Re: Merced Lake - April 6, 2013 - in 3D

April 6 is a special day for me.



Took a zillion photos and a zillion photosynths on our way to and fro Emeric Lake.
Snowed a wee bit.... into my tent... blew so hard the wifey bailed on the hammock
one night... well mainly b/c the underblanket was filling up with snow.
Anywho. Haven't done much on the photos yet... just RPP and the one above...

Was inspired by chief to do a 3D bridge... Here's Emerald Pool bridge with my darling on it:


Merced Lake unfrozen is pretty crazy for right now.
Unlike this:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,33643,33643#msg-33643

Going thru a zillion photos...

Peace

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I'm recovering from a hernia surgery or I'd be up on this trip right about now as well (kind of an annual thing for me). Sweet! Can't wait to see your pictures. (I rarely make it to Emeric day hiking from Echo Valley or Merced Lake.)

I've read in a few places the snowpack is concentrated above 8k elevation (where it's supposedly at around 70% of normal) but below that tails off rapidly. It's kinda shocking to see it like that at 7k elevation this early.

Thanks for the pics!

Got to use my glasses! Great pics...the bridge, though, really illustrates the 3D effect

One thing I love is to see the difference.... a day makes:

Babcock Dome on Sunday on our way to Emeric:


Hiking back out on Monday:


Still playing with the photosynths...

Gonna take awhile...

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Thanks for the photos. Those 3D ones really pop out. Great job you did on those.

Took far too many photos... (thanks peter... it's your fault)

A Photosynth pre-storm of Emeric/Fletcher Confluence:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=be2d680d-a726-412b-8c6c-6c3625b1c38a

A Photosynth post-storm of Emeric/Fletcher Confluence:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=ff91cfa3-2be2-4949-8df3-bac2f86f41ee

Pre-storm 360 view of Emeric Lake and Fletcher Mdw/Creek:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=bfa43efc-b82c-4025-8907-96d086086fb5

Fletcher Creek/Meadow post-storm:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=c0943dd5-5f76-4bb4-862c-285f6d1b1a25

Enjoy

Did about 20 others...

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chick-on,
What kind of snow shoes is wifey wearing? They look really narrow.

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tomdisco
chick-on,
What kind of snow shoes is wifey wearing? They look really narrow.

Those are womens MSR Lightning Ascents. The womens shoes are indeed much narrower than the mens.

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Pretty cool, thanks for posting these! (saw the 3Ds,have to upgrade Silverlight before Firefox will tell me its safe to see the Photysynths...)

Did you make it to Tuolumne Meadows, or circle around the Cathedral Range?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2013 07:55PM by ttilley.

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ttilley
Did you make it to Tuolumne Meadows, or circle around the Cathedral Range?

Never planned to go to Tuolumne. Did have it in mind to go to Bernice... but instead went
to Emeric b/c had ulterior motive of climbing Babcock Dome (didn't happen due to
desire to not get flippers wet) and z wifie had never been there... and knew that a storm
that was gonna be windy was forecast... and also hiking uphill carrying snowshoes is
a whole lot easier than with them on your feet... so up to Emeric crossing Fletcher and Emeric
at the confluence... camp at Emeric and back out and around... or simply:
Day 1 up Mist to Echo and climb "Merced Dome"
Day 2 up to Emeric and climb "Emeric Dome"
Day 3 back out to Bunnell Pt. Valley
Day 4 down Mist and home

Another of Babcock Dome... the snow doesn't stick long...




Plenty of snow up high... but you need to go pretty high... pretty darn high...

Merced River Canyon never disappoints... Mentioned it a few times before... if had to do "groundhog day" hike... it's one I could do...
Even gone so far as saying the hike up to Merced Lake trumps some other big rock hike.

It's always better in person... it's almost sensory overload...

Have fun

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chick-on

Even gone so far as saying the hike up to Merced Lake trumps some other big rock hike.

Better than Clouds Rest? No?!

Quote
chicagocwright

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chick-on

Even gone so far as saying the hike up to Merced Lake trumps some other big rock hike.

Better than Clouds Rest? No?!

As far as pure scenery on the entire hike... definitely... especially Clouds from Tenaya.
But that doesn't necessarily take anything away from Clouds or make it less
spectacular. It just means there's a lot of spectacular in the park.
If you want I can zip up a photo set walking along the Merced on this trip to give you
an idea. Of course if you haven't you need to experience it for yourself if possible.
It's always nice... but with the amount of water flowing now it's really nice.

Have fun

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Lots of spectacular indeed!

Love the two season pictures (or in some cases two day pictures)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2013 02:21PM by chicagocwright.

One more of Sunday / Monday comparision:

Sunday


Monday


Half Dome Fun (it's in the top one)

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Silverlight's updated...the Photosynths look cool as well. For early April, that's really not much snow for those altitudes.

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ttilley
Silverlight's updated...the Photosynths look cool as well. For early April, that's really not much snow for those altitudes.

Or really not any... I keep reading people posting 7000. Huh? Perhaps they haven't actually gone out there?

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Comparison shot of Emeric area:

Emeric in August:


Emeric now:

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Very cool. I see you even had a nice little pool of water on top of Emeric dome in case you got thirsty! Thanks for the report.

Ok... who has a recommendation for a set of 3d glasses? I want to see these photosynths!

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Implicated
Ok... who has a recommendation for a set of 3d glasses? I want to see these photosynths!

For 3D glasses just search on Amazon. Any Anaglyph glasses will do. 5 bucks. Done.
Once you have them search on this site for 3D, Anaglyph, and the such. There's a bunch.
Some crappy ones by me. Some decent by me. And some incredible ones by Calaveras.
(you can search by Author to find his)

The photosynth you just need a web browser with silverlight installed. These photosynths
are amazing. For whatever reason people are not viewing them. They are simply missing out.
Not much else to say other than when I look and after a month see a total of 50 views on one...
I just make them for myself to enjoy and don't share them. (just being honest)

Have fun

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eeek
Red-blue / Cyan Anaglyph Simple style 3D Glasses

Mine just came and work great.

Is April 6 your birthday? Happy Birthday, if so.

Thank u kind sir

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That was a pretty good dump. Looks heavy and wet? Glad that you rode it out snug in your tent. Always beautiful the day after...except, dang, now you've got to hike out!

Another great thing about this trip is the lack of technical terrain, even in snow, except maybe a short section on the switchbacks around Bunnell Point, if I have that right. (I'm terrible with names). You know, the switchbacks just up from the two bridge crossing of the Merced. But actually fresh snow, if it snowed down that low, would probably be safer than the usual ice through this stretch.

I agree that the whole trip is scenically poweful. The views just keep opening up. And now is the best time for this trip, imo, because very few people are there; but more importantly, because of the cascading water, the snow up high all around, plus good weather if you're lucky. Great stuff.

do you think that my Marmot Hydrogen 15 degree bag would handle the night that you had at Emeric? With a down jacket and layers, in a tent?

Thanks for letting me do this trip vicariously!

It was really light and fluffy up above. If you look at the one Photosynth with the wifie in it...
and look to the east / left of her... you can see the waves of snow up on the mountain a bit.
Once we got back down to Merced Lake the snowshoes came off and it was
sticky and wet. A whole bunch of waterfalls cascaded down the cliffs.... literally appearing
overnight. Very neat.

We talked about the Bunnell switchers before. They can get nasty. We avoided them
completely 2 years ago... last year... like this... the Bunnell Avalanche was non-existent too.
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,52855,52855#msg-52855

The photosynth I'm talking about with the waves of snow is here:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=c0943dd5-5f76-4bb4-862c-285f6d1b1a25

Took a bunch more... here's Lost Valley complete with THE Bunnell Cascade:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=1a7f7307-2523-4c02-992e-9b53647fa565

And one more with Little Grizzly:
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=172c3275-7317-4b1d-baac-e099696b1557

As for sleepy bag... unless there is a big cold front flying thru then 15 bag is a plenty
with poofies imo. That's all we had. Toasty warm.

Have fun

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chick-on
Thank u kind sir

Yeah, Happy Birthday man. I like the comparison shot of Emeric! Last time I was in LYV I was hikng up along Merced river and thought about you and all the off trail adventures you've had back up river and day-dreamed of being that bird...then I went pack to steri-penning my nalgene..

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yosemitejim
Is April 6 your birthday? Happy Birthday, if so.

March 19 is more fun to celebrate.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2013 08:36PM by Ohnivy-Drak.

I just want to tell you that looking at your pictures gives me an almost painful yearning to get up on top of some dome, almost any dome, in the back country of Yosemite. I can't say "thanks" every time you post pictures, but rest assured that every time you do so I'm looking at them and I'm feeling extremely grateful.

A couple more before and after for fun:

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