Here are some photos of various
nature scenes to hold you over until you can get out there yourselves.
Ah,
the great outdoors... It's the place to be. In the
majestic mountains, by the tireless ocean, under the boundless sky, countless
people have been inspired to accomplish amazing things. I must
admit that I haven't been out there nearly enough for my liking. And
I know I haven't been to too many places. But I'd like to share
some of the places that I've walked anyways.
I would have to say that Yosemite
is one of my favorite places. Admittedly, I've only been there
once, but that was enough to convince me of its beauty. I was
there during the summer of 1995. And after the above average
snowfalls of the winter, the early summer runoff was much heavier than
usual. This led to spectacular waterfalls and fastflowing creeks. I
took some photos of these waters, but can't share them because I don't
have a scanner... Sorry. Instead, I'll just stick
some random shots of Yosemite until the situation changes.
During this trip, we were able to hike to
the top of Half Dome. The
hike from the start of the trail to the top is approximately 8.5 miles
(eight point something, I forgot) and took us across some pretty interesting
landscapes, including Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, and of course Half Dome. We
had to step through some streams created by the heavy runoff (thank God
for hiking boots), cross over the crest of Nevada Fall (of course there
was a bridge), climb what seemed like thousands of steps of a rock staircase
to get to the base of the Dome, and climb up the round side of Half Dome
(again, thank God for hiking boots). For those of you who haven't
been there, the round side is at a 70 degree angle (approximately) and
consists of smooth, flat rock. There are two cables anchored
by metal posts to the face, wooden planks spanning across some of the posts. With
gloves on, we worked for a while to get to the top. It was definitely
worth the effort. The view up there is unbelievable. We
stayed up there for almost an hour just taking in the sights. Going
up to the edge of the shear cliff was such a rush, standing there four
thousand some feet above the valley floor. Just breathtaking! The
top of Half Dome is a lot bigger than I had initially though. I
would say that it spans almost a quarter mile in diameter. The
snow cap you see in these photos was there when we got up there, too. Reluctantly,
we came down knowing that it would get dark if we didn't go. On
our way down, we took the Mist
Trail (it's an alternate route that's in the middle of the hike). This
trail took us down the side of Nevada Fall and then down the side of Vernal
Fall. Take a guess why they call it the Mist Trail... We
got pretty wet, but it was quite refreshing, too. I didn't take
many photos on this trail because, well take a guess... (water and cameras
don't mix well). What a great hike! I'd love to do
it again sometime.
To be continued...
Some of my Pics
In case you're wondering, the pictures about are not mine. I downloaded them because I didn't have access to a scanner at the time. Here are a few of the pictures I've taken. Probably not as nice as the ones I downloaded...
The Trails
Here are some trails for you outdoors
people to follow. I'll add to this list as I find them.