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Album:2006:05-18 Yosemite
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My buddy Disco Dan had made some reservations at Yosemite the prerequisite 6 months
in advance and had space for two more, so Haley and I joined Danny and Michelle
for some Yosemite fun.
As someone who comes from a Rocky Mountain background and doesn't like the rolling
green hills they call the Sierra "Mountains," I must confess that the mountains in
Yosemite were great - big happy rocky monsters with tons of smashing, rushing water.
Speaking of water, it was in abundance thanks to the heavy winter snowfall. Yeeha!
We went on a hike of Half Dome. Thanks to leaving fairly late and some inclement
weather, this hike became an ADVENTURE. Yeeha!
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HaleyBaby
at Yosemite ( comments)
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Our motley crew
on the path up towards Half Dome. Gregory (Danny's brother), Michelle, Dan and Haley. ( comments)
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Yes, those are decent mountains.
Well done, California. This somewhat makes up for your wussy-ass skiing hills. :) ( comments)
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MountainHaley
( comments)
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The head of Vernal Falls,
if I'm not mistaken. ( comments)
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[Video] Gushing water.
[Video, 1.3M] ( comments)
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More waterfalls
in the distance. ( comments)
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Haley on the bridge
over the Merced River under Vernal Falls. ( comments)
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Heading up towards the Mist Trail,
Haley stops to inspect some algae. Or lick the walls. It's not clear. ( comments)
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The Mist Trail
is a set of stone steps that hike up next to the Vernal Falls. The trail is aptly named. ( comments)
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The Vernal Falls
( comments)
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At the end of the soakage,
we remove our plastic coating. ( comments)
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The crew at Vernal Falls
( comments)
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We stop for a snack,
which brings on the AGS (aggresive ground squirrels). ( comments)
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The Blue Jays
at Yosemite are remarkably blue. ( comments)
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HaleyMo at the head
of Vernal Falls ( comments)
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Woosh goes the water!
( comments)
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Dave,
moments before plunging to his death. ( comments)
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Danny thinks about joining him...
( comments)
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..but decides
to send Michelle over instead. ( comments)
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Aww.
Romantic, and stuff. ( comments)
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Looking up Merced.
That might be Nevada Falls up there. Dunno. ( comments)
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We stop,
for some unrecalled reason. ( comments)
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Yeeha!
( comments)
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The smashing Nevada Falls.
( comments)
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Are rushing and gushingly awesome.
( comments)
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At the top,
is this gentle warning sign. ( comments)
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The water rushing over the head.
( comments)
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And smashing down below.
It actually falls a few hundred feet before hitting a rock face and spraying out for another few hundred. ( comments)
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The crew overlooks the drop.
( comments)
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HaleyTroll stops for a snack.
( comments)
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More sightings of the AGS
(aggresive ground squirrels) the moment we take out food. ( comments)
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This one tries
to eat my camera. Either that or he's looking for representation to start his film career. ( comments)
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A first glimpse
of Half Dome in the distance. ( comments)
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Haley Tree.
( comments)
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With a few miles to go,
there's Half Dome and it's little mound we have to climb first in the background. ( comments)
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There's plenty of deer up here.
( comments)
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And this one we surprised
as we turned a corner, it was about 10 feet from us when it bolted away from us. ( comments)
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We didn't surprise this one though.
Haley was just walking up ahead. ( comments)
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We run into
some of the French campers staying with Danny's family. ( comments)
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And here comes
that inclement weather. Inclement weather always seems to roll in just and stops me a few hundred feet from summiting. See "Grey's Peak Blizzard Adventure" (if I ever post it) ( comments)
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There be Half Dome!
( comments)
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Haley was only planning
on accompanying us to Vernal Falls. Notice her well-planned snow gear. ( comments)
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Coming over the mound
we see Half Dome appearing. At this point Gregory had gone way ahead, and Michelle and Danny were behind us. Separating in the mountains near dark with bad weather. Great idea. ( comments)
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That black speck
going up the cables along that worn path is Gregory. He ended up freezing on top of Half Dome for almost an hour waiting for us. For reasons unclear to me, I was the only one who had my radio turned on. ( comments)
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Michelle and Danny
catching up. ( comments)
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Haley starts up the cables
on the slick rock to summit Half Dome. It soon becomes clear that this is a bad idea, and Haley and I have to descend after going 1/3 of the way up. ( comments)
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[Video] Haley on the..ling "Death is fun!"
[Video, 756k] ( comments)
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A freezing Gregory
on top of Half Dome [photo Danny] ( comments)
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The view that we missed,
courtesy Danny ( comments)
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The edge of Half Dome
[photo Danny] ( comments)
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Danny,
king of the world [photo Danny] ( comments)
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Danny helping Gregory down,
now exhausted and freezing. ( comments)
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Michelle was actually
the tired one [photo Danny] ( comments)
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Even though it looks
like it was Danny [photo Danny] ( comments)
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Millipedes
covered part of the trail on the way home [photo Danny] ( comments)
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We saw this newt/lizard thing as well.
( comments)
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Back at the campsite,
we lock horns many times with this AGS (aggresive ground squirrel) who keeps trying to steal our food. ( comments)
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I name him "Mullet"
because of his bad haircut. He repeatedly walks right up to us and tries to eat our food, which isn't good for him. We brainstorm ways to keep this from happening, for all concerned. ( comments)
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[Video, 4M] We attempt to teach Mullet
a lesson by temporarily trapping him under a box. I figure even if we don't succeed (we don't) he will perhaps become more wary of us (he does). [Video, 3.8M] ( comments)
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A discouraged Mullet
mopes in the distance. He gives up on our campsite and looks for food elsewhere. ( comments)
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My camp chair collapses,
serendipitously giving me this shot. ( comments)
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One of the French
stokes the fire. ( comments)
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I find marshmallows
with fish gelatin (that I can eat) and am overjoyed to have S'mores again. ( comments)
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Haley constructs vegan S'mores
( comments)
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Using vegan ricemellow creme..
( comments)
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..which she melts
with chocolate in tin foil over the fire. ( comments)
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Personally I think it looks
more like a sneeze that a S'more. ( comments)
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Happy Dave,
reunited with S'mores! ( comments)
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At the end of the night,
there are many extra open marshmallows that nobody will eat. ( comments)
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So we burn them,
just for fun. I suppose we should have sent them to some third world country instead of wasting them, so they could have made S'mores there, but as an American I find needless consumption to be amusing. ( comments)
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S'mores, basic recipe!
( comments)
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Yosemite Falls,
on the way out [photo Danny] ( comments)
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After a weekend of hanging out
with cat Amoebae, Mr. Peterson is happy I am home. ( comments)
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