Blog Index

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Roadside Vistas between Tunnel and Chinquapin on Wawona Road - Yosemite National Park


We left Yosemite National Park by way of the Wawona Road, California 41, from Yosemite Valley past Chinquapin, Wawona, the Mariposa Grove, and Fish Camp on the way to Fresno. Rain had already started falling in the valley when we left. We drove through the fog and clouds for most of our journey, but the fog lifted enough in a couple of places to capture some images of our March 2018 scenic drive.

View across the Merced Gorge

Snow on the rocks

Looking back at El Capitan in the fog

View from Turtleback Dome

Concrete arch bridge on Big Oak Flat Road spans Cascade Creek with Tamarack Creek on the left

Fog in the valley

Yosemite wilderness

Ranks of ridge lines mark the Merced Gorge 

Snow near 5000' elevation

Henness Ridge and Eagle Peak from near Avalanche Creek

Entrance to Yosemite National Park requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. The price increases to $35 per vehicle on June 1, 2018. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/yose.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Tunnel View in the Mist - Yosemite National Park


The weather plays an important role in how we view nature in general and Yosemite Valley specifically. As a storm moved in, we decided to leave Yosemite National Park a couple of days earlier than we had planned. We had a great time exploring the park in the late winter and will have to return again to see it in other seasons and explore further into areas that are closed seasonally.

I hope you enjoy these images from Tunnel View. On the left is El Capitan and on the right are the Cathedral Rocks with 620 foot high Bridalveil Fall below. We visited the park in March 2018.


 




Entrance to Yosemite National Park requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. The price increases to $35 per vehicle on June 1, 2018. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/yose.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Yosemite Valley in the Mist - Yosemite National Park


We awoke to fog and some rain as our March 2018 visit to Yosemite National Park continued. The weather changed the entire valley into a seemingly brooding environment.

Eagle Tower and Columbia Rock from Sentinel Meadow

North Dome and Royal Arches
 
Yosemite Falls from Cook's Meadow

Upper Yosemite Fall

Lower Yosemite Fall

Eagle Peak from Cook's Meadow
 
Eagle Tower, Yosemite Point, and Yosemite Falls from Cook's Meadow

Entrance to Yosemite National Park requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. The price increases to $35 per vehicle on June 1, 2018. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/yose.

Monday, May 28, 2018

Yosemite Valley Visitor Center - Yosemite National Park


During our March 2018 visit to Yosemite National Park, we stopped at the visitor center in Yosemite Valley. Unlike almost all visitor centers, parking for this one is about 1/3 mile away. This is probably due to a lack of available space near the visitor center in the heart of Yosemite Village. The large parking is not paved, but has a gravel surface. Whether this is due to a lack of funding or a temporary condition while construction takes place in the village was not conveyed to visitors. If you can't or don't want to walk that far, the free system of shuttle buses. Catch the bus at either shuttle stop 1 or stop 2 to head to the visitor center at stop 5. To return to the parking area, catch the bus at shuttle stop 9 across the road from stop 5 and disembark at stop 10 across from stop 2.

The visitor center houses the usual information desk, bookstore, exhibits, and a theater. Restrooms are located nearby. Two movies are shown in the theater with one starting every half hour. Spirit of Yosemite is a 23 minute orientation by David Vassar filmed well over a decade ago and Yosemite - A Gathering of Spirit is a 25 minute film by Ken Burns commemorating the 150th anniversary of the legislation signed in 1864 that preserved Yosemite Valley. Both are excellent films as is typical of park service films. The theater seats about 130 people.

Of the many quotes by John Muir sprinkled throughout the exhibits in the visitor center, my favorite is this one:
Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.
I think that sentiment holds even more true today than in John Muir's day.

Half Dome (8836') from near the entrance

Visitor Center entrance

Information desk

Yosemite Valley in relief

Interconnected

Hang Nest - John Muir's cabin

John Muir

Photography in Yosemite

People in Yosemite

Wildlife in Yosemite

Glacial rock carving

Interactive geology exhibit

Bookstore overview

Books

More books

Clothing

Bookstore checkout

Theater

Seating for up to 160

Entrance to Yosemite National Park requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. The price increases to $35 per vehicle on June 1, 2018. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/yose.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Majestic Yosemite Hotel Tour - Yosemite National Park


The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, formerly the Ahwahnee Hotel, is a grand hotel in the "PARKitecture" style seen in national parks across the west. A park service naturalist leads a free daily walking tour of the hotel for park visitors. The hotel was envisioned as a place where the "movers and shakers" of the 1920s would feel at home in the vast wilderness of Yosemite National Park. The hope was that once these influential people saw Yosemite Valley, they would write their congressmen and demand that additional funding be allocated to protect Yosemite.

Hotels of the period usually had small guest rooms and large common areas as the guest room was only used for changing attire and sleeping. Guests were expected to mingle with others in the array of common areas on the ground floor. At the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, these spaces included the Dining Room, Great Lounge, Solarium, Mural Room, and Winter Club Room.

The hotel was built of steel, concrete, and stone in order to be as fire resistant as possible. However, much of the concrete exterior was molded and stained to look like wood to fit into the architectural theme. The interior designers were influenced by several styles, including Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, Native American, and Middle Eastern. Somehow, they managed to pull off an eye pleasing combination that worked.

During World War II, the hotel was used by the War Department as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers and much of the original artwork on the ceilings, beams, and walls was painted over. Restoration to the original designs is expected to cost more than $1 million and take several years to complete, once it is funded.

Built just as the automobile was becoming available, the hotel had to be reconfigured just before it opened as the original design for the main entrance would have allowed exhaust fumes into the building. A hastily designed and built timber port-cochere entry on the north of the east wing keeps exhaust fumes far from the hotel and hides the delivery area and back side of the kitchen from visitors. The hotel has 97 guest rooms and about two dozen cottages.

The naturalist conducting our tour grew up in Yosemite and has climbed most of the cliff walls surrounding Yosemite Valley. He was very knowledgeable, engaging, and friendly. We took the tour in March 2018.

Porte-cochere viewed from the shuttle stop

Window shopping from the porte-cochere

Looking back at the porte-cochere

Historic Landmark plaque

Front entrance

Entering the lobby

More of the lobby

View from what was designed as the front of the hotel


Great Lounge



Cut and stained glass windows

One of two massive fireplaces in the common areas

The other fireplace




Connecting corridor


Mural Room






Dining Room




Exterior


Hotel backs up to the north wall of Yosemite Valley

Royal Arch Cascades

Stained and textured concrete simulates wood

Stones placed largest to smallest up the column to force a perspective of a larger structure

The majestic side of the hotel

View toward Glacier Point

Our tour guide

Entrance to Yosemite National Park requires an entry fee of $30 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. The price increases to $35 per vehicle on June 1, 2018. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/yose.