Folks..meet Karen of Crane Creek, El Portal, Yosemite National Park. In fact, given that the population of El Portal is....wait for it...635, I was wondering, why not rename Crane Creek as Karen Creek? :) I had met Karen when Uma , a fellow NTP member, introduced me to her when we went birding in Nandi Hills Here's more info about them . On Saturday May 30th, yathin decided...

While talking about human beings at Yosemite I completely forgot to talk about the fact that Yosemite seems a very popular spot to get married in! Just like my post about photo shoots in Forest Park, we saw this beautiful bride having a photo shoot while we were walking: The photographer's assistant was helping her bridal veil (like the falls nearby !) to float out in the wind.... ...

...El Portal! Here's the wonderful Tioga Pass Resort (popularly called TPR) where we had a really superb lunch, and took some pie for the Amstutz girls... Some of the signboards in Yosemite: Here's a rushing stream, and a notice that says what it's being used for... The implication seems to be, if it's NOT drinking water for humans, it's OK to...

...clear water in Lee Vining creek The road to Lee Vining Half Dome from Lee Vining Colours of the salty water in Mono Lake Mist on the mountain Yosemite Falls El Capitan and Half Dome North Dome and Basket Dome Half Dome through the pines Rains beyond Lee Vining Grassland sunset near San Jose Tufa formations...

Thanks to Karen, I was able to id some of the wildflowers that grow in the Yosemite Park; they were so varied in colour, shape and size! On Tenaya Lake, I loved the pattern this fallen tree-trunk made: Karen showed me this SNOW PLANT : This is called the SPICE FLOWER: This one, blooming at the beginning of summer, has a beautiful, slightly melancholy name...FAREWELL...

The creatures of Yosemite are varied in size and appearance, and we got to see very few of them; but what we did see was fascinating! Let this squirrel welcome you to this post... The MARMOT is a pretty common rodent on the granite slopes; still, it was the first time I was sighting one, and we all watched eagerly. Close up, there is quite a resemblance to the Beaver: They...

...I should do a day-by-day account of the trip, but then decided that it won't be easy...I would probably mix up everything and give wrong information as usual...so here are some of the creatures of Yosemite... The birds, of course, were far more in number than the mammals; and the only butterfly I could actually look at and photograph was the California Tortoiseshell; there was a perfect wave of...