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Yosemite 2018
The last of the sun for the day hits the face of Half Dome
Monday	Tuesday
I had been camping at Wawona for 4 nights before I got into the valley. Monday it snowed at Wawona and the valley wasn't much for pictures. I set up at tent in Upper Pines and went back to Wawona
They had the traffic in the valley all screwed up by making one way roads two way and closing the road everybody used to take pictures of  Horsetail Falls on El Capitan. The falls wasn't even flowing. I liked it better before someone noticed the sunset effect on the falls on one day out of the year around Presidents Day Weekend. The place is crowded enough in February with the global warming. I liked it better with two feet of snow on the ground and hardly anybody there. (Horsetail Falls is on the far right side of El Capitan)
Upper Yosemite Falls 2018	Upper Yosemite Falls 2017
The falls were not flowing very good even with the warm weather, due to poor snow pack in the High Sierra. (Ribbon, Yosemite, Vernal and Nevada) Mike and Gordy hiked up above Vernal Falls and didn't even get wet on the Mist Trail. I once found the end of the rainbow on the Mist Trail. (It's in the corner of your eye) I tried to hike up the north side of Illilouette Creek to get to the falls but was stopped by large boulders Mya couldn't negotiate. That route made it farther than the south side Mike and I tried last year. Both side pinch off against the granite cliffs but if the water is low enough I think you can get close to the falls by crossing the creek several times.
Bridalveil Falls was an exception and was flowing decently
A ranger at Wawona told me... In five days they were going to officially call the Badger Pass Ski area closed for the season. There are only a few snow banks left. They are in meadows near Badger Pass and contain endangered frogs. To keep the tourists from stomping the snow banks and endangering the frogs the Glacier Point Road is gated closed. Ruined half my plans for the visit to the park. I wanted to get some views I have never seen before for a change from some of the rim points nearer the mouth of the valley such as Dewey Point.
Afternoon sun on Washington Tower and North Dome behind the horse stables
Overall I spent ten days in Yosemite. I had the trailer at Wawona for nine nights and I had a tent in the valley set up for four nights, of which I slept in it two of them. It's less than an hours commute from Wawona to Upper Pines Campground. I managed to get up to The Balls above Bass Lake due to the very low snow pack. The Balls are a granite rock formation I would like to check out when the summer crowds ruin Yosemite. Night time lows ranged from 29 to 21 degrees although it got below that in the icebox that is called Upper Pines while I was over at the warmer Wawona. Both are at 4000 feet elevation but Wawona is a least five degrees warmer during the day. In a good snow year two loops are open in Upper Pines. They will try and open a third if required. This year they had five loops open and I'm sure they were all reserved for the holiday weekend. (Used to be first come first served until the large influx due to warm winters. Not global warming of course.) Wawona is still first come first served. During the week there might have been another campsite or two occupied besides mine. Saturday morning four Cal Poly coeds were waiting for me to leave so they could get a campsite.
Wawona
It snowed lightly on Monday morning. Cars skidded off the road towards Badger Pass closing access to the valley temporarily.
South Fork of the Merced River at the Wawona Campground and a  forty foot waterfall a little bit up the Chilnualna Falls trail
Since getting back from Yosemite National Park we have pulled 4 ticks off the dog Mya. The sign at Wildrose Campground in Death Valley National Parks says you can get 6 months in jail and a $5000 fine for picking flowers. I fear the federal penalty for stealing complete animal life forms may be even more severe than taking partial plant life forms.
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