Early Spring in Yosemite Valley

When  things get too busy, sometimes we feel like we need to get away for a few days – Spring break was the perfect excuse!  Judy and I found that it was possible to reserve a tent cabin in Yosemite Valley for 3 nights last week– and we jumped on it. This time of year – spring is just emerging in the valley – the crowds are small – and the waterfalls are at their peak.  There are still patches of snow – but new buds are emerging.  There are some trails that are just too hot  (and crowded) to enjoy in the summer time – but now they were a delight.

A brooding half dome - late evening - cloudy

Most all the people who stay in the unheated tents gather in the evenings  in the  rustic lounge.  There is a big warm fire in the stone fireplace, and plenty of comfortable chairs and couches.  It is conducive to starting conversations with strangers and making new friends.  Yosemite valley draws such an international group of visitors – It is a veritable gathering of world cultures…  It is a place to share Yosemite adventures and to learn about excursions yet untaken. 

Yosemite falls from "half way up"

I have explored most all the trails and byways of Yosemite Valley– but each visit brings surprises.  While Judy read a good book I set out on the first morning on a modest trek… The mighty Yosemite falls has two levels – there is a flat trail to the base of the lower falls and a moderate steep hike to the base of the larger falls.  The trail was cool and pleasant – there were Ravens calling and little brown birds that I couldn’t identify… there were quite a large number of millipedes more than 4 inches in length with rhythmic leg motions that ran the length of their bodies.  But was specially interesting to me was the emergence of new life in each small seep or meadow… the winter is past…

Base of Yosemite falls, ice mass, mist....

The trail is an engineering marvel in itself – with steps and inset granite stones marking all the difficult stretches… Probably this work goes back into the 1920’s…After a steep climb 2 hour climb there is a long traverse above the rocks to a corner that turns back toward the falls – and suddenly – there it is – A great free falling of water, hurling great clouds of mist into the air…

Ice mass at base of Yosemite Falls - composed on frozen mist.... See photo below to get a sense of the size!

 The freezing temperatures of winter have created a massive body of ice at the base of the falls.   The ice has collapsed under its own weight to form a pattern of concentric layers  This is a site to sit and meditate upon and not rush …  The sense of easy conversations continues on the trail.  It is amazing how much information it is possible to exchange in a 3 minute trail break!

Merced River in the last week of March

The next day Judy and I took a picnic and walked along the Merced River that flows the length  of the valley.  At one point the merger of the river and a side stream that flows away from the Yosemite falls trapped us.   The merger formed a magically peninsula – a place to remember and visit again.   On we wandered exploring parts of the river community that we had never seen before – There were sprouting meadows, oak forests home to races wood peckers (who had filled the tree trunks with storage holes for acorns), we encountered a beautiful  coyote in his winter coat and bushy tail – quite happy to coexist with people.

Route to the top of Yosemite falls ( I've done it twice - but not this year...)

This time of year the most spectacular aspect of Yosemite Valley is the constantly interplay of rock, light, falling water, and clouds.    Half dome, the lost needle, royal arches, the massive fallen boulders on the valley floor, Glacier Point, massive El Capitan… each  has its time of day… Light makes all the difference – Good photos are about light and shadows.

One of the great Yosemite meadows waiting to sprout green- perennial grasses

The waterfalls were quite good right now .  Some of the falls will be reduced to a trickle on a dry year like this. But enough of the upper snow pack is melting to maintain a good flow.  I have never seen ‘Ribbon Falls’ – its hard to see unless you are directly below – but I found a great vantage point across the valley – only problem is that it doesn’t really show the magnitude of the falls.  Vernal and Nevada falls were in full flow… passing over the many rocks of ‘Happy isles’ below.

Ribbon falls - from across the valley - this falls free practically the full depth of the valley...Note trees at bottom for scale...

There are fine groves of ‘big trees’ – "Sequoia Gigantia" – one grove had badly damaged by fire a few years back – other grove is quite inaccessible and requires a long hike- but this trip we learned about another grove near ‘White Wolf’ with a good trail (bit steep) that we will have to leave until next time.  There are always new adventures to discover in Yosemite.

The Valley was a favorite site for Native Americans before the arrival of Americans...

12 reasons why I love spring!

1.     The surprise of discovering the first swallows of Spring – wheeling and diving above the river.

Swallows

2.     Waking in the night to the pure notes of a Mockingbird inventing new tone patterns – I dont even mind being awakened for such a concert! (click on to open)

http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=4

3.     The overnight surprise of a new patch of California poppies suddenly in full bloom

California poppies

4.     Finding the first buds of springtime forming on my fig tree.

Fig tree bud

5.     Coming on to a field of wild turkeys - with the males on full display of their tail feathers!

native turkeys

6.      Seeing the great delight of my dogs when I announce that  we are going for a walk.

Rusty - Willy - Roxy

7.     The sounds of grebes on the lake having a night time conversation when they think they are all alone. ( Click on to open - then select sound recording)

 http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/western_grebe/sounds

Grebes

8.     Each spring flower in turn: first the pussy willows, then snow bells and forget me nots, the daffodils, then Tulips, and Iris, followed by Lilac, and the Peonies...Each in its season, then making way for what comes next.

9.     The first monarch butterfly driffing without effort in the gentle air.

manarch butterfly

10.Ripples of wind traveling through a field of ripe wild oats...(already headed and turning dry)

field of wild oats

11.At twilight the Pacific Tree frogs begin their song – so much sound from such a tiny frog!

Tree frog

12.Planting tomato plants with a mixture of hope and fear...It might still frost... the dogs may lie right in their midst!

Tomato seedling

How do I say what I mean?

Photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson - showing people in conversation

Thoughts are generated in the cerebral cortex of our brains and, if we choose to communicate the idea, it us routed to a part of the brain that translates pure thought into words (this depends on which language you choose to use); we also must select particular words that we think will most accurately express what we are thinking to this particular person or group.

Shocking Gossip!

 The sequence of words may be sent to the part of the brain that controls speech – and there the sequence of words is translated into muscle contractions of the larynx. (We have to force air out of our lungs to vibrate the larynx in form the words.)  But that’s not all – timing of the words and emotional emphasis must be conveyed with the words as well.

Regions of the external brain

Another option is for the sequence of words to be translated into finger muscle actions as we write with a pen or keyboard.  When you write do you find yourself selecting words to better explain your thought? This involves complex feedback with the cerebral cortex. Don’t forget the grammar system and syntax we choose to use to communicate in different settings. I have seen students that talk to their friends on break using “inner city slang” and then coming into class, they use “the Kings English” when they are in a classroom discussion.  Choices have been made...

Street conversation

Truly one of the most magical things on Earth is a conversation between people – a sharing of ideas from one brain to the other... passing through this complex process of speech!

Discussion between person in power with person lacking power

Words are often imperfect vehicles for communicating the ideas that we have in mind.  And the most serious problem with words in that many of them carry with them such “baggage” – that our original idea may get muddled by the different associations that people have with critical words.

Difference of opinion

The associations that we have are built by our history of experiences, the people that we admire; the lessons taught us by powerful people in our lives.  Once established, these associations are very persistent and slow to change.

Take a simple word like  “taxes” and it triggers powerful feelings.  Consider the words “ firearm background check” – and I suspect that is enough to make you want to share your opinion and perhaps defend your position.

We can filter out extraneous conversations to concentrate on the one of importance at the time!

In matters of faith many words have such powerful “baggage” that we may lose the original intent of the word.  For one person, the word “repent” means to tell your sins to the Priest and to receive absolution, for another it may mean to realize when I am engaged in unproductive things in your life and need to “turn around”. Sadly churches become separated from each other over the very issues that should draw us together.

Receiving a blessing

For some, our concept of God brings to mind a Physical Monarch Male located in a distant place.  Other well meaning Christians see God as a spirit whose presence is evident in all of creation. Some see God as being present in three manifestations.( Father, Son, Holy Ghost)

In schools the same disconnect often happens.  Does “to learn,” mean that the person has memorized the same words found in the text or lecture... or does "to learn" mean that the person understands the basic concept and can apply it in a variety of situations.  Whole school systems are built around one or the other concept.

Friends

Historically think how our response to the word ‘disease ‘has changed... is a sickness explained as a punishment for past sins, it is caused by exposure to night air or moon light, by evil spirits or witches in our midst, or it is caused by ‘germs’– and more precisely what kind of microorganism – virus, bacteria, fungus,  or prion... and what vector is involved in its transfer?  ... How about genetic information?

I haven't even mentioned  such words as Evolution, Gays and Lesbians, Guns, Marijuana, Middle School students, Welfare State, Immigration, Rap Music, MacDonald's food,  Racial groups, The Iraq War...  I suspect that each word triggers strong associations with most of us - and we are ready to defend our positions...

Language as a tool of repression

Our use of language is fraught with land mines when we attempt to communicate ideas that are important to us.  Each word we choose may set off a stream of thoughts and responses in “the other” far different from out intention. 

Language to teach children

The sad thing is that we each get locked into our positions and become ‘hell bent’ on depending our belief rather than seeking to understand the whole business of meaning – the influences that shaped each of us- and the incredible beauty of humans attempting to share meaning with each other.

Language between the boss and the worker

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What made us the way we are?

Did you ever wonder what the land your home is built on today was like 500 years ago ago during the time that Native Americans lived here? What kinds of vegetation existed?  What ecosystem of animals would live there?  There are few vestiges of “native land”  left in the San Francisco Bay area... Judging from tree ring evidence we can see that growth has been more or less constant for a very long time – a strong indication that temperature and moisture patterns have not varied greatly...  ( Some of the Sequoia trees show records of growth for well over 3000 years. ) 

Whittaker Biome Diagram

One of the startling scientific discoveries of this century is that climate patterns are amazingly consistent throughout the world.  If you know the annual temperature and moisture for a location, you can make a solid prediction about what the vegetation pattern will be.  All places on earth with an average annual temperature of 15C  (59F) and 200 cm (78  inches) of rain will have natural deciduous forests ( these are the trees that lose their leaves in the fall – Oaks, maples, walnuts etc. ).  Of course if humans have come along and cut all the trees down – then it may be farm land... but if the farms disappeared and the land was left to redevelop naturally – the deciduous forests would return.  While vegetation may be similar, it may be different species all well adapted to that climate zone. - Example: Cactuses have evolved in the Americas and Euphorbias are found in similar climates and look much like cactus - and they are found in Africa.

Limited water but frozen solid most of the year.
Such combinations produce Alpine and Tundra biomes.

In Fremont, where I live, the average rainfall is 38cm ( 14.85 inches) and  a year around average temperature is 15C ( 60F ) .  That means that our native plant population would evolve into a  pattern between grassland/desert and woodland... this would produce a scrub growth of coyote bush and other chaparrals plant growth.  Oakland, right on the bay and directly in line for prevailing Pacific storms, receives enough extra rain to "be a land of live oak trees... a temperate deciduous forest.  ( Which existed there before they were all cut down ). This year Fremont has received only 9 inches (23 cm.) if that period continued for a number of years we would evolve into a biome close to a desert...

Fremont Hills - Native scrub growth - Chaparral growing on our local hills

Of course the basic pattern may be modified or even dependent on such things as the regular occurrence of lightning fires or fires set by the native people, the timing of rain fall within the year, the angle of the sun in the sky...but all of these would produce relatively minor changes in the over-all pattern.

So the grasslands of the Pampas in Argentina, the South African Veldt, the Great planes of North America, the grasslands of Mongolia, the vast Hungarian Puszta grasslands, ... all of these have very similar patters of temperature and precipitation.

Taiga forest - low mountains adjacent to Pacific ocean

The conifer forests in Austria, Himalayas, Sierra Nevada, locations in Australia, the vast forests in Canada and Siberia... all fit the pattern of Taiga.

The fog zone along the Pacific coast: Thick taiga with mixed surface plants - temperate rain forest

Culturally during the great migrations into the Americas during the 19th and 20th century, European and Asian settlers tended to move to locations with a similar climate pattern to the one they left behind.  My grandparents from Central Bohemia felt right at home in the wheat lands of Kansas.

Is this Bohemia or Kansas?  Grasslands with wooded creek bottoms

All of this brings to mind the significant difference in Climate and Weather – daily patterns may be important to our affairs – but the kind of climate patterns we are talking about here are maintained consistent for large blocks of time.  There have been sudden periods of substantial climate change in the history of our earth – many of them can be related to unusual periods of volcanic activity that altered the composition of the atmosphere,or  meteorite or comet impacts on earth that also altered the atmosphere.  Some of these periods caused vast die offs of large groups of organisms.

Nevada desert  - enough water to support a variety of plants

What we face today is a "sudden" (since the start of the industrial revolution) release of carbon gases into the atmosphere due to human activity – We have all seen the tankers of oil, the ship loads of crude oil, the trains made up of hundreds of cars filled with coal, pipelines transporting natural gas... all of there carbon compounds to be burned and their gases released into our atmosphered... and this has been going on now for over 200 years (with the rate accelerating).  Our great earth has the ability to absorb many insults... but the carbon gases being released are changing our atmosphere and our weather pattern.

Some grasslands like this attempt to revert to forest - the ranchers must constantly "weed out" cedars attempting to grow in, and revert to forest.

When the average temperature of the earth is changed by even a small amount per year... it causes weather patterns to alter.   Changing climate patterns also cause change in the location and intensity of storms, precipitation, and ice packs.    Some places that were once grasslands would morph into deserts.  A woodland area may change into scrub growth, a temperate rain forest may become able to sustain tropical rain forest vegetation.  The major wheat producing areas may be moved further north into Canada and Siberia (but that depends on the rain they receive.)

The land of minimal water ( and high mineral soil) true desert

Take care of your Mother Earth...She has been good to you...

RECOMMENDED READ: CHANGING VEGETATION & CLIMATE CHANGE: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/06/04/climate/

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