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Yosemite trip February 8-16, 2017
Millerton Lake Feb 9-10
Millerton Lake State Recreation Area
Boat launch area and the only open campground
Friant Dam
Mya had a run in with fields of jellybean sized burs. Picked up dozens, a dozen  had to be cut out. She avoided the plants after that.
It was a very rich green which would be yellow by summer
Campsite 116. $28 a night for Seniors ($30 normal, for $40 you could get a parking lot site with power and water.)
Wawona (1 of 3 campgrounds open year round in the park)
A new name for the Wawona how come they haven't had to change the name of the town? All the major sites in Yosemite have changed names because of a law suit over the change of concession contractors. The Awanhnee is now the Majestic, Curry Village is now Half Dome Village, the Wawona is now Big Trees etc. The name Yosemite has been able to stand although  the previous contractor Delaware North claimed they owned that too. Curry Company had the concessions for many years before Delaware North.
All the little creeks feeding the South Fork of the Merced River were flowing in the rain
Golf course established 1918 but it wasn't the Big Trees Lodge it was the Wawona
Yosemite Valley
Tunnel View (A lot of dead trees in the valley due to the drought) Bridalveil Falls was flowing strongly as well as the other valley falls.
The Merced River from the Clark Bridge with distant Yosemite Falls (The bridge built in 1928 is just outside Upper Pines Campground)  The river was high and indications were that it had been a lot higher recently.
I wasn't sure if Upper Pines was a campground or a logging site. They had four loops open but beyond that there was a massive cutting operation. (Loops 1,2 were mostly empty because of tree cutting)
Ribbon Falls and El Capitan (Ribbon Falls is actually taller than Upper Yosemite Falls)
Barry (Open blue jacket right of center)	Mike
Hetch Hetchy
	Wednesday we went to Hetch Hetchy because Mike had never been there. Barry, Mya and I stopped not too far past the tunnel on the far side of the O'Shaughnessy Dam. Mike hiked out and back for an hour and covered  around trip 5 miles miles to Wapama Falls and back. (The largest and  farthest falls in the above picture) I got caught with the dog on the dam by Rangers but easily talked my way out of it. Yosemite area is not made for dogs. They always have to be on a leash or chained and can't be on the trails, nor in this case the dam or the trail. The water level was almost over the spillway which was a huge difference from when I had been there last February. Hetch Hetchy is San Francisco's water supply but also part of Yosemite although not directly attached to the main park. It is formed by the damming of the Tuolumne River which originates near the eastern border of the park.
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