Mirror Slide

Paddled out to Mirror Lake to see the Rock Slide (Ahwiyah Point) ...with stops along the way!...Post Office...picked up lunch, tuna, hershey's, elixir...and chips and gator aid at the A. Rooms (re hydrating after yesterdays hike)....clip of Pileated Woodpecker by Million Frog Meadow..(Frogs quiet today)...wish I'd been closer!!...Blue Jays there too...past the Lake...(tourists look all over for it!)....the Trail was dust covered...wanted to get pics of fallen trees...but would have to wade across Tenaya Creek...and could hear now and then small rocks still falling...not a good idea to go too close!...pic of fungus, Turkey Tail?...had lunch by Tenaya Creek near the Bridge...clip...back almost the same way...clip of Ground Squirrel, with narration!...took the Horse Trail...pic of Boulder Cave...time to time I contemplate how Fallen Trees and Rocks sort of print themselves in Time...a few seconds for falling...then a very long time in place...sorta like warships sunk in the Pacific Islands...becoming homes for coral and the fish...anyway!...clip of Raven by Stoneman Bridge...Deer were trying to get across the Road near the A. Meadow...clip..and I made my way back to Last Chance for dinner...a longer walk than yesterday..but flat!....sunny hazy blue warm...

Falls Hike

Paddled up to the Falls...thought to go as far as Eagle Peak...from the top, it's another 2.8 miles...it was three thirty when I reached there..the Falls...and there was still snow about over the trail to Eagle Peak...and I was really tired!...so, paddled over to the Bridge over the Creek, and had lunch...hikers there took my pic for me...and I took one of them for them...didn't see much on the way critter wise...Ground Squirrels at the start on the Climber's Wall...Spider...name of which I'll try to find in a moment (Wolf Spider)...and two Juncos...heard Blue Jays, Flickers, and Acorn Woodpeckers...these all lower down in the Live Oak Forest on the Rocky Slope...it is the longest trail coming down!...scenics were knockdown all day of course!...sunny blue perfectly cool for hiking....oh!...web report of a rock slide out at Mirrow Lake, Saturday early morning...knocked some trees down...tommorow go have a look!...saw a brand new white boulder in the Live Oak Forest on the Rocky Slope on hike down from Falls...thought to investigate that...for sometime...ohh!!...I found a blog that posted up some links...one to the NYPL...they have some old pics up....this one of Vernal is a treasure...it shows the Old Tree when in 'good health'...it was a Two Top Pine...too cool!...

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=265892&imageID=435054&total=30&num=0&parent_id=265766&word=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&imgs=20&pos=3&snum=&e=w

Resting Deer

Took the Path out to Ozone Beach...thought to find the Ducks I heard yesterday!...pics out in Two Top Pine Meadow.of the green grasses coming up...looks pretty humble right now...sorta cow pastureish....cows did graze here awhile..looking up at Eagle Peak, I realized what a great pic of the 'backyard' I could get from there...and maybe will be there tomorrow!...or sometime...went to Rocky Point...then back the same way along the Rocky Slope...this is kindof a neat loop I'll add to the itinerary!....Does were by the Upper Falls trail head...the Doe laying down awkwardly looks pregnant...in the Squirrel clip there is a crying sound...not sure where it came from!...dont recall hearing it when I took the clip...tourists were about, and it might be some one's child....may have missed an interesting critter!...sunny warm blue with a breeze out in the Meadow...oh..no Duck luck!....

Two Chickarees

Paddled over to the Rocky Slope...and along the Trail as far as Rocky Point...clip of Grey Squirrel and Brown Creeper...went a little ways across the Road after Flicker...heard Ducks out in Two Top Pine Meadow...thought to go that way, but went back way I came...passing through the Camp, I happened on the Two Chickarees...several clips...the post up just one...would have had a really neat one of them going up and down up and down, but didn't push the red record button!...that happens sometime....on sound track, Blue Jays sound like they're scolding...maybe Bobcat...but stuck with the Squirrels....lots of climbers Bouldering...Does resting up on the Slope...pic and clip...sunny blue warm.....oh...had time to walk along the Creek as far as Creek's End...and back through Owl Woods...quiet today...except for tourists!...they're back...oh!!...thought to see if Dragon Painter clip might be on youtub...a short one is!...have a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBTqEMcft8E
very cool

Roadside Poppies

Poppies beside the road pics from the Hite's Cove day...paddled out to Creek's End...after a visit to the Post Office...today...quiet walk...sunny blue warm....what looks like a roadbed in the Merced River Canyon on the far bank, is the old Train roadbed...fun to imagine it chugging up the canyon...think I posted up once a model railroad site of the Train...what I'd like to find is an Old Tom Mix silent movie with clips...Mix filmed in the canyon and Valley...learned that with the Zoo Visit post up!...tried to find that...try again...brb....well...this site I found before...it has it that Mix began filming in March, 1920...seems certain the Poppies were about!!...brb...oh...here, Blockbuster lists 'Tumbling River', which has footage of the Merced...one actress drowned during the filming!...1927...brb...

quote

The tragic drowning death of stunt woman Ethel Hall marred the filming of this otherwise below average Tom Mix western. The plot is unremarkable to say the least; Mix heroically saves rancher's daughter Dorothy Dwan from both a raging river and a gang of cattle rustlers led by popular western villain Wallace McDonald. The raging water scenes were filmed on California's Merced River. The 22-year-old Ethel Hall, doubling leading lady Dorothy Dwan, was apparently knocked unconscious when her head hit a rock. Mix's stunt co-coordinator Rocky Cline attempted to save her, but she drowned in the rapids. All in all, Tumbling River was not one of Mix's happier occasions.

from NY Times review...

unquote

oh!!

quote

There are some hurdles for the modern viewer to overcome in watching The Dragon Painter. Much of the film was shot in Yosemite, whose monumental and fantastic scenery is meant to stand in for the idealized Japanese style of landscape painting — and it is indeed an amazing landscape. But it is obviously not Japan any more than if the film had been shot in front of the Statue of Liberty. And the acting in silent films often seems too exaggerated to modern viewers. Hayakawa and the others do conform to that norm. Hayakawa is precise in his manic portrayal of Tatsu. His version of Japanese intensity would have caused a stir in 1914, although anyone who has seen something like Seven Samurai would not think it unusual. Never the less, The Dragon Painter is very forward looking and the wonder of it is that this film is almost 100 years old.

http://www.moviehabit.com/reviews/dra_cb08.shtml

unquote

here on amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Painter-Sessue-Hayakawa/dp/B0011VIOAU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1238224740&sr=8-1

I'll review it after it comes!!

Roadside Flowers

Up early, and shuttled down the Road beside the Merced to about El Portal...community clean up...very small community, but very pleasant company, and easy enough work picking up trash alongside the Road...made me a bit anxious though, keeping an eye out for cars speeding by...not driving myself on the highways my ownself, I've kinda lost the adaption...cars can seem very big and menacing!...and trucks carrying wide loads on trailers!...saw one Deer track along the roadside...for quite aways..the critters naturally look for the easiest place to walk...no different than us...why I see their footprints in mine in the snow...and see them walking on the trails...a few flowers showing...pics.... the Poppies haven't quite reached this high yet...though up one slope there were some....saw some Swifts or Swallows at the Bridge...but too far for clear pic...sunny blue warm...and would have been hot, but we picked up to get me back to work on time!...well...we all had to be at work, though I think I was the only one not on the clock!....plant that looks like a spoiled apple I learned is called...hooey..I've forgotten! (Buckeye)...didn't know what in the world it was...kicked one and surprised to find it rooted to the ground!...will look it up...but leave it's name a mystery here...along with the Flowers...

oh...before Dawn one Black Headed Grosbeak singing out in the Backyard!!...and an Osprey sighting at the Lakes on the Merced!...looked too for Hawk by El Portal...as a report the other day of one there, a Redtail...but no luck...

Bobcat in the Rocky Slope

Paddled over to the Rocky Slope...tourists were ahead, taking pics of Deer...this just before the Upper Falls trail beginning....and I heard Blue Jays making their warning call...and Bobcat showed up, coming my way....again I had the didgi on the tripod...when I needed the 12x...and so took one clip with one hand holding the 12x....then the second clip, I put on the teleconvertor, which had plopped in the snow in the hurry....oh...I was just all thumbs!...anyway, at the Climbing Wall, which is kindof a barrier to Bobcat's walk, insomuch Bobcat has to come out of the Boulders and Trees into an open area, often with climbers about, Bobcat went under some Trees....a couple pics...the ones up...noisy to be sure, but I kinda like them...I swung around and got organized...Bobcat looked to be considering going forward right behind the climbers....and with 12x on the tripod ready, all my plans went south when a tourist hiker came along...I got their attention, and they slowed up, but Bobcat was spooked, and went up the Rocky Slope...actually, Bobcat never looks spooked...walking always with that graceful even gate...I managed to follow and get a couple glimpses...I would really really like to get a good long clip of Bobcat negotiating the Boulders and Trees!!...the ones up just a sample of what such a clip might look like!....sunny blue and warm...well..a little bit of hazy clouds...a short walk...had to go back to the Cabin early and deal with the dishevelment...and tonight too after work!...it's been a long day....Happy Birthday Robert Frost! (3/26)

a Frost poem:

On Looking Up by Chance at the Constellations

You'll wait a long, long time for anything much

To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud

And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.

The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,

Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.

The planets seem to interfere in their curves

But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.

We may as well go patiently on with our life,

And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun

For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.

It is true the longest drouth will end in rain,

The longest peace in China will end in strife.

Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake

In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break

On his particular time and personal sight.

That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.

-- Robert Frost

snagged from here:

http://pushpinglory.blogspot.com/

as it happens, I have this thing for push pins...

one more:

Desert Places
by Robert FrostThe Poetry of Robert Frost)
-->
Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast

In a field I looked into going past,

And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,

But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it—it is theirs.

All animals are smothered in their lairs,

I am too absent-spirited to count;

The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is, that loneliness

Will be more lonely ere it will be less—

A blanker whiteness of benighted snow

With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces

Between stars—on stars where no human race is.

I have it in me so much nearer home

To scare myself with my own desert places.

that one snagged from here:

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2008/01/07

here's the home page...home pages can usually be reached by clicking on a blog's header...this is Garrison Keller's blog...almanac....

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

well...I paddled about with that search!...it's late and I'll be up early to clean up the trash alongside the road tomorrow...for just a little while..and the gear will be with, so some hoped for roadside flower pics...and something that moves moving!!...time to curl up...

Robin

Paddled out to Creek's End...and along the Merced....the Little Loop...almost back at the Cabin, Robin was in the Alder posing beside the Path....had time to set up the didgi...and Robin stayed put in spite of tourists passing by....took a nap back at the Cabin...then out to the Post Office...picked up lunch...egg salad...chips...elixir...and at the Church Bowl found a few Deer...clips...sat awhile, ate lunch, then Shuttled back to the Cabin...thought to take another nap, but heavy metal through the wall sent me out for the remainder of the evening!...explored the Rocky Slope...stirred up a pretty big group of Band Tail Pigeons....found some old Bear track...chased up the slope after Flicker...no luck...at the Tents cut back to the Road and back to the Rooms...followed the Path and made the Big Loop counterclockwise...it's quiet!....finally saw some Ducks fly over at Chapel Bridge...two flocks of a half dozen or so...clip...checkd on Owl...not home...clip of mist and frogs at a hummock pond in Bobcat Meadow...dark when I got to the Village...chicken wings and garlic bread for dinner at the Loft...watched the Transformer movie...which is a very interesting movie!...walked back in the dark under the clear night sky and stars...sunny blue cool....kindofa light blue!...snows almost gone already...

Owl at Home

Well...I had all day to paddle about...but didn't see much!...moving I mean...lots of pretty scenery though...it was another Perfect Snow Fall..much like the one back in December...started out with a quick walk and look at the Snow for Tracks at Lower Falls...didn't see any... but didn't go very far...and so to Breakfast...Blackbirds about Last Chance..pic..got a good pic of two friends waiting for bus too...geared up back at the Cabin..and out to the Rocky Slope....further along then before, I found some Bobcat and Coyote tracks...from late yesterday, they looked to be....Snow was too hard and crunchy for later, as it froze hard overnight...the tracks were deeply impressed like when the snow was fresh and wet...and over behind the Sunnyside Tents I found fresh Bear tracks...maybe two Bears...I backtracked one a little way up the Slope and ran into a pile of Boulders where it started...and maybe wishful wondering makes me think Bear sleeps thereabouts!....followed the track about the Tents...Bear was checking all the Bear Lockers...this likely in the wee hours...the meander took me back the way I came, and I found a fresh Coyote track...Coyote over my track!....followed that, and that meander took me back to the Rooms and the Cabin where I finished up the laundry...and then got waylaid by phone calls to sort out the Bus...which is now in the works to be returned in its same condition...something about dropped valves and impossible to find replacement engines reliable for just that model...well...I wishwishwish I had a garage to just work on it myself!...sigh...anyway, the Backyard wont look so empty, and the Blue Jay will have it's birdbath!....out again, I paddled over to the Post Office....picked up lunch...tuna chips hershy's and gator aid...the later a welcomed addition to the selection!...Pepsi has ousted Coke......oh...I get to use my new word...extirpated!...oh!...I looked it up...that's too strong a word!...the "Important Bird Sites" book uses it to express what happens to bird populations ...for instance...the coastal population of some Raptors in SoCal has been extirpated by development...for sometime a book review blog!...anyway...found my perch on the Long Fallen Cedar at Bobcat Meadow and had lunch...one Raven patiently watchingwaiting...I have a clip of Fir Bear with the Ravens, and just how the Ravens were waiting, or daring to get close and steal away some food, with the Bears and the Deer carcass, is how they behave when I'm sitting having lunch!!....picked up, and crossed

Chapel Bridge to check on Owl...YI's gathered under the Cottonwood about their guide in a circle!...whattodo...I walked out trying not to disturb their lesson, and seeing Owl was at home, thought, whattheheck, and invited them all to have a look....they had a very hard time seeing Owl, all standing in a row looking up at the Cottonwood, with their guide, who I had loaned the binocs too, trying to describe the Magnificent Perch...dont know, but our brains and eyes, conditioned as they are to Citiscapes, may have trouble distinguishing Landscapes and Critters...kindof the reverse of what ethnographers discovered with Indians and Eskimos...they would show them photographs, or spring a city scene on them...like Forest Pygmies seeing open savanna for the first time!...and note how confused they would be trying to figure things out....oh...this post is a meander!...anyway, the YI's went back to their lesson, and before continuing on the Big Loop, I took some Owl pics and clips...at CAD Beach I caught a glimpse of Kingfisher...I was so close to a pic!...but Kingfisher flew off low over the Merced to Ozone Beach...then came hurrying back and up to Chapel Bridge...thought to follow...but felt a bit worn down...phone call tired!...and finished the loop...back at the Cabin, visited with neighbor friends, and Annie the Cat, and, back at the Cabin, curled up!...woke up after sunset, so missed a late evening walk...clouds came in and made the evening kinda dreary after the blueblue aftenoon with new white snow...oh...blog surfing I found a Robert Graves' poem...

Like Snow

She, then, like snow in a dark night,

Fell secretly. And the world waked

With dazzling of the drowsy eye,

So that some muttered 'Too much light',

And drew the curtains close.

Like snow, warmer than fingers feared,

And to soil friendly;

Holding the histories of the night

In yet unmelted tracks.

Robert Graves

from this blog:

http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/2008/02/two-snow-poems-by-robert-graves.html

which is a pretty nice blog...Blogs have become an end in and of themselves, rather than a means, say, to market...for the longest time people communicated through a small media window...and the small size lent itself to narrow views...when the printing press was invented, the window opened wider...with the web, maybe a window wide enough for the world!

Snowy Rocky Slope

It snowed a lot late late last night...I got to the walk a bit late...after Breakfast around eleven...and over to the Rocky Slope...I put the short lens on the new camera...it does pretty good in the low light!...had the trail to myself except for one set of hikers going up to the Falls...envied them their day!...passed a couple more with snowshoes on the way back to the Cabin..thought they were 'over geared'...but it snowed a lot during the day!...by a lot, of course, I mean for the Valley...maybe seven or eight inches...it's going to melt fast...so I hope to get out early tomorrow...report of Bear in the Backyard last night...and another from a Thai new arrival over at the Train Wreck...cloudy snow off and on cool....my email has posts from the yosemite birders group over in Yahoo...they see like sixty five species down in the foothills during a ride about...I'd find that a bit overwhelming!...Flicker clip is short...but I really like it!..hope to get more tomorrow...and Blue Jay and the others...the white snow sets off the Birds' colors...and reflects the light....tried to get artsy with the pics...which I can do, but would prefer something that moves moving!!...and when that happens composition is on the fly and a guess!!

oh!....there's a new video site...and it has a yosemite bouldering section...one is able to post up better resolution clips...I'm not a climber...I dont even watch...but I pass by these performances on the Rocky Slope...maybe I can find one on one of the boulders I visit...brb...about the site...

http://climbingnarc.com/2009/03/yosemite-bouldering-video-channel-on-vimeo

brb...here's the section....

http://vimeo.com/channels/19207

brb

here's vimeo's home page

http://vimeo.com/

maybe blogger will catch up with the competition!!...

someone's going to have to give me a guided walk so I can learn the Boulder's names!!!

oh...here aN overwhelming vimeo site of a local photog...

http://vimeo.com/yosemite

I have one of this photog's pics painted on to Canvas sold on ebay by an artist, Shruffs or something, claiming it was an original plein air...I bought it, and when it came I couldn't believe it could be painted so thin in oils..and held it up to the light looking through the back, and could see through it...and saw there was just one pass of paint..quite impossible with a brush in oils!...anyway...I was in the gift shop and saw Falkenstein postcard of the same scene...sunset peaks in Tuolumne...and smacked my forehead...hmpph..I'd been took!...I keep it around as a curio and conversation piece!

Rainy Day Sparrow

Took the Shuttle over to the Post Office...friend went too...from there out to Bobcat Meadow...to Chapel Bridge...check on Owl...not home...or at least visible!...and continued out into Chapel Meadow...and the dark clouds started to rain...and some thunder!...Squirrel pic....and Sparrow clip...which is unusual clip...as while I often startle up little birds in the Meadow..I rarely can get a pic or clip, as they fly right back into the grasses!...made the big loop...clip from Swinging Bridge to show the rising water...tomorrow up early to go lookSee at Creek's End....cloudy rain cool...lots of rain after dark...

Rocky Slope Dragons

Paddled over to the Rocky Slope for a short walk...clips of Ground Squirrel, Tortoise Back, and the Dragons...clip of Morning Cloak too...but too tiny to post...just as I got to Last Chance for work, the Two Ravens were out front, posing for the tourists...pic and clip....oh...was going to look up Conway, the trail builder...brb...
quote
Yosemite Falls and Eagle Peak Trail
The Yosemite Falls Trail, started by John Conway in 1873 and completed to the north rim in 1877, was carried by its builder and owner still higher to the summit of Eagle Peak, highest of the Three Brothers. He started his toll horse trail to Eagle Peak in 1873 and completed it as far as the foot of the Upper falls. In 1877, he finished the trail to the top of the falls, and in 1888 to Eagle Peak. The State wanted to purchase the trail from him in 1882, but he refused to sell. He fought the State in and out of court but finally sold in 1885 for $1,500.
Except for minor changes, the present trail follows Conway’s trail. From the top of the falls you can follow what are probably Conway’s original blazes to Eagle Peak, except for a section through the meadow. The Park Service has reblazed much of the trail, but the diamond shaped blazes made by the Army are easy to distinguish from the others.
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/pathways/yosemite_trails.html
unquote

For sometime, has been a hike to Eagle Peak.....sunny warm and blue...General Grant said of the Four Mile that it was 'the best moutain trail I've ever been on'...it's more like five...it's story and many more are at the site...

White Headed Woodpecker Pair

Paddled over to Rocky Slope...and made the loop out to Two Top Meadow and back to the Cabin...along the way, clip of White Headed Woodpeckers...and tried to get clips of the Ground and Grey Squirrels...a short walk...was up early, but had to hang around waiting for the tow truck...backyard looks empty without the Bus!...sometimes the tourists come around the bend..see the Falls for the first time...pics...then the more observant see the Cedar Tree growing in the Cabin doorway...pics...and then the really observant see the Bus!..pics...a thirty three year old car in, say, 1970, that would be a 1937, would turn a lot of heads...nowadays old cars are common enough...but the Bus is pretty old!...a 1976...looked about for more grinding stones...but no luck...turned over a few logs in Two Top Meadow..but no Salamanders!...sunny blue warm...Snow in forecast for Sunday...the Half Dome pics I took during lunch break..saw the Double A clouds, punched out, and took the 12x to Ozone Beach...but the clouds wouldn't move over....if they were still about at alpine glow time, someone's got knockdown pics!!

Grinding Stone

Was going to upload past clip of Bobcat...tried, but upload taking too long...will try again sometime...I have a bunch from Bobcat Meadow day!...pic is one of several too.....paddled over to the Rocky Slope...this after putting the key in the Bus and starting it up!...it runs, this after sitting all winter, but not strong enough to get out of the Valley!...tomorrow the tow truck comes to take it to town for fixing...but to today's walk....just as the Trail to Upper Falls starts at Lower Falls, where there's a fallen log with section sawed out , I happened to look down while chasing after two Flickers...and found a boulder, mostly buried, with grinding holes..it's not far from the Grinding Stone Boulder...clips of the Flickers...but they were too quick going through the Tree Tops....reporting the Grinding Stone in an evening talkabout, I heard the story of the little cabins the Indians lived in at Lower Falls...thought to search this out...brb...

quote:

Seven designated archeological sites lie within the Lower Yosemite Fall area. These include sites associated with the American Indian habitation of the Valley, early Euro-American homesteads, a concessioner warehouse complex, a sawmill operated by John Muir, and an early concessioner tourist camp (Camp Lost Arrow). Each of these seven recorded sites is described in the following sections.

Site CA-Mrp-58. Site CA-Mrp-58 is the Yosemite Falls Indian Caves, which consist of a series of meandering fissures (cracks) between boulders. A single boulder with three mortar cups (a depression in the rock formed from pounding acorn) situated beneath the overhang of a larger boulder occurs at the site.

Because no subsurface investigation has been conducted at this site, it is unknown whether cultural deposits occur within the Lower Yosemite Fall area. Lacking such data, it is assumed herein that the site, located immediately adjacent to the western trail to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall, is within the Lower Yosemite Fall area boundary.

Site CA-Mrp-240/303/H. Site CA-Mrp-240/303/H is located directly west of Yosemite Creek and north of Yosemite Lodge in the Lower Yosemite Fall area. Seven stationary milling features (large stones or bedrock used for the processing or milling of foods) with a total of 63 mortar cups and three milling slicks (smooth parts of a stone where grains were milled) have been recorded at Site CA-Mrp-240/303/H, while sparsely scattered obsidian tools and debris are apparent on the surface and below the surface (Hull et al. 1998).

Ethnographic studies have suggested that Site CA-Mrp-240/303/H represents at least a portion of the former American Indian village of Koom-I-ne (Bibby 1994). Furthermore, this site has been the location of historic Euro-American activities, in particular the establishment of Camp Yosemite by the U.S. Cavalry in this area in 1906. Early topographic maps indicate the location of six buildings along the old road to the main bridge (Yosemite Falls Bridge), and these dwellings were apparently known as "Soapsuds Row." Old Yosemite Lodge was constructed near the Site CA-Mrp-240/303/H area in 1915 (Hull et al. 1998).

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/planning/yfalls/ch3.htm

quote

After an appeal, Tenaya returned to Yosemite and died there, a free man. Tenaya's descendants received allotments for the acreage of the village site, and by 1930, they were living in 15 cabins provided for them by the National Park Service. When the park service decided to expand the Sunnyside Campground, the villagers had to move to other quarters. In the 1960's the Ahwahneecheeswere still carying on their traditional ceremonies, dances, and food collecting. Women were collecting and grinding acorns, and making willow and sedge baskets. Mrs. Julia Parker, a Pomo Indian who married a Yosemite Miwok, says that the village is the people's link to the old life.

http://www.yosemitenews.net/indian_legends.html

unquote

That's a nice site!...Lots of things...

Julia, I believe, is the Basket Maker under the umbrella!

at same site page above

quote

Yosemite Miwok went to court to hold onto their land. But, the NPS used the power and force of arms to drive Indian residents out of their homes, house by house. NPS officials destroyed the remaining homes of the Yosemite Miwok during a fire-fighting drill in 1969.

unquote

Well, that confirms the story I heard at this evening's talkabout...the Indians little cabins were burned down. They were along the Trail that I walk on the Rocky Slope walks to Camp 4, Sunnyside...the Grinding Stone I found is very close to where Rocky Slope Bear was eating the termites, and playing with Oak Bear....(along with Fir Bear, these Three Bears have my attention!!)

sunny blue warm...report of Coyote by Day Use Parking...and Osprey nests at some lakes near Hornitos...and Mergansers in the Merced near El Portal!...expect the Mergansers to be hereabouts soon!!

Buck and Does

Paddled over to the Rocky Slope at Sunnyside...and found a place to sit aways up...with a wan hope Bobcat might come by....a rustle in the leaves behind, and I turned about to see the Does coming up between the Boulders...it was the same group I saw Sunday...and the Young Buck with them....pics and clips...pics not too good...the light and shade tough...and the clips marred too by a water spot...when pointing at the sun it shows....picked up and continued to the Post Office...two boxes of old slides of the Valley came...an ebay...so far, have found a few critter pics...one very neat one of Bear...have to get a slide scanner...they're from late sixties and I hope to find some pics of the Trees on the walks...had to go back to the cabin to drop them off...had lunch...then a long walk!...took the Rocky Slope trail behind the Village...and over behind the A. Rooms...things are very quiet!...did find what might be an Acorn Woodpecker nest....have to check on it now and then...nest doesn't describe it...it's like a perpendicular bole? (what's the name of a hole in a tree where a branch tore out!?) in a Live Oak...well..a bowl shaped hole!...at the Trail intersection near the Long Gone Sawmill... thereabout are a lot of birds, and today lots of Acorn Woodpeckers...and two Tourists sneaking up on Flicker with long lens....at the Backpacker Camp I headed for the Stables...stopped at Million Frog Meadow...the Frogs are singing like crazy....pic and clip...then went through Upper Pines and walked along the Merced to Happy Isles...this the Trail...not often traveled...where I saw the Mushrooms...and Ouzel clip...at Happy Isles I visited the Fen...still desolate from Winter snows...pic...Sparrow clip...took the Shuttle to Lower Falls and walked out to Chapel Meadow to see if Owl was home...this was the goal of the day!...at sunset, to see if Owl was about, and maybe get a clip of Owl awake!...there is indeed a 'bowl' hollow in the Cottonwood!...I set up with the didgi under the Two Tall Ponderosas...I checked for Owl through the mini scope...and was surprised to note the magnifications I've been seeing in the didgi clips, aren't the scopes...they're the 3x through the scope...well, I guess that's obvious...what I'm saying is the 3x camera magnifies the spotting scopes magnification when I zoom out with the camera....this is something to think on!...some of the new point and shoots, with the new hd video, have like 5x lenses...and I'm wondering if they might work...the higher the zooms the more likelihood of vignetting, and too, the lens has to be tiny enough to 'see' through the scope's eyepiece...oh..there's adaptors for big dslr lenses....but they dont work as well at the point and shoots just set close to the lens on an adaptor...well...I'll have to go into this more clearly in a Gear Blog...a sometime!....but Owl was there!...but not in the Cottonwood!...rather in the Two Ponderosas right over my head!...and hoo hooing now and then...did record the hoos with the Cottonwood in the scene..I looked and looked for Owl..the hoos were infrequent...scanning all the Trees with the binocs...which is kinda fun!...but Owl fell quiet..and light gone from Half Dome....so I picked up...and, of course!, just as I did, Owl flew over my head from a Ponderosa out to the Trees by the Maple Tree near the Chapel...very cool to see Owl!....I followed... and looked and looked...but it was almost dark...and no luck...paddled over through Bobcat Meadow to the Village for dinner...frogs singing in the Meadow too...sunny hazy sky and warm....a nice Owl day...oh!...saw a little bat fluttering in the dusk...reminded when just reading about the white fungus troubling bats back east...