We have arrived at Klamath Basin NWR, Oregon

We are settling in at our site next to the biology building. We arrived today after lunch. Hallie, our supervisor, gave us a tour and introduced us around to the large staff. We plan to start work on Friday morning.

Reno/Sparks and Carson City

After leaving Yosemite we stopped in the Reno/Sparks area for four nights staying at Sparks Marina RV Park. On Sunday we attended church in Carson City. Pastor Amen grew up in our home church. We have know his family for over 25 years. What a treat to listen to a sermon and bible study given by this young man.
Carson City, with a population of only 56,000, is the capital of Nevada. After a good lunch at Red's Old 395 Grill, we took a self-guided city tour that included walking the capital grounds.

Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Carson City, Nevada
Pastor Chris Amen

Streets of Virginia City. Nevada

On a loop tour from Carson City back to Reno/Sparks we drove up the Comstock Load Highway with a 15% grade. This road passes through Silver City and Virginia City. Built on a steep hillside, Virginia City looks much like it did 150 years ago. The Comstock Load yielded over $250,000,000 worth of silver and gold in its heyday.

Also in Virginia City, Saint Mary's in the Mountains, rebuilt in 1875, after fire destroyed it, is known as the cradle of Catholicism in Western Nevada.

A trip to Reno wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Casinos. Memorial Day we went downtown and entertained ourselves at the three interconnected properties of Circus Circus, the Eldorado and the Silver Legacy. Inside the Silver Legacy is a lofty dome containing an enormous mining rig contraption complete with fake thunderstorms that fire up each hour. We found an excellent lunch buffet at the Eldorado. The slots weren't as generous as some, but it did take a while to loose our alloted money in the penny machines.

Reno's really big on Bowling. Major tournaments take place here regularly. The National Bowling Stadium, downtown, has 78 championship lanes as well as a 440 foot video screen that projects state of the art scoring graphics. We sat in the free balcony and watched a game.

Yosemite Part 6 - Taft Point

On our last day in the park, with the sky very clear, we decided to drive back up Glacier Point Road with the intention of hiking Sentinal Dome again. As mentioned in Yosemite Part 1, our previous hike here was cloud covered.

When we arrived at the trail head, we noticed that the pre-Memorial Day crowds were increasing. Most everyone took the trail to the right at the junction to Sentinel Dome, so we turned left toward the less popular Taft Point trail. We were rewarded with fabulous views of Yosemite Valley. The dizzying heights were overwhelming at first. We found ourselves standing on the edge of a shear drop off of over 3,000 feet.


The easy 2.2 mile trail from the parking lot leads you past large fissures in the granite that seem to drop off into oblivion. These five huge cracks, often referred to as the "5 Fissures," shoot straight to the valley floor, so you don't want to venture into them. We also found them impossible to photograph.







From this overlook you can see Yosemite Falls, Cathedral Spires, Mt. Hoffman and El Capitan. Kurt is standing on the ledge below the ledge of the man in the red jacket in the previous picture.









Not to be outdone, here we are together on the same ledge. Notice we are holding hands for stability.

Full view, looking down, at Upper and Lower
Yosemite Falls

Spring flowers along the trail

We stopped at Washburn Point for another look at the valley and to have some lunch. Nevada Falls can be seen between the two trees in this picture. This trail is the easiest and the shortest trail in the park.



From here you can see Half Dome, Illilouette Falls, Nevada Falls, and the pictured Vernal Falls.








Our last stop was the Swinging Bridge Hike off Forest Drive near the Wawona Hotel.





We enjoyed our visit at Yosemite. We spent six days inside the National Park. Although we felt like we did it justice, to see it all could have taken the rest of the summer.

Yosemite Part 5 - Mono Lake

Mono Lake

While we were on the east side of the Sierra's, we visited Mono Lake, 22 miles east of Yosemite. Wondering among the Tufa Towers here is most comparable to touring a cave filled with stalagmites.

These odd looking structures are formed when clear ground water bubbles up through the floor of this very salty alkaline lake. The calcium carbonate chemically form into the limestone "tufas" as the water bubbles up.

These very old tufas have been exposed since the streams feeding the lake were diverted in the 1950's, causing the lake level to drop up to 50 feet.

Bodie State Historic Park

In the afternoon we visited a ghost town at Bodie State Historic Park. This old gold mining town reached its heyday in the 1870's.

At one time Bodie had a population of over 10,000 people and over 2,000 buildings. By the 1880's the mines were depleted, and fire had ravished the town causing many to leave. By 1940 it had become a ghost town. In 1962, the small part of the town that survived was designated a state historic park. What remains of the town of Bodie is now preserved in a state of "arrested decay." Preserved as it was when the last residents left. In fact, many of their possessions can still be found inside the buildings.

Bodie -- a town so lawless that in 1881 it was described as
"...a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion."
Quote by Reverend F. M. Warrington

Tioga Pass Entrance
Elevation 9,945 feet

We returned from our two day adventure through the Tioga Pass Entrance on the east side of Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite Part 4 - Tioga Road

Olmsted Point

The Tioga Road and high country area of Yosemite is cleared of snow and open late May through November. The 39 mile scenic Tioga Road is the only road in the Park to cross the Sierra Nevada's.

One of the Park's most spectacular vistas can be seen on Olmsted Point, where we witnessed the immense power of the glaciers. We took an excellent short hike here to see the sights.



Tenaya Lake, at around 8,000 foot elevation, is yet another example of a park feature that was created by the glaciers.


Lembert Granite Dome in Tuolumne Meadows
Elevation 8,575 feet



The Lake at Tioga Pass entrance
Elevation 9,945 feet

It was an all day drive to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's so we decided to stay overnight. We found a lovely little bed and breakfast called Cinnamon Bear Inn in Mammoth Lakes, California.
We had a homey corner room complete with a poster bed and private bath. Pam, the proprietor, made us each a fresh white chocolate, macadamia nut with roasted pecan waffle for breakfast. Ummmm.

Lake Mamie
Up the mountain from Mammoth Lakes

Yosemite Part 3 - Hetch Hetchy Valley

A few miles after entering the south gate into Yosemite is a beautiful National Historic Landmark. The Wawona Hotel has been feeding and housing travelers since the 1850's.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch in the Victorian Dining Room.

Being Saturday and the Park was busy, we planned a visit to the Hetch Hetchy area of Yosemite. It was here in this little visited region of the park that we found our "Hike of the Week".

From the overlook you can view the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, O'Shaughnessy Dam along with the Wapama Falls.

The project began in 1914. The Hetch Hetchy Project - a complex system of pipelines, tunnels, powerhouse, dams and reservoirs first delivered water to the San Francisco Bay area in October 1934. There was much controversy over the flooding of this beautiful valley, which John Muir likened to Yosemite Valley. The reservoir is estimated to contain 117 billion gallons of high quality drinking water to supply 2.6 million residents.

A five mile hike to Wapama Falls begins by crossing the dam and walking through the tunnel.

The views along the reservoir trail were outstanding.

The Wapama Falls are just around the corner.

Pictures do not due justice to the absolute beauty and power of these magnificent falls.

The pristine water collected here is snow melt and precipitation originating on the snow capped granite peaks of the Yosemite protected wilderness area.

Water stored here is safe for drinking. No filtration is necessary. So we proceeded to refill our water bottles out of the falls. The high elevation of the reservoir allows the regional water system to move water from Hetch Hetchy to the Bay Area using only gravity. This not only provides water but also generates electricity. No boating or swimming is allowed in the lake. This lightly used pristine area is well worth the journey. Most times we didn't see any other hikers. After spending the previous couple days in the very busy main park, it was nice.

The Lights of Wawona Hotel shown into the night as we passed by on our way home.

Yosemite Part 2 - Yosemite Valley

The next morning we awoke to clear skies. A great day to drive into Yosemite Valley for day hikes.







After parking near the Happy Isles Nature Center, we took a Park shuttle bus to the Vernal Falls Footbridge trail head. It was a two mile round trip hike beginning with a 400 foot climb off the valley floor.

The trail continued on to the top of Vernal Falls and then on to Nevada Falls. Having achieved most of the scenic views, we chose to stop at the bridge as did many others. Even though we are retired, we still find it necessary to balance our time against the endless number of possible things one can do in a day. Some days it seems a pity that there are so few hours of daylight in a given day. It makes you wish for the endless daylight hours of Alaska summers.



We closed out the day with a short hike to Yosemite Falls. It's a 2,425 foot drop, the tallest in North America and the fifth tallest in the world. To imagine the height, it is 10 times taller than Niagara Falls and twice the height of the Empire State Building.

Using the free National Park Shuttle Bus, we returned to our car.