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Shyrmp's Birthday Bash (not dial-up friendly)

Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
When asked what I wanted for my birthday I responded with "A vacation", so with a minimal amount of planning we packed up and headed out for a trip that included Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park, Yosemite, and two days of biking at Mammoth Mountain

Day 1: Our first stop was Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park. Moro rock is a granite monolith on the edge of the Giant Forest Plateau and overlooks the Kaweah River. After climbing a 1/4 mile up we reached the 6,275-foot summit.



The view from the summit apparantly offers the best views of the southern Sierra Nevadas :think:




Driving back down the road we passed through Tunnel Log, a fallen sequoia you can drive through



We then headed to the Giant Forest where we hiked to the General Sherman Tree. General Sherman (according to the literature) is the world's largest living organism. It has a base circumference of 102-feet, a diameter of 36 1/2-feet, is 274-feet tall, weighs 1,400 tons and contains enough wood to build 40 houses. The tree is estimated to be between 2,300-2,700 years old




While hiking through the Giant Forest we found some trees to play on
 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
We set up camp at Stony Creek and went on a hike to discover how the campsite earned it's namesake. After venturing for awhile we found out....



Continuing the hike the creek started tumbling through a series of waterfalls along smooth rocks. The view from the top



Orven looking for fish :p



We hiked back out started a campfire and ate some yummy food and called it a day

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
Day 2: We got up early and headed to Yucca Point. This is the deepest part of the King's River Canyon, the granite cliffs rise more than 8,000 feet from the river to the ridge, thousands of feet deeper than the Grand Canyon (sounds like a fun hike!)

The view from about half way down the trail



We stopped to cool off at a waterfall along the way



We finally reached the bottom and reached the point where the South and Middle forks of the King's River meet



Orven still looking for fish.....:p



We headed back up the trail and started our drive to King's Canyon National Park

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
We made a pit stop at Boyden Cave to cool down after our long hike and were afforded great views of stalactites as we entered the cave that was created from the dissolution of marble caused by an underground stream





Grizzly Falls was the first big waterfall we came across



And then the 80-foot Roaring River Falls





Next up was Zumwalt Meadows which was believed to have been formed after a rocky ridge, called a moraine, was deposited by a glacier which then dammed a river that silted up and formed the meadow



A view of Grand Sentinel (a granite dome scoured by glacial abrasion similar to Half Dome in Yosemite)



Another look at the meadow

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
Before heading out we decided to get one last look at the big Sequoias

We got to hike through the interior of a downed tree



General Grant is the third largest of the Sequioa trees and a living memorial to U.S. service men and women




And one last look at a grove of trees before we headed out towards Yosemite

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
Per Stosh's reccomendation we headed through the Tunnel to get into Yosemite



Upon exiting the tunnel we were rewarded with awesome views of the valley below




Bridalveil Falls plunges 620-feet to the base of granite boulders beneath





El Capitan rises 3,600 feet above the floor of the valley and attracts climbers from all over the world and is also host to a pair of Peregrine Falcons that usually nest there during the Spring and Summer. We didn't see either, but it was still a nice view.

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
At this point we were getting tired of the two-minute drill of loading all of the bags in the truck and locking up the bikes. So we unloaded the bikes and headed of down the bike path that circles around the valley.

Lower Yosemite Falls in the background



The Royal Arches were created when material that was above the formation was eroded away and pressure was taken off the rock lying below which then expanded and cracked parallel to the eroding surface



Riding along the bike path



Yosemite's most popular attraction, Half Dome



As we finished along the bike path we got a nice view of the Cathedral Spires, two granite pillars that rise 1,936 and 2,147- feet above the valley floor



One last look at Lower Yosemite Falls



As we headed out of Yosemite valley we caught a glimpse of the local wildlife

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
We headed out of the valley and towards Tioga Pass on our way to Mammoth and stopped at Olmstead Point to enjoy the view





Next was Tenaya Lake which offered wonderfull views of bright green meadows, snow-capped mountains...and of course the lake. :)





The cool lake water felt good in the middle of a warm day



As we passed through Tioga Pass we took one last look at the what we were leaving behind

 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
Heading towards Mammoth on Route 395 we stopped at Mono Lake State Reserve.

The reserve was established to preserve the spectacular "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. Mono Lake is a majestic body of water covering about 65 square miles. It is an ancient lake, over 1 million years old -- one of the oldest lakes in North America and it has no outlet. Throughout its long existence, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams. Freshwater evaporating from the lake each year has left the salts and minerals behind so that the lake is now about 2 1/2 times as salty and 80 times as alkaline as the ocean.



If you listen closely you hear a buzz at the edge of Mono Lake on calm summer days as swarms of black alkali flies carpet the shoreline. Along the shoreline, at the surface, and even beneath the lake, you can watch alkali flies busily feeding on microscopic algae. The alkali fly was an important source of food for the Kutzadika’a people during the summer months. Linguistically related to the Northern Paiute peoples, the Kutzadika’a (pronounced Kootz-a’-di-ka-a’) lived part of the year in the Mono Basin hunting and gathering. The pupal stage of the alkali fly was collected in shallow water along the lakeshore. Since the pupae are rich in fat and protein, they were an excellent source of food that were dried and used in stews.



A "tufa house"



We made it into Mammoth with the intention of heading to Devil's Postpile until we found out it was only accesible by mandatory shuttle until 7:30pm so we headed to Minaret Vista instead.



I decided to get artsy :p





We headed back to the motel to get a good night's rest for our two full days of riding ahead (sorry no riding pics, we were having so much fun we forgot to stop and take pictures)

I'm hungry I have a few more pics I'll try to post later, but this was the best vacation I have ever had and I hope you enjoyed the pictures so far. :)
 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
Last night was our final night in Mammoth and we had made it out goal to see Devil's Postpile before we left. As we headed up the mountain dark clouds and thunder were looming overhead. We stopped at Earthquake Fault on the way. This sizable fissure is not an earthquake fault caused by a single quake, as the name implies. Geologists now believe it is a system of fractures formed during a series of strong quakes when the Inyo Craters and Inyo Domes erupted centuries ago.



As we exited the fault area we saw this little bunny trying to cross the road



We helped the buuny along in his journey and it found shelter just off the road



As we headed down towards the postpile the impending storm offered us beautiful sunset views



We eventually made it to the postpile as the sun was setting and the rain was about to begin (this unfortunately made the picture quality not the best)



No feature in the Mammoth area better demonstrates the work of fire and ice than Devils Postpile. The columns of basalt were formed approximately 100,000 years ago when a lava flow slowed and began to cool and crack. Temperatures deep within the lava bed were uniform enough to produce six-sided columnal joints, columns of four, five or seven sides indicate some degree of temperature fluctuation when the Postpile was formed.





As the rain started we were fascinated by the lightning show that was being produced so we headed back up to the summit as we watched lightning hit a tree in the distance causing it to glow orange for a brief moment. We managed to catch a shot of the storm before we headed back to the motel to get some sleep for our trip back to San Diego



This was the best birthday present a girl could have...besides a brand new full suspension XC bike of course! ;)

Hope you have enjoyed the pictures. I should probably get some sleep before returning to work tommorow :)
 
merrrrjig

merrrrjig

Turbo Monkey
Dec 24, 2003
1,726
0
Mammoth Lakes, Ca
Looks like you had a great time! Ive been to mammoth sooo many times yet have never seen devils postpile nor been through yosemite. I will hopefully be up in mammoth this weekend. oh ya, happy birthday shrymp!
 
Shyrmp

Shyrmp

Nekkid Girl Gone Wild
Dec 31, 2002
1,457
20
The suburbs of Mexico.....
ncrider said:
Awesome birthday vacation pics Heather. Can't wait to see the riding pics!
Click to expand...

shyrmp said:
We headed back to the motel to get a good night's rest for our two full days of riding ahead (sorry no riding pics, we were having so much fun we forgot to stop and take pictures)
Click to expand...
Conrad, quit staring at my boobs and read the post ;) :p

Looks like you had a great time in SB! :)
 
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