Fall Travels

After more that a month in the Pacific Northwest, the temperature has dropped below 45 and we're headed south to Baja. We'll be there for a couple weeks, and post updates about our trip here. For now, here's some pictures from a weekend trip to the Oregon Coast. We actually saw the sun there!

Hike in the woods.

Rocky coastline.

Yosemite Ramblings

We left Yosemite at the end of September after having a wonderful summer. In August and September, we continued to do lots of backpacking and hiking. David also went rock climbing a little. Here are some pictures of some of our outings in the last few months.

Kuna Crest.

On Kuna Crest, looking at the Cathedral Range before sunset.

Setting up camp. Something about the perspective of this photo makes David look like a giant.

Almost to Donahue Pass. 

On the way to Matterhorn.

View from Mt Hoffman.

After leaving Yosemite, we headed north up the west coast, stopping in Chico to visit with our friends Annika and Ross, two geologists who also make a mean mushroom curry. We spent a night at Crater Lake National Park. We pulled up to the lake just as the sun was setting, to see the full moon rising across the lake. Spectacular! The next night we camped near Mt Hood. We went to Timberline Lodge for a drink, which I was SUPER excited about. It is a classy building, very very cool. Check out its history here: http://heritage.timberlinelodge.com/. I'm now back in Portland enjoying the hospitality of Leah, Chris and their roommates, and heading to Seattle and the Twin Cities for a bit. David started his volunteer work at Mt Rainier.

Moonrise over Crater Lake. 

Crater Lake by day from Mt Scott.

Mid-summer in the Sierra

July has been a busy but awesome month. It is crazy to think that we are well into summer! Its been really hot here in El Portal – highs of over 100 every day – but luckily no humidity! We’ve been escaping into the mountains to cool down.

A couple weekends ago we took a short jaunt to the east side of the Sierra.  One highlight was Mono Lake, which is a very interesting place.  Because it has no natural outlet, the water evaporates, leaving the minerals behind, giving the water a very high salinity.  It is supposedly three times saltier than the ocean.  When the city of Los Angeles starting filching the water supply in the 1960’s, the water level dropped and it exposed towers of accumulated carbonate called tufa. 

Tufa towers at Mono Lake

Another awesome part of that weekend was an awesome dayhike through Lundy Canyon, which was full of beautiful wildflowers.  We climbed to the top of the canyon up to a basin with numerous small tarns (small lakes in the high country) were nestled in the mountains.  It was quite spectacular. 

Steelhead Lake

Falls at Lundy Canyon

 The next couple weekends we spent with David’s family in Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite.  We had an awesome time hanging out, eating good food and seeing the sights.  One highlight was seeing the giant sequoias, which was also a first for Emily.  David’s favorite part was an old timey store where we got ice cream.  It also had four hummingbird feeders in front, and we were able to see up to a dozen hummingbirds from several feet away.

King's Canyon National Park

This past weekend we were back at it burning up the trail.  We did a great dayhike starting from a high elevation lake(Tenaya Lake) in the north part of the park, hiking to one of the best 360 vantage points (Clouds Rest), and then going all the way back to the Valley.  It was a popular trail and had a lot of other hikers, but it was well worth the crowds for the amazing vistas.

View of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley from Cloud's Rest

David celebrated his 29^th anniversary of existence with the traditional butterfly census (and hoping no one notices its his birthday).  Meanwhile Emily celebrated his birthday by making her favorite food, macaroni and cheese, ostensibly for his sake. 

Ramblings in Yosemite

Last week we made a delicious dinner using some spices that Emily got from her Mom for Christmas.  It wasn’t quite as good as Mom cooking, but Chris refuses to move out here and live in our closet. 

The deliciously spiced Indian food. 

We’ve been on lots of great hikes the last few weekends.  One trip included a side route to Royal Arch Lake.   Once we got there David climbed hundreds of feet up a peak while Emily took a nap. 

Royal Arch Lake

Last weekend took us up the Lyell Fork Canyon, a very popular spot for all, especially fly fishermen.  We climbed out of the canyon to Ireland Lake, our campsite for the night.  Unfortunately we hadn’t really researched the location too well.  It turns out that it’s a very windswept place normally, and the unusually high winds that weekends combined with the generally harsh timberline setting led to quite a gusty night.  We survived however, and proceeded the next day to continue on adventuring in the  beautiful high sierra.

Lyell Fork Canyon

Ireland Lake

Evelyn Lake

High Sierra

This past weekend we took one of our most incredible backpacking trips ever!!!  We did the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.  The combination of towering granite cliffs, raging river torrents, tranquil aspen groves, an amazing diversity of plant life, and cascades that would make a water park envious all made for quite a fun weekend.  We started at the headwaters of the Tuolumne River and followed it 20 miles along as it dropped 5,000 feet over the next three days.  The hike out today up 3,000 feet of switchbacks was a bun-burner but well worth it.  

Tuolumne River in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne

First night campsite

Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne

This spot was great for rock sliding and swimming

Almost the end of the  hike -- sad!

Family Fun

A couple weeks ago, we had a guest appearance from Mom, Dad and Jon. Apparently they heard via our blog that we were  in Yosemite and tracked us down. We saw the sights and I am happy to report we also ate ice cream every day. Mission accomplished.

Dad experiences a shower at Bridalveil Falls. 

Mom and Jon chilling in Yose Valley. 

El Portal

El Portal (where we live) is a small community located just west of one of the most popular entrances to Yosemite. It was founded by a railroad company that built a line to Yosemite from Merced. The rail ended in El Portal and tourists were transported the rest of the way to the valley by coach. 

El Portal is in a beautiful area right along the Merced River canyon. The are no restaurants or bars, but there is a library, a pool, tennis courts, and lots of fun people. And, of course, having Yosemite as a neighbor is pretty great.

At the top of Smith Peak, overlooking Hetch Hetchy. Molly, my former roommate and a fellow Midwesterner  joined us for the hike. 

The view from Smith Peak

David has been working a lot in a place called Poopenaut Valley. I joined him for a couple days last week.

Morning view into Yosemite Valley from the west.  

A baby California newt.

Wildflowers in El Portal.

On the top of El Cap, looking at Half Dome. 

Vegas

Last weekend found David and I in a location that may surprise our legions of blog followers (hi moms!) – Las Vegas. I was able to get most of the traditional Vegas tourist activities checked off – drinking oversized alcoholic beverages, gambling ($3 down the hole at slot machines!), and seeing a mock battle between sexy pirates at Treasure Island. I even was able to accomplish an activity I hadn't even known to dream about – eating a deep-fried reeses peanut butter cup. 

Vegas Strip on Saturday night.

Eating my delicious fried candy bar

Bellagio Fountain

Sadly, my fantasy weekend was cut short when David not only refused to buy me a plastic guitar filled with 100 ounces of daiquiri but also dragged me off The Strip to Red Rock Canyon for a hike. Actually, once I got used to the fact that time that could have been spent at a Carrot Top performance was going to be willed away in the great outdoors, the hike was pretty awesome. We went up to the top of Turtlehead Peak, which had great views of the Vegas Basin.

Always on the lookout for birds. 

Another highlight of the weekend was scrumptious meals – one at an Ethiopian place and another at a all veg Chinese restaurant. Monday morning I met my friend Kelly and his girlfriend at a great brunch place with lots of items named after places in Indiana. I saw something on the menu called the South Bend scramble and ordered it as a matter of principal. It was delicious – eggs, hunks of bree cheese, charred tomatoes, green beans, and breakfast potatoes with a huge biscuit. Not sure about the connection to South Bend though. Anyway, that’s all that’s fit to print about our Vegas vacation ;).