Time Lapse Yosemite

So it's pretty boring sometimes at work, and after I finish entering visitor statistics (I think today we had 109- counting me playing with the counter).

I found this time lapse of Yosemite. Watch for the people climbing.

People in Yosemite: A TimeLapse Study from Steven M. Bumgardner on Vimeo.




Steven, my co-worker, found an interesting one about 'Frazil Ice'. It's mesmorizing for some reason. I would not want to step on it on accident.

Which got me to thinking... I live so close to one of the most geologically captivating (opinion I know) National Parks in the country. I'd only ever been to Acadia National Park, which I love, and Marsh Billings Rockefeller, a historical park in Vermont. I studied management of National Parks and National Forest lands in college, but somewhat regret never doing an SCA internship. The founder lives 20 minutes from where I grew up and the guidance counselors never pointed my natural resources self toward it.

Either way, this past Sunday my housemate Paula, of Amherst, MA area, and I went hiking around Saddlebag Lake with the idea we'd get to the 20 Lakes Basin and do the 5 mile loop there. The snow line for the weather that day was at 10,000. Saddlebag Lake is at 10,087. We saw the clouds toward Tuloumne Meadows and said, "We'll go as far as we can til we can't". That of course meant that once we got to the Hoover Wilderness sign at the 20 Lakes Basin junction, where you can either continue around Saddlebag or go to the lakes, it started pellet snowing. Not quite hail, not quite snow. We snapped a photo, and stopped by the boarded up Wilderness Ranger cabin, and walked briskly around the Eastern shore of the lake. Both sides are fully exposed, mind you.

Of course then it thunders. I sometimes start running when it thunders, especially in the open, and especially after I was a ridgerunner one summer. We had so many thunderstorms that I became somewhat immune to them as long as I knew they were coming (thanks Mom, thanks Sonny for the weather band radio). I deduced that storm was about 20 minutes away from the nifty counting method. We just booked it, and saw no lightning. There were some hardy fishermen and women sticking to the shore still. By the time we got to the Tioga Pass side of the lake (south) where our car was and the closed for the season, Saddlebag Lake Resort (resort here=general store and fishing), the visibility was marginal, the snow hurt, and the car was coated. You couldn't see the lake anymore. I'm sure it would have blown over, but we didn't really have snow tires, nor the time or gas to drive over to the Western side and up to Lake Tahoe and back home.

We drove through some slush in Paula's lil' Honda Fit. We got to Tioga Pass and saw a Park Ranger behind a big line of cars. Turns out they didn't close the pass. The slush turned to rain and stayed rain into Lee Vining at the bottom. We saw my co-worker pulled over on the pass. I had helped her make signs to post in the winter-use restrooms reminding people to close the lid so wildlife don't think it's a home and get stuck. They do, and they die. She likes animals alive. She has a big heart.

Anyhow, Frazil Ice and Time Lapses! Enjoy! My photos to come.