Yosemite: El Capitan

Last year my husband and I went on the longest vacation we have ever taken together without the children.  :) 

Our ultimate goal was Mount St. Helen's.  But on the way we stopped at Yosemite.  I'm speechless and breathless at what we found there. 

If you've never been ... go.  Go.  GO! 

Anyway, I have lots and lots of photos from that vacation, but the ones I'm sharing here have to do with a particular incident for which we just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

I'll begin with this view I shot of Yosemite Valley so those of you who have been there can be reminded and those of you who have not been there can get an idea of the scope of this area. 

 That's Half Dome there in the distance on the far right.

And El Capitan jutting up on the left.

When we left this scenic pull-out, we followed the road out of the picture to the right.  It took us to a tunnel which came out on a sharp right hand curve - with a view across the valley to El Cap to the left. 

I believe the tunnel came out on the other side of that first rock outcropping you see on the right in the picture above.  Just the other side of there ... and here is what it looked like as we came out of that tunnel.

Yep, pay attention and make sure you follow
the road to the  right or ...it does exactly
what it looks like it does.
Go straight, and you'll go straight down. Yikes!

We did not stop at this scenic opportunity since we'd just stopped and we still had a long way to go, but if we had pulled to the left as we exited the tunnel, we'd have seen what is called the Tunnel View of Yosemite Valley. 

As we drove along the road after leaving the tunnel view area, we could see glimpses of El Cap through the trees.  Here is one of those glimpses.

After driving for a bit we finally came to an area close to El Capitan.  The parking area was under constrution ... or REconstruction or remodeling.  

If you've never been you can't know how much this photo does NOT do justice to the scene.  Even with the construction going on, it was . . . majestic. Here is what it looked like as we came upon it. 

Hubby and I pulled over to the right and parked.  We got out of the car, crossed the street and headed into the green belt on the left seemingly in front of El Capitan. We went into the trees by way of that space you see between the back of the small white motor home and the SUV to your left, then walked paralell to the street until we came to a creek.

And, as many of you already know ... the further into the trees we walked, the more El Cap receded from us.  He is much bigger than he looks, and further away than our first sight led us to believe.  As you can see (I hope) by comparing the above photo with the photo below.

After this, hubby and I walked back to the car. By this time, after being so close to the running water in the creek,  *I* had to go the ladies room except ... there was no ladies room.  Under construction you know.  And no, I was not going in the bushes.

So, while I sat in the car (avoiding the sight and sound of more water) hubby went on another path to the water falls on the other side of the street from El Cap.  He took the camera with him so I watched the people, and read the map deciding where we should go next ... on to Mount St Helen's or to a motel for an overnight in Yosemite.  

As I was doing that .. I noticed some commotion and got out of the car to see what was going on.  A group of younger people were talking excitedly and pointing to El Cap.  Some of you may already have guessed what they were excited about.  And when they told me what they were excited about, I went back to our car and got out our binoculars so I wouldn't monopolize their binoculars while I watched the climbers.

You have to know where to look ... and at first I could not find them.  But finally, they showed themselves to me.  I found them in the binoculars, but since my hubby came back in time, I can show you how they looked in the photos I took.

Here is a first look; see them there in the shadow just to the right of what looks like a square edge of the rock face?  No?  Find the tallest tree in the foreground then follow the shape of it down it's left side till you get to the V it makes with that smaller tree next to it.  In that triangle, you'll see a man against the rock, wearing a white shirt.

Yes? ... No?      Try the following view:

See him?   Okay.  I was very impressed, and, just wow.  But now ... look up about what looks like,  oh, 40 or 50 feet above the man in the white shirt.  You should see his partner.  If you can't see him in this shot, try the following one.

Or in this enhanced shot:

The man higher on the rock was gone from our view soon after this pic was taken .. not sure where he went unless he went into that cleft of rock he was working on.  Maybe there is a resting place or an inner path that climbers take.  In any case, we did not see him again.

Hope you had fun ... I know we sure did.