Wednesday, October 04, 2023

Wandering Wednesday: Waters of Yosemite

 Our recent camping trip to Yosemite was full of surprises, mostly about how much water there was, all thanks to the epic amounts of snow this year. The last time we visited, there was a year's long drought and it showed in the river, waterfall and lake water levels all through the park. But there were other surprises too, like an entirely empty Lake Tenaya beach. That was mostly due to a short afternoon thunderstorm that we waited out.

Lake Tenaya's colors are so inspiring to me, the snow melt water is so clear and hardly anything grows in the lake to cloud the waters. This is one of the most special places to me in the entire world. We grew up here together, DH and I, swimming many times in the cold water after hiking or him going rock climbing. And then we brought our children here to run and splash and play. So many foundational memories were created here. It was amazing to have the entire thing all to ourselves for a very lucky hour. Unforgettable.

Higher up in Tuolumne Meadows, the Tuolumne River was still running strong.
Tioga Lake was beautiful, even when shaded by the cloud cover.
Upper Yosemite Falls was still roaring, which is unusual this late in the season. All that snow had to melt at some point.


Lower Yosemite Falls view, when you're this close, you can't see the upper falls.
We went to Bridalveil Falls at the exact wrong time of day, the sun was just coming over the top of the rock wall so the light obscured our camera view, but we saw it. with our own eyes at least. DH is in the foreground clambering over the rocks.
Chilnualna Falls was a short day hike we did up in Wawona on our last day. It was really beautiful and worth going up the very steep trial.
This is the south fork of the Merced river right next to our campground. Years ago we snagged a riverside campsite and it was lovely to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the rushing river.

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