BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Yosemite Natl Park

CA -- Yosemite Natl Park:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. YOSE_140717_050.JPG: Working Water: Lee Vining Creek and Southern California Edison: The Power of Mountain Waters: Forest Service lands has many uses. An example you see here is the production of clean, renewable hydroelectric power. This small dam collects Lee Vining Creek water in Ellery Lake. The dam is part of Southern California Edison's (SCE) Lee Vining Canyon system which began operation in 1924. Each year this system can produce 29 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough energy to meet the needs of a city of 20,000 people. Water from Ellery Lake descends a 3,740 foot long penstock into the power plant on the valley floor, dropping 1,659 feet in just over a mile! It arrives at the power plant with a pressure of 720 lbs per square inch, enough to drive a 12,500 kilowatt-ampere (KVa) generator. After driving the generator, the water returns to its creekbed and continues its journey toward Mono Lake.
2. YOSE_140717_053.JPG: Moving Mountains: Two Dimensions of Time: Mountain Time: Try to image a rate of change as slow as these rocks have seen. Some measurements suggest that the Sierra is being eroded at a rate of one inch every thousand years. By contrast, the rate of human-caused change can seem dramatic. Human Time: Looking across the road, you can see where 80,000 cubic yards of rock were blasted from the hillside to create the roadbed. Construction crews took about 3 months to remove the rock. It would have taken centuries to remove the same amount of material by natural erosion.
3. YOSE_140717_078.JPG: High Sierra Stories These mountains have stories to tell. American Indians have made the journey across the Sierra for thousands of years. Tioga Road existed for decades as a winding, treacherous, single-lane dirt road. Then, in 1961, the National Park Service completed this modern highway which significantly improved visitor access to Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley. Along this road you will pass countless plants, animals, and evidence of the geologic processes that have shaped the land.
4. YOSE_140717_086.JPG: Alpine Zone You are now near the alpine zone, which includes the highest elevations in Yosemite. Look a few hundred feet higher, and you can see that trees cannot grow because the rugged terrain is windy, dry, and intensely sunlit. To survive such harsh conditions, plants here lie flat against the ground or crouch between stones. Special pigments in their leaves filter out harmful rays of sunlight. Some plants grow in little pincushion-like bunches. If they stand too tall the wind will dry them out or tear them apart. Their vibrant blossoms burst forth in an extra effort to attract insects.
5. YOSE_140717_095.JPG: Ensuring Survival: Three lodgepole pines on your left frame a cluster of similar looking trees. These are white bark pines, which often grow in clusters because of the unique relationship they have the Clark's nutcracker. Each year, a single bird may hide as many as 35,000 seeds in small, multi-seed caches. Uneaten seeds begin to grow about a year later. The bird gets food and the tree gets planted, ensuring mutual survival.
6. YOSE_140717_137.JPG: Tuolumne Meadows
7. YOSE_140717_140.JPG: Civilian Conservation Corps: The CCC began work in Yosemite in May 1933. During the ensuing years, significant projects included the Half Dome Cable System, Badger Pass Ski Complex, Henness Ridge Lookout Tower, numerous park structures and many miles of hiking and riding trails. World War II ended CCC work in July 1942. More than 6,000 young men of the peacetime army passed through the park's 10 CCC camps. They did much to help make the park accessible and enjoyable. Their contributions will be forever remembered. Dedicated on CCC Recognition Day, Oct. 22, 1988.
8. YOSE_140717_148.JPG: In 1868, a young naturalist named John Muir came to Yosemite in search of a "wild place." After ten years of wandering and studying, he left to become the most influential conservationist of his time. And though the Sierra was no longer his home, this range always remained his place of spiritual renewal. What drew Muir to these mountains and what legacy has he left us?
9. YOSE_140717_151.JPG: This building was constructed by the Civil Conservation Corps in 1934 and used for many years by work crews as a mess hall. Designed in the rustic style characteristic of Yosemite's pioneer buildings, it is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
10. YOSE_140717_199.JPG: Experience Yosemite
11. YOSE_140717_220.JPG: Avalanche! Taking the High Road: The Tioga Road, one of the few roads that crosses the Sierra Nevada, reaches the highest point of any at Tioga Pass (9,945 ft., 3 km). It provides a gateway to the park, wilderness, and high country. The long winters and rigorous road opening procedures invite respect for the character of this place and perhaps a greater appreciation for the pleasure and privilege of being here. Winter snow buries the Tioga Road six to nine months each year, and drifts can reach 30 feet in depth (9.14 m). Road crews begin plotting in April. This can take up to three months depending upon snow depth (9.14 m). Road crews begin plowing in April. This can take up to three months depending upon snow depth, trees and rocks in the snow pack, and 26 potential avalanche zones. Notice the smootheness of the dome across the road to your left. Slabs of ice and snow on glacially-polished granite make plowing this area especially hazardous. Rather than plow the precariously perched slabs, crews spread charcoal to accelerate melting and sometimes blast the unstable ice and snow.
12. YOSE_140717_235.JPG: Olmsted Point: A Family Legacy: This turnout was named in honor of famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), and his song, Frederick Jr. When Tioga Road opened to automobile traffic in 1961, Olmsted senior was considered the father of American landscape architecture and best known for his design of New York's Central Park. He was chairman of the first commission to manage Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove and wrote a report recommending policy for the care and protection of Yosemite's scenery and wildlife. It is considered a classic national park treatise. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870-1957), also worked in the field of landscape architecture. He collaborated with the National Park Service and was a member of the Yosemite Advisory Board, a group of experts who helped park managers solve problems. He maintained a lifelong commitment to conservation, contributing the guiding language in legislation establishing the National Park Service in 1916.
13. YOSE_140717_243.JPG: Olmsted Point: Restored September 13, 2006 through a grant from the Yosemite Fund with the generous support of: ... In memory of the dedicated National Park Service employees who have lost their lives in the service of Yosemite National Park.
14. YOSE_140717_261.JPG: Forces of Change: Powerful geological forces shaped this landscape. Evidence emerges throughout this granite scene. Chambers of magma deep within the earth slowly crystallized 100-80 million years ago to form hard granite rock. Over time, erosion by rivers and extensive glaciers exposed and sculpted the rock. Panoramic View: Half Dome stands before you. With a pair of binoculars, you can often see a line of hikers, like ants, climbing up cables to the summit. To the left is the massive northwest face of Cloud's Rest. From its summit (9,926 feet elevation) the sheet granite face, one of the largest in the world, drops nearly 5,000 feet to lower Tenaya Creek. A brief walk to the east side of the parking area will lead to spectacular views of Tenaya Peak, Tenaya Lake,a nd Mount Conness. Glacial Erratics: These large boulders randomly placed on the bedrock are evidence of the most recent glaciation. The rocks either toppled down slops onto the glacier or were plucked from the bedrock. They landed here as the ice melted away. Glacial Polish: Over the last million years, major glaciers have come and gone in Yosemite. Only 20 thousand years ago the most recent glacier extended from the high peaks to the distant horizon. Like rough sandpaper smoothing wood, these glaciers polished the rock you see near here.
15. YOSE_140717_331.JPG: Form Follows Fracture: The granite bedrock of the Sierra Nevada is riddled with fractures. Major fracture zones dictate where water flows and thus where water flows and thus where trees and plants grow. Water in the cracks decomposes the rock and forms soil, creating the conditions for life to grow in this harsh environment. Only the hardiest vegetation is able to grow in this rocky terrain. The Jeffrey pine to your left has two roots growing straight out on either side like a gymnast stretched along a balanced beam. This aerial view of the Yosemite Creek drainage shows that the granite is fractured into a network of cracks, or joints, trending in relatively straight lines. These joints result from tectonic stresses associated with uplift of the Sierra Nevada. Linear joints such as these dictate where the major streams flow, and also control the general shape of the landscape.
16. YOSE_140717_334.JPG: Note the fire in the distance
17. YOSE_140717_380.JPG: A Storied Landscape: The open vista below you, Big Meadow, has many stories to share. American Indians have been using this area for thousands of years. It was also a center of activity for some of the first Euro-American settlers. By 1874, the Coulterville and Yosemite Turnpike Company completed the first wagon road over this rugged terrain into Yosemite Valley. This road provided an important route for commerce and tourism. At one time, a stage stop welcomed weary travelers at the historic Meyer homestead below. Off in the distance, you can see where German immigrant George Meyer built two barns in the early 1880s. The National Park Service restored them in 1996. They feature hand-hewn timbers, peeled logs, fieldstone foundations, and hand-split sugar pine roof shakes.
18. YOSE_140717_427.JPG: On this site President Theodore Roosevelt sat beside a campfire with John Muir on May 17, 1903 and talked forest good. Muir urged the president to work for preservation of priceless remnants of America's wilderness. At this spot one of our country's foremost conservationists received great inspiration.
19. YOSE_140717_442.JPG: Old Yosemite Village A cluster of buildings once stood across the river. The first one was a canvas-roofed hotel built in 1857. By 1900, offices, houses, shops, hotels, photography studios, saloons, and stables lined the wagon road leading to Sentinel Bridge. Park managers gradually relocated the village to this side of the river, one-quarter mile behind you. The new construction was designed to be more compatible with the Valley's grand scenery. Sentinel Bridge: This is the sixth bridge built at this site. The first was a simple log bridge, constructed in 1859. Two more wooden structures followed before an iron bridge was erected in 1878. A two-lane concrete and granite version was completed in 1919 to give easier access to the new Yosemite Village. Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Most of the other bridges over the Merced River were built around 1930. The span of these bridges constricts the river, causing the water to flow faster, scouring out holes in the banks and stripping away vegetation. Without plants, mud washes into the river making it shallower and smothering fish eggs, algae, and insects. To avoid this damage, the newest Sentinel Bridge, built in 1993, was designed with a longer span.
20. YOSE_140717_456.JPG: River of Mercy Early Spanish explorers named the Merced River for Our Lady of Mercy. In Yosemite Valley, later settlers saw the Merced and its tributaries as troublesome as well as merciful. They channeled the wild river, dynamited the glacial moraine at the Valley entrance to lower the water table, and diverted water to quench the thirst of livestock and to power a sawmill. A Wild and Scenic River: The Merced River watershed begins in the southeastern portion of the park, primarily in the high country of the Clark and Cathedral Ranges. The river plunges over Nevada and Vernal Falls, then meanders across the flat Yosemite Valley floor. Leaving Yosemite Valley, it winds down the Merced Canyon into the San Joaquin Valley far below. In 1987, recognizing the Merced's pristine beauty, Congress designated its upper reaches in and below the park as a National Wild and Scenic River. Human alterations have harmed the riparian (river-related) habitat. Introduced fish species greatly outnumbered the native rainbow trout. Human feet have trampled the riverbanks and destroyed streamside plants. Restoration efforts such as replanting, fencing, and elimination of fish stocking are returning the river to a more natural state.
21. YOSE_140717_457.JPG: The Story of Half Dome Millions of years ago the granite block of Half Dome was larger, but there never was a matching half. Undercut by glaciers near the base, slabs of rock fell away from a broad vertical crack in the granite, leaving a sheer face. Remnants of the missing rock still project from Half Dome's rim. An Ahwahneechee Tale of Half Dome: Long ago, two travelers, Tissiak and her husband, Tokoyee, fought with each other. He became so angry that he began to beat her; enraged, she hurled her basket of acorns at him. As they stood facing each other, they were turned to stone for their wickedness. The acorn basket (Basket Dome) lies upturned beside Tokoyee (North Dome) and the rock face of Tissiak (Half Dome) is stained with her tears. There are more granite domes here than in any other place in the world. Massive granite domes form when large curved layers of rock "exfoliate" or slab off.
22. YOSE_140717_506.JPG: Ecotones: Life on the Edge The zone where two habitats merge is called an ecotone. The meadow/forest ecotone is visible here. The water-saturated meadow gives way to the oaks and towering conifers, which can't survive in flood-prone areas. The greatest diversity of wildlife exists in these transition areas where a variety of food and shelter is present. The Changing Landscape: By the 1860s, hotel owners were converting meadows to pastures, gardens, orchards, and hay fields. They suppressed fires because they threatened wooden buildings. They also channeled the Merced River to control flooding and drained boggy areas of the Valley. Meadows in Peril: Only a century ago the meadows of Yosemite Valley were far more extensive than they are today. With the right balance of water, fire and soil conditions, a meadow can survive indefinitely. But with the alteration of the water table and fire cycle in the Valley, the natural balance was lost.
23. YOSE_140717_512.JPG: Meltdown The high-country snowpack is Yosemite's reservoir. As the snow melts in the spring, torrents of water cascade over Yosemite Falls (on the cliff before you) and over dozens of other waterfalls. John Muir: "You should stop a while...a little below the head of the fall beside the enthusiastic throng of starry, comet-like waters to learn something of their strength, their marvelous variety of form, and above all, their glorious music, gathered and composed from the snow-storms, hail-, and rain- and wind-storms that have fallen on their glacier-sculptered, domey, ridgy basin." -- John Muir, The Yosemite, "How Best to Spend One's Yosemite Time" Lost Arrow: Upstream, shallow soil on granite slopes absorbs very little water. Once the snow is gone, usually by late summer, most of Yosemite's waterfalls quickly dwindle.
24. YOSE_140717_521.JPG: Lost Arrow: Upstream, shallow soil on granite slopes absorbs very little water. Once the snow is gone, usually by late summer, most of Yosemite's waterfalls quickly dwindle.
25. YOSE_140717_553.JPG: A Field Of Hay It's hard to image cows in Yosemite Valley. But in the late 1800s, horses and mules transported tourists to the Valley, while cattle and sheep supplied the hotels with milk and meat. Early pioneers planted crops in this meadow. They also allowed their livestock to graze here. These practices compacted the soil and damaged meadow plants. After grazing was eliminated in Yosemite Valley in the late 1920s, he native vegetation returned. Looking across this meadow today, you may see deer foraging in the grass or coyote pouncing on meadow mice. Cook's Hotel: From 1881 to 1887, John J. Cook, a businessman from New York, operated a hotel in Yosemite Valley. The hotel was originally owned by George Wright and Walter Cooke. J.J. Cook saved money by retaining the original sign when he took over the hotel's operation. He used this meadow to graze livestock, and the meadow still bears his name. One guest at Cook's Hotel described the primitive accommodations as being "so barnlike that I half expected to see the cows come home every morning."
26. YOSE_140717_590.JPG: Seasons of a Meadow: Some people mark the seasons by looking above to the changing of leaves on the trees or the presence (or absence) of water in Yosemite Falls. While in Yosemite Valley, take some time to look lower at the four seasons seen a meadow.
27. YOSE_140717_610.JPG: Winter Floods Are Largest Water has been shaping Yosemite Valley for millions of years. The ancient Merced River carved a deep channel in the earth. Ice age glaciers gouged and scoured the river channel, creating a U-shaped valley and leaving polished granite domes and cliffs in their wake. Every year, spring floods carry nutrients to the Valley floor. Rare winter floods bring torrents of water down from the mountains, turning meadows into lakes. 1997 New Year's Flood: In the first days of January 1997, Yosemite Valley experienced the largest flood in recorded history. A heavy snowpack had already blanketed the high country when a warm, tropical storm began in late December 1996. By storm's end, rain fell at 11,000 feet, melting the snow and rapidly flooding rivers and creeks.
28. YOSE_140717_631.JPG: The Old Yosemite Village: Before you lies the site of the Old Yosemite Village. Stretching between the Four Mile Trail and Sentinel Bridge, it was a bustling hamlet during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It consisted of guest cottages, photo studios, a hotel, bathhouse, saloon, and other amenities for the many travelers visiting the Valley. The Old Village is gone, but you can still see a sugar maple, giant sequoias, and fruit trees planted by the villagers. The Chapel Stands Alone: Yosemite Chapel, the only building remaining from the Old Village, is the oldest structure in Yosemite Valley. Built in 1879 near the foot of Four Mile Trail, it was moved to its current location in 1901. The National Park Service relocated other buildings from the Old Village such as the Wells Fargo station and the jail. These can be seen today at the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona. A simple one-room shack served as a school from 1875 until 1897. Teacher Mary Adair (left) is seen here with her students in 1882. Harry and Ann Best started their art and photography business in 1902. Their only daughter, Virginia, married an aspiring photographer named Ansel Adams. The family continues to operate the business across the river in what is today known as The Ansel Adams Gallery.
29. YOSE_140717_704.JPG: Reawakening the Meadow: Where the Old Village once stood, little evidence remains. In its heyday, thousands of tourists arrived on horseback, in wagons, and in early Model T Fords. They danced, bathed, and slept here. Today this is hard to imagine, as the meadow seems so pristine. The National Park Service relocated the old buildings over time, removing the last building, Degnan's Bakery, in 1981. Seeds of Change: A century of trash once lay buried beneath this meadow's surface, obstructing water flow and preventing plant growth. In 1883, restoration crews using excavators dug up and removed the debris. The water essential to maintain a healthy meadow returned, and seeds that had lain dormant for nearly a century came back to life.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Yosemite National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yosemite National Park (pronounced "yo-SEM-it-ee") is a national park located largely in Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties, California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,266 acres or 1,189 square miles (3,081 km�) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, many of whom only spend time in the seven square miles (18 km�) of Yosemite Valley. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. About 89% of the park is designated wilderness. Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was a focal point in the development of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people like John Muir.

Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has an elevation range from 2,000 to 13,114 feet (600 to 4,000 m) and contains five major vegetation zones: chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine. Of California's 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada and more than 20% within Yosemite. There is suitable habitat or documentation for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy.

The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1200 m) during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].