Yosemite and More

 Took a trip to the east side of the Sierras with some friends, took Highway 108 for the views and Aspens, visited Bodie, and ended up at Mono Lake. If you like aspens look at my previous post of Great Basin National Park If you've followed me at all you know I love Bodie, sooo..... And last but not least Go, See, Enjoy, Stay Safe and Photograph, Dave

Last week I took a quick trip to Yosemite and then decided to go on over Tioga Pass to Mono Lake. It turned out to be a very interesting day weather wise, from warm and sunny,  to puffy clouds, then rain and a slushy drive on the way home. Mostly I'll share some of the animals I saw in Yosemite, mostly. This female Mallard swam very close, hoping I'm sure for a quick meal. There were a lot of Acorn Woodpeckers, this one kept coming to the same branch, but would fly away if I got too close. I seemed to spend quite a bit of time chasing very elusive butterflies Then on to Mono Lake and some puffy clouds As with most outings sometime you just need to look behind you. It's hard to see the Alkali Flies, they're usually just a mass of black. For California Gulls the Alkali Flies are a major food source. Foreboding of things to come. It started to sprinkle just as I left Mono Lake. On the way up from Mono Basin I saw what was ahead of me. There wasn't  actual snow on the r...

 Mono Lake is the highest I've ever seen it. Most of the places we used to walk to get photos of are now underwater. And that's a good thing. Hopefully more to come. Walking down the path to the Lake  Note how close the brush is to the lake, it used to be many yards away. We used to be able to walk right up to these Tuffas Go, See, Enjoy, Photograph and Stay Safe. Dave

 Took a trip to the Eastern Sierras with some friends a couple of weeks ago. There was snow, water and plenty of wildflowers. These are small, close to the ground and you have to be careful not to step on them.  I liked the gravel background. These Mariposa Lily's were a lot easier to spot.  They were everywhere during parts of our journey.   As I said there still was a lot of snow in the upper elevations. I almost laughed at the name of this beautiful flower. We dropped by Mono Lake which never disappoints. The lake has risen and  is expected to rise even more as the Sierra snow melts. Let's hope L.A. doesn't take too much of the water that should flow into the lake. One of the highlights for me was spotting this Marmot along the side of the road. As the snow melts it's creating an interest pattern. And even letting a bush push trough to the sun. This creek empties into June Lake. It was just barely below the road into June Lake Village. One of the straighter s...

 On this last trip to Bodie I tried to shy away from the usual things I photograph. Can't say I succeeded but I tried. This panorama of Bodie is the only exception to posting images of Bodie in black and white. Really can't see much on a phone, best viewed on a large monitor. I like the shadows produced by the ends of the boiler tubes. The time of day wasn't very forgiving but perfect for this shot. Not sure this fence will keep anything out or in.   Wonder if this is part of the water system that failed when most of the town burned. It's probably just some of the left over mining artifacts, they used and moved a lot of water. I've seen this mop bucket before and this is the first time I liked the result.  Even used one like it many years ago. Supposed to be a reflection but turned out to look more like a ghost image. Another one where the sun produced some shadows I liked  and in this case great contrast from light to dark. I have never seen Mono Lake this low. If ...