Pray, Bless and Keep the Firefighters

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Today, we came to learn that there is a wildfire near Groveland California, it is reported here.  According to this article, the fire was "25 square miles and was only 5 percent contained"..., "threatening some 2,500 homes, hotels and camp buildings."

We camped near Groveland when we visited Yosemite National Park in April.  We are saddened to learn this news.

Near the campground on the way to the Big Oak Flat Entrance of Yosemite, there is a vista, named, Rim of the World, with several memorials to firefighters lost in past fires.

In Memory Of

DAVID ERICKSON

A  U.S. Forest Service Crew Leader

From Siskiyou County, Calif.

Lost His Life While Fighting the Stanislaus

Complex Fire Which Destroyed 147000 Acres

For the Love of the Forest He Gave

The Ultimate Sacrifice September 11, 1987

Sit and Rest Awhile

Listen to the Pines Whisper In the Light Wind

Gaze At The Trees And Look Upward

Where Branches Reach The Sky

Where Clouds Pass By and Day Turns To Night

Where Memories Are Everlasting.

In Memory Of

EVA MARIE ASCHICKE

Oct. 25, 1980 - Sept. 12, 2004

Eva was a crew member of Helitack 404,

based out of Columbia, California, on

9/12/2004 the Heltack crew was over run

by flameson the Tuolumne Fire.  The fire

was located over the ridge from where

you stand, in Tuolumne River canyon.

Eva will be remembered in history, not only

as the first female CDF firefighter to die in

the line of duty, but also as a daughter,

a sister, a crewmate and friend.  Each day

we can honor her by living our lives the

way she did, with determination, kindness

and a passion for life.  We miss Eva's

contagious smile, but her spirit is with

us as she flies on the wings of a hawk.

We pray that there is no need to add additional memorials, may all the firefighters currently on duty stay safe.




* I understand that now over 53,000 acres have burned.

.

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

April 22, 2013 NOTE THE DATE! Reflections is almost 3 months behind the real time visits.

Today we would drive to the heart of Yosemite, the Yosemite Valley, home of the Bridal Veil Falls, the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, El Capitan and more!

On the way in we stopped a few times for photos.   I did not record exactly where this was.

I of course spied water.  Really, I did. See what Sony Too found, yes, standing in the same place, zoom.  Water fall(s)!  Win!

How's this for a really cool piece of history??  President Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and a campfire.

This is Bridal Veil Falls, there is a pathway to the falls that takes you up very close and yes, you get wet!  All that mist makes for an interesting effect.  Indeed, almost as if it were a bride's veil.

As you turn to go back down the path, if the sun is just right, you may catch a rainbow low to the ground, do you see it?  JUST over the rocks.

From another vantage point, the Bridal Veil Falls.

Zoom, from the same vantage point.  Note how the water comes down in different ways, in this photo the falls split higher.  Fascinating, right??  I thought so.

This is El Capitan to the far right and left of that is a water fall.  Look about 1/3rd from the far left of the photo, yes, there it is, a thin fall, I believe it is "Ribbon Fall".  If I have that right, you can really see why it is named thusly.

At one stop for photos we ran into (almost walked into) MOC friends John and Betsy and Dave.  You know, it really is a small world.  They were parked south of the park, and we knew they would be in the Valley area sometime during the same day.  But, to actually meet up with them was so much fun.  We all had lunch together and had a nice visit.

The Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  Taken from the vicinity of the Visitor's Center.

A close up (zoom) of the Upper Falls through the trees.

Close up (via Sony Too zoom) of the Lower Falls, and you can see there are several falls here, a series of falls the way I see it.

As we left the park one last view of a fall, I believe it is the Bridal Veil Falls, once again.

I am going to end this post on Yosemite by showing you my favorite photo of the day, and actually, of the entire visit to Yosemite, The Upper Yosemite Falls as viewed through a Pacific Dogwood with spectacularly perfect blooms.  This was taken from the area between Yosemite Village and the Visitor Parking lot.  We were tired, had a LONG drive back to Groveland to the campground, Man was setting a brisk pace walking back to Jolly.  But, I saw these dogwoods, and the blooms were low(er) to the ground, just begging me to try some captures.  So, I stopped and shot off several fast photos.  There is another photo over at Flora and Fauna.  (I am posting the link before the photo and post are actually published, sure hope this works!)

We left Yosemite with much left to see and do.  Many of the roads were still closed due to snow.  Therefore, Yosemite remains on our bucket list.  Not a bad place to visit on a re-do, eh?




.

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: A Few Reasons Why You Don't Drive Tana Into Yosemite National Park

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The official park position on vehicle lengths can be found here.

After taking Jolly (sans Tana, she stayed at the campground) into the Yosemite several times, I can tell you there is NO way in the world we would ever take a Montana in there no matter what the official statements may say..

For the route on 140 arriving from the east heading towards El Portal, we are too long, if the signs of 45 foot TOTAL are to be believed as well as the $270.00 fine if you decide to try it and get caught. Yep, Tana and Jolly are too long, almost 53 foot when hooked up and running. However, if you study the official position, it seems you can pull 60 foot combined?

After taking Jolly (sans Tana, she stayed at the campground) into the Yosemite several times, I can tell you there is NO way in the world we would ever take a Montana in there no matter what the official statements may say..

For the route on 140 arriving from the east heading towards El Portal, we are too long, if the signs of 45 foot TOTAL are to be believed as well as the $270.00 fine if you decide to try it and get caught. Yep, Tana and Jolly are too long, almost 53 foot when hooked up and running. However, if you study the official position, it seems you can pull 60 foot combined?

There are tunnels that are less than 11 foot at the inner edge, so, try that and it will be good bye Montana roof. Check out that height warning sign, nope, Tana is not 10 foot 4 inches at the side.

A couple of rocks protrude OVER the roads, they have most of those cut back to about 13 foot 6 inches. Tana actually would fit under this, but, why??

That stone is so hard, I shudder to think at the roof damage, ewww. Tana would technically fit, but, just looking at this gives me the heebeejeebees.

This is Arch Rock Entrance on 140 east of El Portal at the park entrance. I drove Jolly through there and it was, mmm, interesting. I had a hard time finding measurements for this entrance on the internet. I finally did find one reference that indicated it was 14 foot tall. Since Jolly fit through, width wise, Tana would have as well. Generally speaking, if Jolly and the big butt fit through, Tana will fit through, in the WIDTH. That said, we could not get here due to the length limitation of 45 feet (noted above).

So, that's my story and I am sticking to it, as they say. We will keep parking/camping with Tana outside the national parks for now. Thanks anyway - -





.

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite, California

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

April 21, 2013  NOTE THE DATE!  Reflections is almost 3 months behind the real time visits.

This post is graphics heavy, again, ya, you have been warned, again.

(Of interest to this day trip and story, the "No vehicles over 25 ft long OR 8 ft wide")

Today we will be driving to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. (Note: It is controversial, and I will not be party to any angst over the controversy. I only report the facts, oh and show the water falls and such!  You can read about it on this Wikipedia page, which I feel does a fair duty of representing many sides of the controversy and informing about the size and history of the dam and reservoir.  If the subject interests you an internet search will pop up quite a few pages/hits.  You will learn much!)

After pulling off the main road (120) we find small roads that are anything but smooth.  Actually, the first leg of the trip was much "bumpier" than the roads once in the park area. Man just had to drive slowly, to go fast was to invite much discomfort.  But, the view was neat.  These trees were tall!

SOOOO, after about 8 miles of a rocking rolling ride in with ever increasingly more narrow roads, we pull up to the gate, the area is part of the Yosemite National Park.

There are limitations of vehicle size (see that first photo again) of 8 foot wide (Jolly is EXACTLY 8 foot) and 25 foot long (Jolly is 22 foot long).

The young ranger, green behind the gills, and even more green looking when he looked at the size of our Jolly the Green Giant dually truck, was about to deny us entrance when we assured him, that Jolly was within the limits, JUST within, but, within. He asked several times, we stood firm, he finally said, well you sure sound sure, OKKKK, but, please be careful and do not hit any of our other visitor's vehicles. Ya, he said that!  DUH.

The roads were narrow.  They were narrow, did I say, they were narrow??  Man and I seriously doubted these roads were 8 foot.  There were no shoulders to fudge in.  Narrow!

Does this lane look 8 foot wide?  Noooo??  And, that rock hanging out OVER the lane.  No problem for a car, or a smaller truck or SUV, and truth is, no problem for Jolly, but, Man did drive/hang to the left, on this particular corner, eh??  (OK, Man hung over the center line as much as possible during this entire drive, something we don't think is wise, normally, but, this was anything BUT normal, eh?)

Our first sighting of the O'Shaughnessy Dam, only glance of the dam we got with this view.  Thank you Sony Too and zoom!

See, I told ya it was narrow! Remember what they say about those mirrors, "Objects appear closer - - - "

My favorite photo of the Wapama Falls.  This part of the falls is about 200 feet long.

Zoom! Taken from another vantage point.

You can walk across the dam, there are a number of interesting signs to improve your appreciation and teach you.

This tunnel will lead you to hiking trails that over look the water falls, and in fact lead you to additional falls and lakes.  We did not tromp through the water. My hiking boots were in Jolly, I had no interest in getting my shoes wet.  Correction, I had NO dry shoes to change into.  Brochures describing the trails warn you to carry plenty of water and sunscreen and to watch for rattlesnakes and poison oak.  The hikes sounded fabulous.  2.5 miles one way to see spectacular views of water falls. Oh, to be 10 years younger!  LOL  And, have my boots!

At some point I realized there were two water falls here, can you see the second one?  Hint, look to the left side (towards the top) of this photo.

Zoom with another photo, can you see it yet?

Super zoom, yea, you can see it now.  This is the Tueeulala Falls.  According to the Wikipedia article, the falls drop free for 600 feet, hitting a ledge, then slides steeply down 280 feet further.

After spending some time taking lots more photos, reading the signage and such it was time to start heading  back to camp, we still had to drive these narrow roads all the way back to 120.  Now with already narrow passage, you just have to know that these warning lights over a section of washed out road way were, well, not particularly appreciated by the driver.

I am constantly amazed at the recreational biking we see going on.   I am no athlete and have not been since college when they kicked me out of Modern Dance class, and I have pretty much given up bike riding altogether, so I am in awe of the physical condition you must need to be in to ride in and out of these parks, up and down several hundred feet and at these altitudes (I recorded us to be at least  at 5,000 feet above sea level on the GPS during this ride).  They also concern us when we need to pass them, narrow roads made this even more of a challenge.   CLAP CLAP CLAP to them!

Look at this curve, the wall of stone (believe it is granite in this area) is only a few inches off the side.  I did say it was narrow, right??

Not all narrow roads and walls of granite and water falls, this meadow and a barn almost look like they do not belong.  But, they do! Isn't that peaceful??

WOW WOW WOW!!

It WAS an adventure.  Not one bit sorry we had this experience.  There are days when we wish we could put Jolly on a diet.  Then, we go pull the mountains, and we are glad Jolly is just the way he is!

And, no those roads just could not have been 8 foot wide lanes. Not even 8 foot, nope!




.

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Groveland to El Portal, A Drive Through the East Side of Yosemite National Park.

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

April 20, 2013,  NOTE THE DATE!  Reflections is almost 3 months behind the real time visits.

This post is graphics heavy, again, ya, you have been warned again.

We will have 4 days to investigate and visit Yosemite National Park and surrounds.  This day, we start late after resting a bit from THE drive in on 49 and 120.  We decide to drive into the park and start our visit, knowing full well we will have to come back a time or two.  Also knowing full well that parts of the park are still closed due to snow pack.  We hear the rivers are running strong and may be close to the peak for this spring, that makes me happy!  LOL  We will drive to about 6,216 feet (going over and coming back), gaining about 2400 feet in the process.  We will see snow up there at 6,216 feet.  We drive 120 east to the Big Oak Flat Entrance, then Big Oak Flat Road to the intersection of 140 the El Portal Road.  We take 140 west for a few miles past El Portal, turn around and head back the same route.  This covers somewhat over 100 miles round trip.

Before we even enter the park the beauty is breathtaking:

But, Mother Nature sometimes clears the playing fields, or in this case, the trees, with fire. Sometimes the rangers and the National Park Service do controlled burns.  Not sure which case this might be, but, it must have been some fire. Really cleared the hills, eh?

This is Half Dome (with the remnants of snow, middle of the photo, in the background).  You can hike the dome if your inclinations lean that way.  Nope, we did not!

Sorry, not sure the name of this lovely valley. It is very long and narrow and yes, at the end - -

Let's let Sony Too zoom.  Ah ha, a water fall.

On 140 , the Merced River was flowing quite nicely from the snow melt.

This water fall was flowing strongly as well, by August, many of the water falls in Yosemite will be little more than a trickle.

Rocks, boulders, walls of solid rock, the size, amazes me, befuddles me, astonishes me.  Takes my breath away, every time!

More rocks, boulders, rushing water, roaring down the Merced River, noisy!

I found wild flowers, the full versions are over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna.  (Teaser photos follow!  LOL)

This last water fall is at Cascade Creek, the sun was bright, blindingly so, there were shadows, which made shooting a photo of these lovely falls difficult, but, they are too pretty NOT to share.  Be sure to look way at the top of the photo, yes, the falls start way up there.

While taking photos of the wildflowers, and contemplating a hike which we ended up ditching (due to the time of the day, and the distance involved), we chatted with some other visitors to the area, they were more or less locals, and they told us about Hetch Hetchy.  They told us just enough to peak our interest levels to the point that the next day we would go investigating.  It was more wild driving and more water falls and so worth it!




.