Work prevented really getting out last weekend but stuck to the goal and got out for a day drive up to Tuolumne Meadows today. Good adventure as we were not prepared for the very cold thunder storm that blew through while we were a mile away from cover. Nice lightning storm and nice adventure (once we were back in the car and Lani was freezing any more.
A few mediocre photos.
Spoiler:
A quick stop for the obligatory Half Dome viewing. While sitting here taking this picture a woman was completely misunderstanding the scale of things and suggesting they just walk down to the valley floor and back up. I was about to pipe up to make sure they were actually aware of how far that would be when her friend vetoed the idea. Hopefully they didn't change their mind later.
A crappy washed out photo, but the meadows were beautiful as always and the deer, marmots, and squirrels were plentiful. At this point we were enjoying the lightning and thunder going by to the east. Little did we know that it was about to turn towards us, with us having no more protection than shorts and t-shirts.
Lembert Dome at the start of our hike. Note the distinct lack of waterfalls.
Lembert Dome about 75 minutes later. Note what is no longer a distinct lack of waterfalls. And this was while we were at Parson's Lodge and about to decide to go ahead and walk back to the car because it wasn't raining that hard. Soon it was raining very hard indeed and I'd guess the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees from the low '70s.
Finally back to the car, which was holding icy evidence of what we'd just trudged through for the last 0.75 mile or so. Not far at all, until you're freezing in hail while trying to use an armpit as the only source of cover for one's camera.