Soom good 'ol times around Yosemite

[DHC6twinotter]

Some good 'ol times around Yosemite

Hey all! First post here, and I've just got to say that this is an awesome site! It's been a pleasure reading about the various trips and expeditions completed by the folks on this board.

I currently live in the eastern U.S., and what a privilege it was to experience the wonderful beauty and wide open spaces that you western folks have been blessed with. This trip though the heart of California brought back fond memories of sights my family and I witnessed during the four years we spent traveling the U.S in our '84 Buick. Having been in the Philippines for 8 years prior to that, I think I can say I've definitely been bit by the travel bug. It's always nice to experience new cultures and see new things. I look forward to reading about other members' trips and sharing about my own on this forum. Thank you for the wonderful community of people put in place here.

I thought I would post up some pictures of a recent trip I took with some friends. While the trip pales in comparison to some of the wonderful trips other members have completed, I thought I would share my experience. This trip takes us from SoCal up to Yosemite National Park and was completed back around September of 2008.

Anways, enough about that, and it's time for some pictures.



The trip started out with us heading North on Hwy 395 out of Hesperia, CA. I really enjoyed the beauty of the high desert.

Along the way, we stopped at an airport just outside of Bishop.
One of my friends with us took some of her glider lessons here, and me being the aviation nerd that I am, decided to take a picture of the place.

We weren't roughing it terribly, and decided to rent a couple of cabins just outside of Oakhurst, CA.

 

[DH2002]

the first pic with the sunlight is amazing nicely done

 

[DHC6twinotter]

And so day 2:

We decided to explore some of the trails around Yosemite N.P. One of the friends I was with had a California Trails book, so we decided to follow one of them. We left our cabins along with some other friends that had met us there. Total of four vehicles and 10 people.

While along this trail, we noticed a lot of cattle just roaming around. Later on that day, we noticed a gorgeous cow girl on horse back. She and her dogs were driving cattle through the area.

Some trees to navigate around. One of the guys with our group had a stock e-locked, double cab Tacoma. It was fun watching him maneuver the longer wheelbase vehicle around some of the tight turns through the forest. The trail was more open at this point:

Climbing in elevation:

We stopped for lunch at the end of the trail. My uncle and granddad are beekeepers, and I have never seen so many bees at one place in my life.

After lunch and after several people getting stung by bees, we decided to head back down. We stopped for some pictures at a curve in the road.

And continued our trip along the trail.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

the first pic with the sunlight is amazing nicely done

Thanks! I let my 3 year old camera do the work for me. I have no clue what I'm doing. :sombrero:

I'll post up more pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

We continued our day trip, now heading back down to the main road via a different route.

And a picture out of a 7mge (supra 3.0 I6) powered 4Runner.

We found a great photo spot off one of the trails.

At the cabin that night, some people decided to chow down!

 

[DHC6twinotter]

The next day, we headed up to Shuteye Peak.

The Shuteye Peak fire tower. Somebody is usually there, and they welcome visitors. The ranger there at the time was thrilled to see us, especially since he hadn't seen anybody in several days. He was an interesting person, but I've never heard anybody use so much language. He proceeded to show us the 12 volt solar powered electrical system, his stash of Gatorade, the propane refrigerator, and the unique battery system. It was one of the highlights to the trip.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

After the great time at the fire tower and all the stories of crazed hikers, people being killed by mountain lions, and deadly rock slides, we continued our exploration around Shuteye Peak. What a wonderful place!

 

[DHC6twinotter]

One of the kids with us was celebrating his 4th birthday. He was a huge fan of Thomas the Train Engine, so we decided to take a ride on a Shay locamotive.

The Shay locomotive is an amazing peice of engineering. Instead of a single steam cylinder on each side of the engine, the Shay locomotive uses three (or four on other models) cylinders on one side of the engine.

The boiler is offset to the left side of the engine to compensate for the weight of the three cylinders.

The inner workings of the steam cylinders. Watching the movement of the connecting rods, crank, and valves really makes me appreciate the amazing craftsmanship.

The power was transfered from the cylinders to each axle by a driveshaft that ran the lenght of right side. The driveshaft had multiple slip yokes and u-joints to allow for the rotation of each 4 wheel truck as the locomotive rounded a curve.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

The following day, we headed to Yosemite park for some of the typical touristy sights. Keith, one of the guys in our group had to bail out early and couldn't be with us for this part of the trip. What a nice guy, and it was a bummer to see him go.

Yosemite Valley.

Is this a Syncro? I took the photo because of the view, and didn't even notice the VW till later.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

Later, we headed over to the Mariposa Pine Forest. There are some fairly large trees there.

And now for some homage to my fellow travelers:

My friends that were so great to house and put up with me for my month long visit to California.

The Stovers, a super cool family from Slo.

Sean, a great friend from the Los Angeles area.

And finally, last and least, me, posing in front of the Grizzly Giant.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

I got a kick out of this sign. I'm not sure why, but I guess the visualization of somebody trying to fish something out of the toilet pits was quite hilarious to me.

The upper branches on this tree were probably bigger than many whole trees on the east coast.

More trees. I think some of the folks were getting tired of them by now.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

And the ride home after a great weekend.

We decided to make a detour to pick up some parts for the dual t-cases.

I was told Mt. Whitney was somewhere around here, but I don't know if it is in this shot or not. I just pointed my camera to where everybody was pointing.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

Oh yeah, sorry about the typo on the thread topic. I thought I fixed it, but it still shows up wrong. Oh well...that's what I get for being in a hurry. :smiley_drive:

 

[DHC6twinotter]

So after resting up at our "home base" in Hesperia, we set out for a small trip around the high desert area.

 

[DHC6twinotter]

We met with Joe and some other folks, and ran some of the Hammers.