Day 22 5/16
Today it cleared slightly and the sun actually peaked out a bit. I was out for my sunrise photo walk when I saw all this mist rising. I decided that instead I would go to tunnel view and photograph the valley because many of the famous photos of the valley include mist and are from that view. Even though the sun had yet to be visible from the valley floor it was above the horizon at the overlook. It posed some problems with trying to get the photo I wanted but I managed to get some cool ones. I also got some cool ones of the snow covered trees. After that I went back to bed for awhile then spent much of the day working on preparing my photo print order including photos of this trip. I then went out for an evening hike but unfortunately it was cloudy again although most of the snow had melted. I then did more computer work in the car sheltered from the rain before going to bed early.
Day 23 5/17
Today started out normal but boy did that change. I got up and broke camp as I was going to move to a new campground for the last two nights before heading home. I ate, took a photo walk, checked road conditions at the visiter center(the ones I needed where open), then went to the wifi spot to make my photo print order. Making the order took forever because I had a lot of photos to upload and a slow internet connection. Finally I finished and took the shuttle back to my car and started off. Then they day went wild. I couldn't get to my campground because I needed chains to go on that road, Lise didn't want me to drive if I needed chains so I didn't bring any. I made some quick decisions and turned around and was planning on spending one more night in Yosemite valley then leave for home a day early. I remade camp but as minimally as possible so it would be easy to pack in the morning. After some more internet/photo work I watched a movie then went to bed. During the night it started to snow. It had snowed a few days earlier but my tent had been under a tree and was fine but this time it practically collapsed so at around 2:30am I packed up and sleet the few remaining hours of night in the car. I didn't want to drive in the snow in the dark and wanted to see if there were nice photos to be had in the morning. So I don't know when to transition to the next days journal so these two will be combined. My alarm went off at 5:45 just before sunrise. I got up got my hiking shoes on and stepped outside. Everything was snowy but even worse slushy. There were quite a few inches of snow/slush on the ground and many puddles. It was very beautiful so I started driving out of the valley intoning to stop at tunnel view and make some photos. I stopped a few times for photos but then ran into a sign saying that I needed chains to go up to tunnel view. Upset that my wonderful snowy sunrise valley photo with mist was ruined I drove through the valley stopping to photograph regularly. On a side note these three peaks, the three brothers, were beautifully lit but I couldn't find a good view of them :( I then stopped to see if the visiter center was open yet, around 7am, to check on road conditions before I tried to drive out of the valley. It was closed but I drove down the road a little to where there is a sign saying what roads out of the valley are in what conditions, It said that all the roads required chains. That really bummed me out so I went back and parked and will now go check out the visiter center when it opens, 9am, and see when the road will open. I am hoping it will be later today after they have time to plow and the sun comes out otherwhys I don't know what my plan will be. Well in the time it took for the visitor center to open the nain road out of the valley opened so now I am on my way.
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