Half Dome:
This was our view during our picnic lunch:
And we saw more of the valley walls on the way back.
We went in on a second day, conditions on the (main) roads had improved and there'd been no snow overnight. Our plan was to hike (on-road) to the Mariposa grove of giant sequoias, then we'd see how it went.
Parked up just inside the entrance, and started the 3km or so hike up the windy mountain road to the grove. Nice views on the way, but we just wanted to get up there! When we got there, this was one of the first views we got.
As the caption says, those are not benches - they are the tops of mapboards!
The ponderosa pines are very elegant and tall throughout the park, and they are very tall compared to what trees I've seen, so I found myself wondering what the sequoias would be like..... once we got up close they felt big, definitely! And with their red bark, they really do stand out.
And the same trees, with people at their base for scale.....
But these were by no means the largest. The individual trees are well spread out in the grove, it's not an area exclusively populated by sequoias, the forest in between is the local mix of pine etc.
Then we met the Grizzly Giant:
After that we went to Wawona, a little settlement in the park, for a quick look around and a takeaway coffee.
More uploads recently from Santa Barbara and around, once I get those sorted you can have a look!
No comments:
Post a Comment