![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.luterra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/P1070362.jpg\" "\\"P1070362\\"")
<\/a>Sheer Half Dome cliff from below.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hank and Katie took off, and we set up camp with the climbers in Camp 4.<\/p>\n
April 7:\u00a0 Yosemite Falls Trail day hike.<\/p>\n
Upper Yosemite Falls, a sheer 1430-foot drop.<\/p>\n April 8-9: Overnight backpack into Little Yosemite Valley, on the trail to the summit of Half Dome.<\/p>\n Snow at ~7800 feet on the trail to Half Dome (8839 feet).\u00a0 This is a busy stretch in the summer, but on this day I only met two intrepid Canadians who took aim for the top but were stopped by snow on the slick cable section.<\/p>\n April 9: Sequoias!<\/p>\n We made a rushed hike into the Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias on our way out the park.\u00a0 Redwoods are impressive and huge, but they look mostly like regular conifers stretched way out of proportion vertically and horizontally – normal trees in a world where people are Liliputian.\u00a0 Sequoias do not look like normal trees.\u00a0 They look more like forests in the sky on huge elevated pedestals, with no branches for over 100 feet and then multiple parallel trunks reaching for the sky.\u00a0 They grow in small, isolated groves of 20-60 trees, which only amplifies the feeling of walking into Lothlorien.\u00a0 I need to spend more time with the sequoias…<\/p>\n We had a fun-filled weekend in Corvallis after returning, with potluck dinner and brunch, music with Rosalie and friends, and plenty of mead before Kelly headed back to the Hudson Valley of New York.<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been putting off posting photos, hoping to have time to create a longer photo essay.\u00a0 That’s probably not going to happen so let’s get some pictures online… I didn’t have much planned for graduation celebration, but then Kelly called … Continue reading <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>Bobcat!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Crowded trail below Vernal Fall on the Merced River.<\/p>\n<\/a>Nevada Fall, 594 feet and tons of water.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Half Dome from Little Yosemite Valley campground.<\/p>\n<\/a>Canyon Wren!\u00a0 These guys have a most beautiful song.<\/p>\n<\/a>Vernal Fall (317 feet) on the way back down, fighting the crowds even on a Wednesday in April.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a>We had dinner with Katie and Hank, stopped at a farm stand to buy 17 artichokes for $2, and caught our train in Sacramento at midnight.<\/p>\n<\/a>Inside the Pacific Parlor Car.\u00a0 We traveled in sleeper on accumulated Amtrak points.<\/p>\n