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Yosemite 2005
El Capitan in late afternoon sun Half Dome Bridal Vail Falls
Vernal Falls The Cascades  
Wildcat Falls Lower Yosemite Falls Four Mile Trail
Mariposa Grove Four Mile Trail Upper Pines camp

Photos By Lenzenhuber
     Mike, Barry, Rusty and his family made it to Yosemite for the President’s Day Weekend in 2005. I was near the end of my 3-week sojourn, which started by going to Tahoe skiing for the Superbowl. I was the first there on Thursday and got to choose our campsite in Upper Pine Campground. (No problem not having a reservation for Thursday night.) I had time to stop at the confluence of Bear Creek and the Merced River and check out the suspension bridge. I also stopped for my first time at the Cascades on the way in via the portal Hwy 41. Mike and I went and checked out the Cascades and Wildcat Falls on Friday. We tried to get to the base of the cascades but heavy spray kept use from even seeing where the falls hit the earth.
          The weather turned rainy by Friday night but Saturday morning the rain had stopped and the weather showed signs of clearing. Mike and I attempted 4-mile trail to Glacier Point, which is actually 4.6 miles. We made it 4.5 miles and were turned back by the deep snow. We had removed our snowshoes and left them by a tree while we attempted to ascend a recent avalanche chute. The weather had closed in and visibility was down to where you couldn’t see much anyway. I hadn’t brought a headlamp and as it was it was late by the time we got back down to the valley floor. We had intermittent snow on the upper part of the hike but it never really snowed down to the valley during the weekend. (Stuck on the vehicle windshields a tiny bit one morning.) The previous year I had seen half a dozen people on the closed Yosemite Falls trail. During our 8 hours on the closed 4-mile trail we saw no one.
          Sunday we took the kids up to Vernal Falls. There was no snow on the closed Mist Trail and Mike and I went up as far as the mist. The spray from the Cascades had been stronger. Monday Barry and I moved over to the Wawona Campground and Tuesday morning I hiked into the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoia. Barry’s feet were bothering him and he couldn’t wear his hiking boot for the snow so he headed up towards the Bay Area. Although it sprinkled a little Monday Tuesday was a nice day weather wise.