Still shameless: annotated tour of Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome

 

Shot from Glacier Point of Half Dome (well named, eh?)

and just behind Half Dome on the left is Cloud's Rest.

Also well named, as I tried to show it to Sprout earlier

in the week but it was hosting clouds, so was not visible.

Half Dome and Cloud's Rest on the left,

And to the right, just left of Nevada Fall

is Liberty Cap.

When climbing UP to Nevada Fall

it sure seemed higher that that picture shows.

The scale of this place does that.

If we'd seen this view BEFORE that hike,

Sprout was sure she'd think

"Oh, easy hike. 30 minutes tops."

Hours later... =)

So we hiked the Mist Trail up to Vernal and Nevada falls.

Got SOAKED. Crazy wet from fall mist.

Fun, exciting, envigorating, kinda cold,

made the STEEP stone path a little scary,

but also TOTALLY makes that hike memorable.

Can you see the TINY people?

Click on this to zoom in a bit, if you can't...

Highly recommend. 

That hike is virtually all I remember of my 

1st trip to Yosemite.

That, and staring straight up giant granite cliffs,

mouth agape, stunned into silence.

GORgeous cup fungus we found hiking from parking space

to (the SUPER crowded) Glacier Point.

I LOVE serious glowing orange.

Feels like a life-giving color. *sigh*

The above photo taken by Sprout, bb's co-conspirator/visitor,

from Sentinel Dome, granting a view of

North Dome and Basket Dome on the left

(rounded granite thangs, left of snag),

and Half Dome on right..

Gee, can you spot me, blending in,

wearing ORANGE pants & wearing a red backpack?

I didn't know I glowed like that,

tho' Sprout assures me it wasn't so vibrant in person.

Here's the adorable Sprout, who's hat says "Moxie"

(which I LOVE), bravely tending to her toes.

We got soaked 2 days earlier (Mist Trail to Vernal and Nev. falls)

& hiked for HOURS, so her tootsies were unhappy.

If you look closely, you may see about 5 band-aids. =)

Waterfall in the background is Upper Yosemite Fall.

Sprout is sitting at Sentinel Dome,

which is behind bb (camera girl), to bb's left.

bb hiking back from Sentinel Dome,

walking gingerly over bridge

which is buried in about 4 feet of snow.

Again, glowing...

Sarcodes sanguinea, a.k.a. snow plant.

As mentioned in a bb comment here,

"According to botany.org, they parasitize fungus, but don't kill them.

They are not saprophytes (live off dead material),

tho' they used to be called that."

And, since they parasitize fungus,

they don't need chlorophyll to make energy,

so are free to dash headlong into intense colors

with no concern for being green.

Snow plant was really OUT this last week. NICE.

I heart red, so was super happy.

And in the words of Paul Harvey,

"So, now you know....

the rest of the story."

=)

biobabbler