Uploads from wsj99, with geodata

PC270026

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:00:03 -0800

wsj99 posted a photo:

He fed a chickadee anyway.

PC270034

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:07:21 -0800

wsj99 posted a photo:

We crossed over the Tahoe Rim Trail, marked by these blue trail indicators

Camp 4 Parking Lot

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:36:38 -0800

wsj99 posted a photo:

I developed a greater fear of rangers than of bears. Saturday night we returned from showering at Curry Village about 9:30. I noticed an AAA tow truck in the parking lot. As we parked I observed the truck dragging a car backwards out of a parking space, the car's locked wheels skidding on the dirt. After I parked, I asked the truck driver what was going on. He said that there was food in the car. I looked in the car. Sure enough, on the back seat was a bag of King's Hawaiian rolls.

Good stuff. I love them. If I were a bear, I would be tempted to go for them. www.kingshawaiian.com/products/products_original12pk_main...

Anyway, I watched as the tow truck operator used some professional tools to break into the car. The alarm rang. The operator quickly silenced the alarm and began repositioning his truck in order to tow the car away. A ranger was off to the side. He told me the car would be removed to a safe location free from the threat of damage by bears.

(I have heard the stories of bears at Yosemite working part-time as auto dismantlers. images.quickblogcast.com/34670-32320/Bear_wrecking_car.jpg I believe them, especially after one experience I had with some raccoons elsewhere, an experience from which my vehicle has never recovered: some raccoon tore the rubber surround from one vent window. But, despite stories, I have yet to find a photo of a windshield removed by a bear.)

The alarm drew the car's owner to the parking lot. He negotiated the release of his vehicle because he had registered, listing his name, auto license plate and campsite, and so the ranger could have located him. Everyone was very reasonable. But the ranger told me that if something looks like food from the outside of a vehicle, it might get towed. I went back to my van and pulled a tarp over an empty cookie tin to hide it from him.

A sign at the camp entry noted over 200 bear incidents this year. What's an incident, you ask. I'm not sure.

By the way, this photo looks up the north side of the valley towards a point called Columbia Rock that provdes a great view as seen in another photo in this set.

Common Sense Camp Rules

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:25:01 -0800

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The welcome hut

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:24:07 -0800

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Here we registered and paid five dollars per person per night. The hut is not occupied in the off season. It served as more of a bulletin board than anything else when we visited (Thanksgiving weekend, 2008).

www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camp4.htm

Bear? Oh, the bear. What about it?

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:38:58 -0800

wsj99 posted a photo:

These people capture the two attitudes that I experienced by the end of the weekend: curiosity and casual detachment.

Food Boxes

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:25:50 -0800

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Ravens, bears and rodents love this campground. We stayed three nights. Our last morning I rose at 7 and watched the bear that we had seen three times already (and which some campers had seen eight times) wander along the edge of the grounds. I called out "Bear!" to no one in particular as I returned from the restroom.

The bear wandered towards the north. I followed and found him casually dining on the contents of a cooler that had been left out. Nearby were strewn the content of a ripped up nylon bag. The only item that I thought might have drawn his interest was a deodorant stick.

I went back to my site for moral courage and our site neighbor, Brian, joined me. We shooed the bear away, cleaned up the mess and threw the cooler into the dumpster.

The camp has plenty of these metal food lockers. Used properly they are bear-proof, and they are built tightly enough that I could not imagine a chipmunk squeezing in. We used them and diligently kept them closed, gaining considerable peace of mind.

PB290093

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:29:52 -0800

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Camp sites are marked with numbers on these concrete "logs," if I can call them that. Dozens of such logs demarcate the entry paths and individual sites in Camp 4.

The concrete logs highlight the fact that there is no firewood in the campground. It can be purchased nearby.

Deer wandering through Camp 4

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:27:52 -0800

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Deer were among the less bold animals that we saw.

Ascending Columbia Boulder

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:46:56 -0800

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The key to my technique is keeping my right foot on the ground.

Camp 4 is on the Register of Historic Places

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:44:16 -0800

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I have heard that Yvon Chouinard (Founder of Patagonia and its predecessor, a company that made rock climbing gear and eventually became Black Diamond) used to hang out with rock climbers at Camp 4, selling his hand-manufactured climbing gear out of his car. The campground is the central gathering point for people climbing numerous faces in Yosemite. Notes at the entry point solicit partners for climbing.

An article about Chouinard: outside.away.com/outside/features/200510/yvon-chouinard-1...

P5316876

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:51:02 -0700

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nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:50:24 -0700

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nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:44:59 -0700

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P5316866

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:45:40 -0700

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nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:46:21 -0700

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nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:47:36 -0700

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nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:49:42 -0700

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P5316863

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:44:14 -0700

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P5316873

nobody@flickr.com (wsj99) — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:49:01 -0700

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