Western Adventure Part III

After we viewed the Yosemite Valley from the floor and from the vantage points. We strapped on our boots to get up close and personal with two of the largest and most famous falls in the park: Nevada and Vernal. It is about a five mile hike up to them. This year of course (see record snowfall in earlier blog) getting close to them meant YOU ARE GETTING SOAKED. The Mist Trail follows the Merced River, starting at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley, past Vernal Fall, viewing the Emerald Pool (it is really a gorgeous Emerald sliding rock area), to Nevada Fall.
Merced river rushes down from the High Sierras, and ends on the floor of Yosemite valley. It was a fun hike that made me squeal as we ventured up very tiny, steep, scarily slick mountainsides to reach the top. We has a mountain top picnic, I put my feet in the water and we enjoyed some sun and then headed back down for a nice dinner of salmon and sweet potato fries!

The rainbows at the falls are amazing!

After we left the National Park we headed North to the High Sierras. There were still folks up there in Sonora county snow-boarding and snowmobiling in June! We got our first hotel: The Christmas Tree Inn. This is a cool place for us to land randomly (there were hardly any hotels with rooms we found) because our first year of marriage The Christmas Tree Inn in Aspen, CO, was the only place to stay when we landed there to snow ski! I thought that was pretty neat.

We got some breathtaking views of the Sierras along our way all the way from the High Sierras to the Mojave Desert in CA. My favorite parts of the journey were seeing Alpine Lakes again and of course, the Aspens. I have pics of me kissing Aspen trees, but I left that one out! I love those things. Aspens in the fall have to be the most marvelous trees in the world. Now, I thought the giant Sequoias were cool, but after being in CO and our memories there Aspens are my favorites. We saw some gorgeous lakes up there: June Lake, Silver Lake, Mammoth Lakes and Mono Lake to name a few that are pictured. The best part of it really was that this portion of our adventure was completely unplanned! We ended up in some cool places just stopping and talking to rangers at ranger stations.

Psalm 50:10 -for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I just kept thinking of this scripture each time I saw this view! This shot of the cattle in the valley is one of J's favorite memories. I have to say, there is something about cattle that is peaceful especially in a scene like this.

You can see a dream cabin I'd like to fix up in these pics...Mt. Whitney just behind it.

Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).[1] It is located at the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, just 84.6 miles (136.2 km) west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park (282 feet (86 m) below sea level).[5] The western slope of the mountain lies within Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail which runs 211.9 miles (341.0 km) from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley (where the Mist Trail is). We spent a night at the portal to Mt. Whitney. The campground we stayed in is like a base camp where hikers adjust to the elevation and prepare to summit the mountain in the coming days.

I so enjoyed these panoramas and not cooking or cleaning or wiping anyone for a week. I enjoyed our time of uninterrupted conversation and exploring California together. The 10 year mark is a great time to go on an adventure!