Today, Chuck and Jamshid and I went to Yosemite, and it was great. Well, except for all the fog on the way. It was foggy all the way from my place to the Sierra foothills, particularly thick around I-5 (of course). I took it slow and careful, so it added about half an hour to the drive.
Since it is late in the season, I checked the weather carefully. We were set to go last weekend despite the 20% chance of a tenth of an inch of snow, but then the forecast changed to 90% chance of 5 to 9 inches! Of course, after we canceled our plans, it didn't snow after all. In any case, I kept a close eye on the Yosemite webcams to see how much snow might accumulate during the week. I kept a copy of this particularly nice image.
Today it turned out to be sunny with a forecast high around 50 degrees. We started and ended the hike in our jackets, but in the middle of the day we could take them off in the sun.
Our hike was from the Wawona Tunnel up the south rim to Crocker Point. The lower part of the hike was dry, but about 10% of the trail was snow covered in the upper elevations. Here are Chuck (foreground) and Jamshid (background) in a particularly snowy section.
Stanford Point, Crocker Point, and Dewey Point are reachable in day trip, in that order. The main trail only goes near Stanford Point, and in the summer there is a chaotic profusion of side trails to reach the point itself. This time there were fewer trails through the snow, but they still didn't take a particularly optimal route to the point. So I made my own, which turned out to be even worse. In any case, we made it eventually.
It's not too much further to Crocker Point. I guess I didn't take a photo of the point itself. (The metal sign was propped up against a tree, where it wasn't very photogenic.) Here's a look down at Bridalveil Fall.
... and across the valley at the distant snow-covered mountains.
We were hiking somewhat leisurely, so we decided to not go all the way to Dewey Point. Here's a final shot from the return trip, from Inspiration Point (or thereabouts).
