Yosemite valley
Click on image below to view panoramic

The entrance to Yosemite valley was just the beginning of
the awe inspiring journey that awaited my weary eyes.

The rock face pictured below, "El Capitan", is a legendary spot for rock climbers

I drove on, and saw the "half dome" of El Capitan, which is
located on the east side of the monumental outcropping.

Nature, in all it's glory, was truly "showing off" at Yosemite

I drove on, finally exiting my truck for a short hike to Yosemite falls

The falls weren't quite as raging as I'd expected, but a plume of
water plummeted down the cliffside into the stream below

Trees grew nearly everywhere in Yosemite. Even
on the sheer rock faces they clung on for dear life.

I saw a lone tree, hardly a redwood, struggling
desperately to survive in quite the foreboding predicament

I knew just how it felt

I wanted to help the little tree by climbing up to uproot it and replant it in a more hospitable environment, but thought better of it as I went off to throw some trash into the toilet

Back in my truck again, I continued driving through Yosemite valley, and managed
to go the wrong way down a one way street and nearly got creamed by a tour bus

In my defense, the road really wasn't marked that well

Driving on...

and on...

I came across this deadwood tree lying majestically on its side in the water

and that's all I have to say about that

I took another panoramic of Yosemite, as it's so deserving.
Click on image below to view image

Below are some more pictures of Yosemite in all its vastness. I highly recommend
each and every one of you take the trip out to see it one day. It is quite spectacular.

I took yet another panoramic image of Yosemite.
Click on image below to view panoramic

The park went on and on in its relentless pursuit of grandeaur

I imagine these rocks were left here by a passing glacier

but what do I know

I stopped for awhile at Tenaya lake to contemplate my life

The sloping granite hills looked on while I sat quietly.

ok, ok, one last panoramic shot of the lake then I have to get out of here, I'm getting tired.
Click on image below to view yada yada yada

I drove on to Tuolumne meadows, which stretched out along the central
portion of the park, and on my way down Tioga road toward the exit.

I ended my day by driving just east of Yosemite to stay in a hotel in Lee Vining, CA. The hotels within the park were a bit outrageous price-wise, and the little Inn I stayed at had a splendid view of some lake I forget the name of...

The End

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Howaard Shore - Lord of the Rings - Foundations of Stone

Instrumental

I chose this song of the day for the powerful sounds and feelings it conjures. Also for the connotation of the "Foundations of Stone" on which Yosemite is built. Similarly, my own foundations of stone lie back east, which is where I'm now headed.