Tuolumne Meadows/Yosemite Creek backpacking trip

Summertime with the Schweickerts means backpacking in Yosemite...and we just went on a thoroughly fabulous trip!  I went up last week with my parents, my brother Chris and sister Heidi, and our friend Betsy.  We spent a night in Tuolumne Meadows, and then headed down the trail towards the top of Yosemite Falls.

We had grand times, and I have way too many photos to share here...heh heh...I'll post more in a Facebook album and link it here soon.  The weather couldn't have been better (no rain, hail, and lightning like the rather memorable trip two summers ago!) and although the mosquitos were rather nasty (I still have a few dozen large red dots all over me) the company was superb, the views sublime, and the photos...well, I will leave you to judge.  ;)

My "happy place" canteens.  :)

Had fun shooting some rather abstract water photos...I love all the brown-green tones.

The Tuolumne River is flowing profusely right now, with all the snowmelt!

I don't know this fly fisherman.  But he was awfully photogenic.  ;)

The Keens Club.  ;)  (Betsy, Heidi, and my mom...I'm not a member...yet!)

Betsy fording a creek.  We decided the most fun way to get across was to just lose the boots.  Ahh cold water on tired hiker-feet...rapturous...

 

Hehe.  ;)

Chris loves his Five-Fingers.

OK, so I really like to stay [relatively] clean on backpacking trips, but this water was just tooo cold.

My parents are tougher than I am!

Ant real estate.  For big (but apparently harmless) black ants.  They were all over our campsite by the creek.

 

For the coffee connoisseurs on the trip, Betsy brought a French press -- from they were all raving about it, the coffee must have been pretty good!

OK, so this one probably needs some explanation.  ;) Ever smelled a Jeffrey Pine?  Their resin has a wonderful fragrance -- it's like the best butterscotch you've ever had!  Mom vowed she'd go to See's and buy butterscotch candy as soon as she got home.

At the top of Upper Yosemite Falls, 3,000' above the Valley Floor...right behind us.  (I set the self-timer on the camera and verrrry sloooowly walked over to join the rest of the group. Haha.)

Went down to the viewing area just above the top of the falls, where the water crashes over the edge. I was very careful. So was my camera.  We are both still alive.

A beautiful cascade by our campsite

There are a bunch more photos going up in the Facebook album.  :)  I'll post a link to it in this post soon!


- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
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