Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and Glacier Point Road
It was much warmer last night, in the 50s, and our tent cabin
stayed in the 60s. Slept great! We breakfasted on peanut butter
sandwiches and general-store coffee.
Yosemite
Valley
This morning we drove to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias,
where we hiked around the big trees. In total volume, the giant
sequoias are the largest living things known to exist.
A couple of the trees are cool enough to mention by name. The
Grizzly Giant is 1,800 years old, 210 feet tall, 31 feet across,
and looks like elves should be making cookies inside it. Just
beyond the Grizzly Giant is the California Tunnel Tree, cut in 1895
to allow horse-drawn carriages to pass through.
Sequoias
Grizzly Giant a/k/a
Keebler Elf Tree
Tom in the Tunnel
Tree
From the grove, we drove to Glacier Point Road, just recently
opened for the season. I really wasn't expecting it to be open yet,
as it usually isn't passable until mid June, but we lucked out with
a mild winter and an early melt!
The views from Washburn Point and Glacier Point (7,214 feet) were
phenomenal, with different views of Half Dome and Vernal and Nevada
Falls than we'd had so far. At Glacier Point we had a sandwich
picnic and I bought a requisite ice cream cone.
Half Dome and Vernal and
Nevada Falls from Washburn Point
Upper and Lower Yosemite
Falls
Jana and Tom at Glacier
Point
Halfdome and the valley
from Glacier Point
We did a couple of hikes from Glacier Point Road. First we hiked to
Taft Point and the Fissures, 2.2 miles round-trip, where we had
fantastic views of El Capitan and Yosemite Falls, in addition to
vertiginous cliff's-edge views of the valley floor.
Taft Point and El
Capitan
Upper Yosemite
Fall
Steve's
Point
Then from the same trailhead we hiked to Sentinel Dome (8,122
feet), another 2.2 miles round-trip, where we had great 360-degree
views of the valley and its many landmarks: Cathedral Rocks, El
Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Clouds Rest, Half Dome, Nevada Fall,
Vernal Fall, and more. It was stunning!
Sentinel
Dome
From Sentinel
Dome
Jana claims Yosemite and
the High Sierras
Don't back
up!
On the drive back down into the valley, we stopped at Inspiration
Point at Tunnel View, a very popular pull-out with an excellent
view of Bridalveil Fall, El Capitan, and Half Dome, though the
light wasn't quite right for photos.
It was another beautiful day with lovely weather. We made it back
to camp at 7:15 and had pastrami sandwiches and beer for dinner.
Later, returning from the shower, Tom spotted two deer right in the
middle of camp just minding their own business and eating
leaves.
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