Brian Swale wrote:
>Classic Adams sites such as Half Dome, El Capitan etc are placed in
>perspective in relation to the surrounding landscape, and surprise, surprise,
>with the slight exception of Half Dome, they hardly poke above the general
>level.
>
>
No surprise here. Yosemite Valley is just that, a gorge cut into higher
ground. From below, the often sheer sides are very impressive. From
above and far enough back to not see the drop into the valley, features
like El Capitan just look like the upper part of one of the many dome
shaped structures in the area. It's easy enough to get to the South rim
except in the winter. The North rim is an easy hike from the road, again
when there isn't too much snow. In either case, the landscape isn't
particularly remarkable, for this area - until the valley comes into
view. Then the drop is if anything more impressive from above.
If you take the Tioga pass road around to the North of the valley, there
are places where you look down on the upper valley, including Half Dome.
It's still an impressive shape, but not nearly as imposing from above
and away. Anyway, most of the valley features are not all that
impressive individually, compared to other, nearby things, It's their
close proximity to each other in one beautiful valley that is astonishing.
Some flights East out of SFO and Oakland fly right over the valley - and
you can't see a thing. Others pass just to one side and if you are on
the correct side of the plane, give wonderful views that are still
impressive, but put the valley into perspective, where it seems rather
small.
>The huge landscape above is characterised by extreme barren-ness. Smooth
>rock surfaces and no soil..
>
This is characteristic of much of the Southern Sierra Nevada range,
starting about at the North end of Yosemite Park and ending at Mt.
Whitney. The wide open vistas with no real trees are one of the reasons
Muir called it the "Range of Light". It gets more and more that way as
you go South and the elevations increase.
>I do not know the geological background, or the
>rock types, but I'd take a guess at the rock being something very hard such
>as granite, (but some columnar rock sites give the lie to that assertion) so
>that an extremely long time is needed for soil to form through normal erosion
>processes.
>
Yes, the area is mostly granite, a lot of it in dome formations. It
breaks down through exfoliaton of layers. Those rather large pieces
slowly break down into sand. Because the whole area gets a deep snow
cover in winter and is mostly hard, nonporous rock, once most of the
potential new soil constituents get small and light enough, they get
washed away in the spring thaw. There are certainly some columnar rock
formations in the range, although I don't remember any near Yosemite
Valley. The most impressive are at the Devil's Postpile some way South,
where you can both see tall exposed portions and walk around on the top,
which is like a floor of large, hexagonal tiles.
Funny thing, to get into the DP park, you actually drive over the crest
at a very low, easy point. This was never a travel route because one
soon comes to the precipitous valley of the middle fork of the San
Joaquin River, which is impassable.
>Secondly, if looks as though the area was covered by a moving
>ice sheet within maybe the last 50,000 years, and anything not araldited into
>place was shifted a long way..
>
>
The whole landscape was formed by glacial action. There are glacial
cirques and moraines all over the place.
>A hostile environment up there, most times, I'd guess.
>
>
Well, really rather nice from late spring to early fall. Not much rain,
some thundershowers, but nothing lengthy, and reasonable temperatures,
not much wind except on the peaks or exposed passes. I used to backpack
into this country every year. Mostly into the Southern Sierra, which are
higher, with passes to hike over that are higher than the peaks around
Y. Valley. I spent the US bicentennial on the Sierra crest a bit North
of the valley.
Here's a place where I've been a couple of times
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/MPhotos/PioneerL.htm>. Absolutely
stunning. Google Earth doesn't have the resolution I would like over
this area, but gives an aerial view. there is even a bit of 3D effect in
Y. Valley and some other parts, like around Mt. Morrison. The area where
the above was taken is 37° 28' 51.07" N, 118° 50' 11.28" W, looking
South across Pioneer Lakes Basin into Third and Fourth Recesses..
Moose
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