June, 2014
now browsing by month
Yosemite NP
I continue with close updates to try to catch a bit of my late…
After replacing VivaLaVida’s tank in Fresno, I had a few days before the arrival of my brother Jean-Luc. So I went in Yosemite Mounains, hoping to see those in the snow…
1. Ray of light on El Capitan…
2. Mirror Lake a snowy day.
3. Colored rock in monochrome lanscape…
4. Some grass in the meadow.
After meeting Jean-Luc in San Francisco, we stopped next to a pond to see the birdlife before returning to Yosemite. It should be mentioned here that Jean-Luc is an avid and well informed birder and an excellent climber..! So Yosemite was a must see!
5. An elegant black-necked stilt.
6. Nice light when we arrived in Yosemite Valley !
7. Ray on the cliff.
8. The Half Dome is still in the clouds…
9. Dusk…
10. Hike in Little Yosemite Valley with the Half Dome in the back.
11. Cooling in the Merced River.
The next day, we had a great surprise. Attempting to reach the summit of El Capitan, we gave up after an almost ten miles walk because the snow still there has really become too thick. Every step sank above the knee and at 16:30 we had to take the way back to reach Vivalavida before nightfall.
The sun had set over twenty minutes when I stopped. There, about twenty yards away, I had just seen a bear busy to search some insects on a dead tree. Jean-Luc perceiving it the same time, he had stopped 30 feet behind me. The bear was a big male. He didn’t sens us yet. I walked a few steps back to add some distance so that it doesn’t discover me too closely. Fifteen seconds later, he felt us and turned his head towards us. I then raised the voice and he ran away, turning once to see us before resuming its course further…
What emotion, our first wild bear any two! It lasted only a few seconds but will remain engraved in my memory …
It was too dark for me to attempt to photograph it and the camera was in the bag…
12. The next morning, at the base of El Capitan, a myth for climbers … More than 3,000 feet of superb granite!
13. Merced River.
14. We will still visit Mariposa Grove for Jean-Luc to discover giant sequoias…
15. Curious plant which doesn’t make photosynthesis, hence its color fuchsia.
We then returned to Pinnacles NP to try to see a condor…
16. Jean-Luc discovering the Pinnacles.
17. Before the condor, we will see the smallest bird here, a hummingbird… 😀
18. There is more flowers than two weeks earlier.
19. While we had a snack break, he arrived, majestic! This is the largest bird in North America. It has almost disappeared and was saved in extremis thirty years ago. Reintroduced in several sites, it is still not out of danger. I quoted his Majesty the Californian condor.
20. A second passed just behind, probably a couple that we have the chance to observe about half an hour.
21. Ravens are everywhere here, like crows in Europe.
22. Nice flower along the trail.
23. A rather aesthetic reservoir…
24. Meet along the trail which bring us back to VivaLaVida.
25. Californina quail in our campground, just a few feet away.
The following will take you to discover the Alabama Hills and the famous Racetrack. To come very soon… 😉
Pinnacles and Kings Canyon NP
Since I had to go through Fresno to change the main tank of Vivalavida which continued to leak despite several repairs, I took the opportunity to visit a few sites on the way to San Francisco. Starting with the Pinnacles National Park, the last National Park created to date.
1. Crossing the mountains behind the Big Sur…
2. … Vivalavida crosses beautiful forest of “red wood” sequoias.
3. Behind these mountains which condense rains of the Pacific, the hills have been cleared to create pastures…
4. … quite photogenic.
5. A beautiful lone tree … This phicture has earned me the remonstrances of a farmer not happy to find me in his field even if I did not do much wrong.
6. In the Pinnacles NP, a mountain range which houses californina condors that I haven’t seen on this occasion…
7. They are already some flowers…
8. Going further on my way, the land looks more desert.
9. However, a few scattered farms try to exploit it.
10. Along the road, the Coalinga solar plant and the strange and spectacular concentration of sunlight near the tower.
I then went to see the Kings Canyon National Park and its giant sequoias, not far from Fresno.
11. Pretty Hume Lake.
12. VivaLaVida under the giants.
13. And a penguin in front of the 6th largest tree of the USA! About 40 feet in diameter at its base!!!
14. Likely tracks of a lynx or a bobcat.
15. I found a nice boondocking area above Lake Hume up a nice 4×4 drive and surprise in the next morning: more than one foot of fresh snow!
16. This is what is called a return of winter!
17. I tryed to go through the pass…
18. … but there was to much snow and I drove back.
19. Lanscape is beautiful…
20. … since the weather is getting better.
21. I learned that the Highway was closed after having traveled more than twenty miles without a single trace in front of Vivalavida’s wheels. What a pleasure! 😀
22. Back to the Hume Lake that has changed in appearance since yesterday!
23. It feels like the middle of winter…
24. Going back down to Fresno…
To be continued in a few days… Thank you for your loyalty! 😀
D5 Creation