yosemite
Doug & I drove out to Yosemite National Park yesterday, and had a great time. The drive took about 2.5 hours. The weather was gorgeous (clear skies, highes right around 70F). Due to the especially heavy rainfall over the winter, there was water everywhere. All the named falls, plus a bunch of unamed falls were just exploding, plus massive rapids along the rivers, and flooding of low lying areas & seasonal ponds. Bridalveil Falls, which is normally a small trickle in the fall, was a massive torrent. There was so much water, that the parking lot near the falls was under an inch of flowing water. Of course the water was a mixed blessing, as the road to Glacier Point was still not opened due to uncleared snow. We did hike up to the top of Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail. I'm sure that in the summer, the trail is just a bit misty, but yesterday it was a full blown shower of cold water. On top of that the staircase is comprised of uneven, twisty, mud covered, narrow stone blocks. I was completely soaked on the hike up. I also made two (5.5MB QT) movies (3.6MB QT) of Vernal Falls. But after spending about 15 minutes at the top of the falls I dried off completely. The hike down turned out to be trickier than the hike up, since going down those same narrow, slippery stairs is so much harder than going up. Pictures are up at the usual place.