Podcasts about Glacier Point

https://slasrpodcast.com/     SLASRPodcast@gmail.com  Welcome to the Sounds Like a Search and Rescue Podcast! Also known as SLASR. Join an experienced search and rescue volunteer and his friend as they discuss all things related to hiking and search and rescue in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This week we revisit a recent backpacking trip to Yosemite National Park. Thinking about planning a trip to Yosemite and need some ideas for an itinerary? We have you covered as this episode will review our travels throughout Yosemite including Camping outside of Glacier Point, Views of Mount Starr King, Illilouette Falls, The Panoramic Trail, Nevada Falls, Little Yosemite Campground, Half Dome, the Mist Trail, Curry Village and we even saw a Black bear munching grubs by the side of the road surrounded by tourists. All this plus Ben Pease from the Hiking Buddies joins us for an update on all things Hiking buddies, more car break ins, contingency plans in case one of the hosts dies and we need to hire a replacement, Geysers, fake drowning, hiking drama in the grand canyon, and search and rescues all come at the same time in the Whites this week - rescues on Avalon Trail, Jewel Trail, Mt Cube and Monadnock This weeks Higher Summit Forecast   Window Cling Order Form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScAWSpyB3_6IbQF84DaSkJ1KdlUzQkY6DDNM2S-8axYK98NyQ/viewform    Topics Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies - Tip of the week Half Dome Recap Mel and Floki - Car Break In  SLASR Succession plans Random Outdoor News - Geysers, Moose, Bears,  Reklis Event - November 11th Kayaker fakes drowning to avoid court Climber accident in Austria New Ultralight Gear company - Near Zero Vote for a SAR team to win an SUV Pop Culture News - Black Bird / Vuelta Espana Recent Hikes - Stomp on Mount Orange Segment of the week - Yosemite National Park Recent Search and Rescue news   Show Notes Apple Podcast link for 5 star reviews SLASR Merchandise SLASR LinkTree Jen's Friends Climb Against Cancer Fundraiser  Reminder - Taylor James Steeves Summit Challenge starts on September 15th Mel and Floki Go Fund Me What makes a great Geyser, and is Old Faithful the best? hiker trampled by Moose Bear family taking out trail cams Grizzly bears stalk hikers in Canada kayaker fakes drowning to avoid criminal charges. British Tourist Falls 300 Feet on Austrian Mountain Ladder  New UL Gear Company - Near Zero  Vote for a new vehicle for one of 5 search and rescue teams  Yosemite History  Chinese Workers John Muir  Ansel Adams Thomas Starr King California Conservation Corps Trail Crew Day 2 - Mono Meadow to Illilouette Basin  Day 3 - IllIlouette Basin to Little Yosemite Backpacker Camp via Mono Meadow, Glacier Point, Panorama Trail and Nevada Falls Day 4 - Half Dome Hike Day 5 - Down the Mist Trail to the Valley Hiker dies, attempting Grand Canyon rim to rim.. injured hiker left alone by group in Grand Canyon Injured hiker carried down avalon Tral ; Injured hiker rides the Cog Injured hiker assisted off Mt. Cube Seriously injured hiker rescued Mt. Monadnock   Sponsors and Partners Mount Washington Higher Summits Forecast Hiking Buddies  Vaucluse - Sweat less. Explore more. – Vaucluse Gear

In Yosemite, for thousands of years before the discovery of gold, Native Americans traveled through and inhabited the area that the Sierra Nevada's melting snow spills dramatically over rocky cliffs on the walls into the Valley. Waterfalls that sit over three thousand feet above its floor. The treasures the park holds are unduplicated, each wonder differing from the next, each overwhelmingly spectacular.   From 1850 to 1851 Native Americans and Euro-American miners in the area were at war, the Mariposa War. Some Euro-American men had formed a militia known as the Mariposa Battalion. Their purpose - drive the native Ahwahneechee people onto reservations. The Mariposa Battalion were the first non-natives to enter Yosemite. When this war ended, Yosemite was then open to settlement and speculation.    Today we are going to talk about Jennie Curry, half of the curry couple who founded Camp Curry in Yosemite, and the history of the Yosemite Firefall.  Season 3 features inspiring, gallant, even audacious stories of REAL 19th Century women from the Wild West.  Stories that contain adult content, including violence which may be disturbing to some listeners, or secondhand listeners. So, discretion is advised. I am Andrea Anderson and this is Queens of the Mines, Season Three.  Between 1855 and 1864, the Yosemite Valley had 653 visitors.After the completion of stage roads into the valley,  the number rose to 2,700 visitors annually within its first decade.  Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant on June 30, 1864 and Yosemite Valley was placed under the protection of the state of California. The act preserved the valley for public use and recreation for all time. Some of the earliest visitors were artists, authors, painters, illustrators and photographers who came to publicize the Valley. Hotels were built and stagecoach companies started bringing tourists on the long journey in. Six years later, James McCauley, an Irish sailor and miner, arrived in Yosemite Valley. McCauley took a job in a sawmill, working alongside John Muir. McCauley soon built a horse trail from the base of Sentinel Rock up to Glacier Point. It was over a four-mile route which climbed 3,200 feet. At Glacier Point, he built a small shack which he named the Mountain House. McCauley charged a toll for the trail and the Mountain House provided concessions and lodging to its travelers. One night in 1872, McCauley and his school-aged sons kicked a campfire over the ledge at Glacier Point. The act quite literally sparked the idea of a money-making venture. A firefall. They would collect a fee from tourists in the valley during the day to build a modest fire and push it off the cliff that night. He experimented with versions of fireworks that he lowered on wires from Overhanging Rock nearby. The attempts seemed comparatively insignificant from the Valley floor. Finally he returned to the idea of pushing over the embers.  McCauley bought both of his 8 year old boys' mules and the young McCauley twins attended school by riding them down the Four Mile Trail to the Valley. It took ninety minutes.  While in the valley, they would collect $1.50 from tourists who wanted to see a Firefall, and then would ride the trail back up to Glacier Point, with a pack mule, packing wood and carrying the provisions for the hotel. On the Fourth of July, a collection often amounted to ten or twenty dollars. Busy days like that required hauling wood up for at least two days.  McCauley soon leased Mountain House to others to manage, that was when the state of California took possession of all Yosemite claims in 1874. In 1880, he leased Mountain House back from the state. Fifteen years later, the facility was described as “almost uninhabitable”. The couple was evicted by the state in 1897 for failure to maintain.  McCauley was killed accidently in an accident with a runaway horse, and the firefalls stopped. For years they were almost forgotten.  In 1899, David and Jennie Etta Curry and their children took the wild ride down the old Coulterville Road with Driver Eddie Webb, to their new home in Yosemite Valley. Both had studied under Dr. David Starr Jordan at Indiana University, where they had both graduated from in 1883. It was unusual at the time for a woman to be a college graduate. Back east, both were Hoosier school teachers. The Curry's had a unique love for nature. Their previous work involved taking parties through Yellowstone with a movable camp.  David and Jennie saw an opportunity. They received permission from the Guardian of the Valley, which was the state park at the time, to use the site of its camp. With seven tents, they opened a family campground at the base of Glacier Point, and they called Camp Curry.  It is wild if you think about it, furnishing a business in a location like that, before means of modern transportation. Bare tents, burlap for the floors, mattresses, bed springs on wooden legs, clean bedding, chairs, and tables were brought in by wagon from Merced, which was one hundred miles away. Oilcloth covered cracker boxes' that were used for wash stands.  There was a dining tent that seated twenty people. Camp Curry opened in June of 1899, charging $2 per night. The first affordable accommodation in the Park. Accommodations at the Sentinel Hotel were $4 a night.  She was fondly known throughout the Valley as "Mother Curry". The power behind the throne. Her personality would truly contribute to their success.  She was big in mind, soul and body and interested in people and in life. Of course, women's domestic skills were highly valued in the West, but like many pioneering women, Jennie had to find a way to broaden the roles beyond the Cult of True Womanhood, as mentioned in the book and previous episodes.  Jennie helped plan additional guest services, made the beds, and packed the box lunches for adventurers. She would say that she had done every job around camp, from  baking dozens of pies or loaves of bread to making lye soap from wood-ashes in a huge open kettle. All but the duties of the porter. The Curry's in fact, did do all of the work around camp. With the exception of one paid employee, the cook and two or three students from Stanford, who worked for a designated time in exchange for a week's room and board.  During the first season, the camp expanded to twenty-five tents, with almost 300 guests in the season, of the 4,500 people who visited Yosemite Valley that year. Many of the guests came from Curry's educational network. It was a pretty good start. The crowds predicted Camp Curry would fail. It was cold, and isolated.  The Curry's were determined. They had ideas. The memory of the firefall was eventually brought up, and Mr. Curry decided to revive the tradition on holidays, or when prominent guests were in the Valley. Men would gather wood on the Ledge Trail, and build a 12 foot wide, four foot tall mound of firewood. At four, they would light the fire, allowing the pile to burn down until it was a hill of glowing embers, for 5 hours until 9 o clock. Nine o'clock in Yosemite meant Fire Fall. It was an unwritten law that everything and everyone in the valley STOPPED at 9pm.  David Curry would cup his hands to his mouth, raise his face toward Glacier Point and bellow: “Hello, Glacier Point!” without the aid of a sound system or even a megaphone. This is how Mr. Curry earned the nickname “The Stentor.” Stentor was that famous Greek of antiquity who could command 10,000 troops without a megaphone." The fire tender at the point would reply: “Hello, Camp Curry!” The rest of the exchange followed: “Is the fire ready?” “The fire is ready!” followed by Curry's roaring command “Let ‘er go Gallagher!” “Let the fire fall!” “THE FIRE-ER IS-SSS FALLING!” I am guessing that Gallagher was the regular fire tender. The two men at the top, using extra long-handled wide steel rakes, would alternate strokes to maintain a steady stream of cinders, plunging over the cliffs, to their resting place on a ledge 1,700 feet below. It was a skill. It took practice to be able to push blazing hot coals for an extended period of time, over a cliff in a steady stream down the granite wall. Simulating a continuously flowing waterfall. It was a blazing stream of thousands and thousands  of individually discernible red and gold sparks floating down the cliff in complete silence, the sparks flying away like shooting stars. Fifteen minutes later, the fall would grow smaller until it became a mere thread of gold which drew the curtain of night, before darkness descends.  Break The railroad reaching El Portal in 1907 made travel to the gold rush in California much more accessible. For the park, it skyrocketed the ability of making improvements in equipment and efficiency. Jennie no longer needed to bring in furniture, food, in fact everything by wagon from Merced. The train ended only fifteen miles away, and the road there was easy. She was able to raise the comfort level of the camp for her ever increasing number of guests with better kitchen equipment, dressers, bed frames and rugs.  The firefall continued each night and held 20 minutes of enchantment, where thousands of onlookers felt something in common for that short period of time. Yosemite's grandeur was on full display, how unspeakably tall were its cliffs and how quiet its forest. The act, performed every night for many years, etched the surface of the granite, leaving a 1000 ft white strip.  From 1913 to 1916 the Yosemite Firefall tradition was halted by the park service over a disagreement between David Curry and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior. David Curry  died in 1917, just before the Firefall was reinstated. Jennie, with the help of her children, carried on with running and expanding Camp Curry, on lease from the government. The tradition carried on for decades, the song “Indian Love Call,” popularized by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the 1936 film “Rose Marie,” was eventually performed while the fire cascaded down the rock face. So much for the silence I guess. The firefall was halted during World War II, when park facilities were used by the military. Jennie Curry died in October of 1948. The original purpose of the fire fall was to draw visitors to the park. Five years after Jennie's death, Yosemite received 1 million visitors for the first time.  In 1960, President John F. Kennedy visited Yosemite and was, according to various sources, either held up by an important phone call or was still eating his dinner at 9 p.m. The firefall was held for half an hour so he could see it — much to the displeasure of the rest of the visitors.  By 1965, annual visitation had reached 2 million.  The firefall continued on for nearly two-thirds of the 20th century, the firefall occurred each summer night. Luckily, it  never caused any forest fires, but other environmental impacts were mounting: Thousands of visitors were tramping through the meadows, driving their cars off the park roads, trying to get the best view, leaving litter everywhere. There were  thefts from the hotels and campgrounds, when visitors would be absent or distracted and lastly, nearly every dead red fir tree accessible by road had been stripped of its bark for use as fuel. Rangers worked late nights untangling traffic jams, while idling vehicles spit out exhaust into the park. There were simply too many people. The park canceled the firefall. About 50 people gathered to mark the end of the tradition, on Jan. 25, 1968. 55 years ago from the recording of this episode.   Although the Glacier Point firefall is a thing of the past, a natural, even more awe-inspiring, phenomenon that goes by the same name at Horsetail Falls remains. The organic illusion appears for a few weeks each February. Light from the setting sun hits the eastside of El Capitan at Horsetail Falls at a precise angle seems to be molten lava rushing  1,570 feet to the valley floor, creating a natural "firefall."  Ansel Adams captured it on film for the first time, in 1940.  The natural Yosemite Firefall can be finicky. Several factors must converge to trigger the Firefall to glow. First, there has to be an adequate amount of snowpack for Horsetail Falls to be flowing and the temperatures must be warm enough to melt the snow. The sky also needs to be clear at sunset. If conditions are cloudy the sun's rays will be blocked, and Horsetail Fall will not light up. If everything comes together and conditions are just right, the Yosemite Firefall will light up for about ten minutes. To see Horsetail Fall glowing blood red is an almost supernatural experience. The sun hits Yosemite Valley at roughly the same angle in October, but the lack of runoff prevents the same phenomenon.    The discovery of Horsetail Falls is not well documented. There is no doubt that the Awahneechee Indians who lived in Yosemite Valley for hundreds of years, most likely knew of its existence, but there is no evidence that they passed the knowledge to the white settlers. Love that.  Makes perfect sense.  The local lore of “elmer”  is linked to the Fire Falls. In the 1930's, a child by the name of Elmer would drift off with his friends or something to their own place to watch the Firefall and every night. It was a common thing in Yosemite to hear after the Firefall, his mother calling him back to camp: EL-MER- EL-MER- EL-MER.   It all leads me to wonder, what is the most spectacular thing i nature that you have ever seen?       

We start the show discussing another fight on a school campus. The fight took place at Glacier Point, in the Central Unified School District.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Central Unified School District School Board is considering adding resource officers to Glacier Point, El Capitan and Rio Vista middle schools at a cost of $333k. The 2022-23 fiscal year budget proposal presented by Fresno Mayor, Jerry Dyer, does not include funding for Advance Peace despite previous support by the city council. A Michael Jordan rookie card sold at a Christie's auction for a record breaking $1million. The manager of a Shell station in northern CA that was responsible for mispricing gasoline to 69 cents per gallon has been fired after he cost the store $16k.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Central Unified School District School Board is considering adding resource officers to Glacier Point, El Capitan and Rio Vista middle schools at a cost of $333k. The 2022-23 fiscal year budget proposal presented by Fresno Mayor, Jerry Dyer, does not include funding for Advance Peace despite previous support by the city council. A Michael Jordan rookie card sold at a Christie's auction for a record breaking $1million. The manager of a Shell station in northern CA that was responsible for mispricing gasoline to 69 cents per gallon has been fired after he cost the store $16k.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart   Support The Daily Gardener Buy Me A Coffee    Connect for FREE! The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community   Historical Events 1619 Birth of Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. In 1660, Jan planted a hedge, now known as Van Riebeeck's Hedge, to mark the border of the Dutch East India Company settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. The hedge was made up of native wild almond trees (Brabejum stellatifolium). Today, parts of the hedge still live in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden and Bishopscourt. The Van Riebeeck Hedge is not considered a National Monument in South Africa.   1752 Birth of Humphry Repton (no ‘e' in Humphry!), English landscape designer. Humphry was trained and molded by the great Capability Brown. Yet as he matured, Humphry began to forge his own path in his approach to design and led a transformation of English gardens that was all his own. He designed over 400 gardens, and his picturesque landscapes are known for their gently rolling vistas, attractive clumps of trees, terraces, and homes nestled in amongst shrubs and foliage. Humphry wanted landscapes to bring out “the natural beauty” and minimize “the natural defects.”  Like many successful modern landscape designers, Humphry put a great deal of energy into planning his designs. He painstakingly created these gorgeous red leather portfolios for his clients.  His red books, as he called them, showcased his design ideas. Humphry's clients could see his pastoral watercolors depicting the current state of their property. Then they would lift a flap of paper and see what their property would look like after Humphry improved it. It was a kind of popup book for their property. Today Humphry's red books are regarded as impressive works of art - and many have been preserved in public and private collections.  Humphry Repton coined the term landscape gardener.  He had the term carved into his pinebark business cards. In 1818, Humphry died, and per his request, he was buried in a rose garden. Humphry used these words for his epitaph: Unmixed with others shall my dust remain; But moldering, blended, melting into earth, Mine shall give form and color to the rose. And while its vivid blossoms cheer mankind, Its perfumed odor shall ascend to Heaven.   1816 Birth of Charlotte Brontë, English novelist, and poet. Charlotte was the oldest of the three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë) who survived into adulthood. Their novels became classics of English literature. The sisters published their first collaborative work called Poems under the pseudonym of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.  They wanted to hide their gender to help sales, so the sisters kept the first letter of their first names: Charlotte was Currer, Emily was Ellis, and Anne was Acton. Still, only two copies of Poems were sold. Emma Emmerson wrote a piece called The Brontë Garden. In it, she revealed: The Brontës were not ardent gardeners, although… Emily and Anne treasured their currant bushes as ‘their own bit of fruit garden'. While they may not have been avid gardeners, they knew enough about growing flowers for Charlotte to write: Emily wishes to know if the Sicilian Pea (Pisum sativum)and the Crimson cornflower are hardy flowers, or if they are delicate and should be sown in warm and sheltered situations. In her writing, Charlotte could be a little glum about flowers. In Villette (1853), Charlotte wrote, I like to see flowers growing, but when they are gathered, they cease to please. I look on them as things rootless and perishable; their likeness to life makes me sad. I never offer flowers to those I love; I never wish to receive them from hands dear to me. In The Professor (1857), Charlotte wrote, In sunshine, in prosperity, the flowers are very well; but how many wet days are there in life—November seasons of disaster, when a man's hearth and home would be cold indeed, without the clear, cheering gleam of intellect.   1838 Birth of John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, conservationist, and author. John Muir was known by many names: "John of the Mountains,” “Father of Yosemite,” and "Father of the National Parks.” John's work to preserve Yosemite resulted in a famous picture of himself posing with President Teddy Roosevelt on Overhanging Rock at the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite in 1903. There's a fun little story about John and Charles Sprague Sargent, the director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard, that was featured in a 1915 article. The two men had gone on a fall trip to hike the mountains in North Carolina. John found the scenery so inspiring that when they got to the top of Grandfather Mountain, he began to sing and dance and jump around, while Charles just stood there.  This must have been a common trait among the botanists and academics John knew because he once wrote, In drying plants, botanists often dry themselves. Dry words and dry facts will not fire hearts. John is remembered with these words. The mountains are calling, and I must go. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.   Grow That Garden Library™ Book Recommendation Royal Gardens of the World by Mark Lane  This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is 21 Celebrated Gardens from the Alhambra to Highgrove and Beyond, and the illustrated cover is spectacular. This book is a celebration of Royal Gardens, and Mark does a brilliant job of sharing the history, the plantings, and the evolution of each garden. And in addition to all of that, he highlights some of the key plant or signature plants of these spaces and then shares all the behind-the-scenes details about how these gardens were designed and laid out. Now the gardens that are profiled are located primarily in Europe and Asia. But as Mark points out in his introduction, Many more Royal Gardens are waiting to be visited and researched, and each tells its own story.   Mark says, I am simply the interpreter and the messenger. Sometimes the story focuses on restoration, others follow the lives of the main protagonists and other still simply chart the course of history. It's also worth noting that history is not isolated. These gardens are a response to events occurring throughout Europe, Russia, the Far East, and elsewhere And Marriages between members of Royal households in turn introduced different ideas and creative passions which were reflected in their gardens.   Now, as you can imagine, entire books have been written about each of these gardens individually, but Mark's intention here is to celebrate the art of gardening through some of the finest garden jewels that have ever been created. This book is 240 pages of a five-star book on Amazon about Royal Gardens, their history, their fantastic designs, and their signature plants. You can get a copy of Royal Gardens of the World by Mark Lane and support the show using the Amazon link in today's show notes for around $25.   Botanic Spark Today, April 21, is the National Day of Sa'di ("SAH-dee"), the Master of Persian prose and poetry who was born in 1210. Sa'di lived in Shiraz ("SHE-raz"). In his lifetime, and through the 19th century, Shiraz was a center for growing grapes and great wines. (Shiraz wine is from Shiraz.)  Shiraz was also a center for learning, literature, gardens, and poetry. The poet, Hafez, was also from Shiraz. Now, although he was born and raised in Shiraz, Sa'di spent much of his life traveling. And over three decades, he met and interacted with people from different places, with different customs, traditions, and languages. And his constant traveling led Sa'di to a place of acceptance and love for all humanity. Sa'di once wrote these poignant words of understanding: Sa'di once wrote these poignant words of understanding,  I bemoaned the fact I had no shoes Until I saw the man who had no feet.   And there was a common Persian saying that goes, Each word of Sa'di has 72 meanings.   Today, Persian scholars believe that Sa'di is Shakespeare-like in terms of his understanding of the human condition, and in various literary ways, he shared his insights. Now you might be surprised to learn that Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Sa'di fan. Emerson felt that study's work was biblical in terms of the wisdom that he was trying to impart. In fact, Emerson wrote about Sa'di, and one of his verses went like this. The forest waves, the morning breaks, The pastures sleep, ripple the lakes, Leaves twinkle, flowers like persons be, And life pulsates in rock or tree. Saadi! so far thy words shall reach; Suns rise and set in Saadi's speech.   In terms of a legacy, Sa'di's best-known works are Bustan ("Boo-ston") (The Orchard) and Gulistan ("Goo-luh-ston") (The Rose Garden). Now there's a very old copy of the Gulistan that features a beautiful painting of Sa'di in a rose garden, and I shared it inthe Facebook Group for the show.  Now I wanted to end the show today with a little something from The Rose Garden or The Gulistan because, in that book, Sa'di is led to a garden by a friend on this day, April 21st, back in 1258. And that's why today is National Sa'di Day. It's the day he was brought to a garden. And so there is a verse that is a favorite among gardeners from The Gulistan or The Rose Garden, and it goes like this. If... thou art bereft, And ...Two loaves alone to thee are left, Sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Talks about my weekend in Yosemite for the first time. Experiencing the incredible surroundings of the valley; Half Dome, Glacier Point, Mirror Lake and the captain of all Yosemite...El Capitan. Acknowledging how crazy Alex Honnold is for free soloing the huge wall. My tasty freeze dried ice cream sandwich taste test and more. - National Geographics FREE SOLO Documentary  - Instagram: @itsdannytodd

Today we celebrate a man who found all the answers to life in nature, and we still learn from his profound observations today. We'll also learn about a botanist and publisher who found fame and forged meaningful connections with top botanical illustrators and horticulturists of his time. We’ll hear an excerpt about spring in Paris from an American author and journalist who lives in France. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a fun fiction book about a botany major who feels a kinship with plants on the brink of extinction. And then we’ll wrap things up with a little article published on this day in 1985 about ferns from the great garden writer Frances Perry.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News The 7 Best Indoor Herb Gardens | Bustle | Scarlett James   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community, where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events April 21, 1838 Today is the birthday of the Scottish-American naturalist, conservationist, and author John Muir. Muir was known by many names: "John of the Mountains,” “Father of Yosemite,” and "Father of the National Parks.” In particular, John’s work to preserve Yosemite resulted in a famous picture of Muir posing with President Teddy Roosevelt on Overhanging Rock at the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite in 1903. And, when I was researching Charles Sprague Sargent (the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Boston), I stumbled on a fun little story about John and Charles that was featured in a 1915 article.  It’s a favorite of mine because it highlights the personality differences between the extroverted John Muir and the very serious Charles Sargent. It turns out that the two men had gone on a trip one fall to hike the mountains in North Carolina. John wrote, "The autumn frosts were just beginning, and the mountains and higher hilltops were gorgeous. We climbed slope after slope through the trees till we came out on the bare top of Grandfather Mountain. There it all lay in the sun below us, ridge beyond ridge, each with its typical tree-covering and color, all blended with the darker shades of the pines and the green of the deep valleys. . . . I couldn't hold in and began to jump about and sing and glory in it all. Then I happened to look round and catch sight of [Charles Sargent] standing there as cool as a rock, with a half-amused look on his face at me but never saying a word.   "Why don't you let yourself out at a sight like that?" I said.  "I don't wear my heart upon my sleeve," he retorted.  "Who cares where you wear your little heart, man?" I cried. "There you stand in the face of all Heaven come down on earth, like a critic of the universe, as if to say, Come, Nature, bring on the best you have: I'm from BOSTON!" It was John Muir who said these wonderful quotes: The mountains are calling, and I must go. In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.   April 21, 1864 Today is the anniversary of the death of the English bookseller, printer, publisher, pharmacist, and botanist, Benjamin Maund. Benjamin had a large garden where he enjoyed cultivating seeds from around the world. He had a special curiosity about wheat and was interested in crossing and growing different wheat cultivars. He even exhibited wheat and gave talks on it when he had time. In 1846, an English newspaper reported that Benjamin was the first botanist to attempt to improve wheat through hybridization. On Christmas day in 1813, after his father died, Benjamin bought a bookstore and publishing house. The entrepreneurial move would set the stage for his greatest work - a monthly publication designed to be both useful and affordable called, The Botanic Garden. Despite the publication’s London imprint, Benjamin lived and worked in the small market town of Bromsgrove all of his life. Published between 1825 and 1850, The Botanic Garden brought Benjamin notoriety and authority. Benjamin became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and he even corresponded with other top botanists like Darwin’s mentor, John Stevens Henslow of Cambridge University. Benjamin’s main goal was to share “hardy ornamental flowering plants, cultivated in Great Britain.” Each monthly edition of The Botanic Garden featured a colored illustration of four different flowers, along with four pages of descriptive text. As a result, Benjamin worked with some of the best botanical artists of his time, including Augusta Withers, Priscilla Bury, and Edwin Smith. In fact, Benjamin’s own daughters, Eliza and Sarah, experimented with botanical illustration, and their work was also featured in the publication. Today, all of the issues of The Botanic Garden, along with over 1200 pieces of original botanical art produced for publication, are preserved at the Natural History Museum in London.   Benjamin also introduced a biennial to Britain - the Spiny Plumeless Thistle or Welted Thistle (Carduus acanthoides "KARD-ew-us "ah-kan-THOY-deez"). As with most thistles, the Welted Thistle is an invasive herb that can grow one to four feet tall. It has a thick taproot that can grow to a foot long, and the purple to pink flower can appear individually or in clusters. Although it is a thistle, the Welted Thistle bloom is really quite pretty. Poignantly, sixty-four years after his death, Benjamin’s hometown memorialized him with a tablet showing his head surrounded by a wreath of Carduus acanthoides. Unearthed Words Spring had come to the market as well. Everywhere there were young green things, the tips of asparagus, young leeks no bigger than scallions. There was crisp arugula, curled and tangled, and fresh green peas, plump in their pods. I had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner. This didn't pose a problem; on the contrary, it was an opportunity, a mini-adventure. The season's new ingredients brought new ideas. The first baby tomatoes were coming in from Sicily. I bought a box of small red globes still on the vine and a red onion in my favorite childhood shade of royal purple. Maybe I would make a salsa for the dorade (do-rahd) I'd picked up at the fishmonger. I imagined a bright confetti, the tomatoes mixed with freshly chopped coriander, maybe a sunny mango. ― Elizabeth Bard, American author, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes   Grow That Garden Library Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol This botany-inspired fiction book came out in 2017 with a theme centered around endangered plants and a premise that examines how to stay true to the people you care about while trying to change the world. In this book, Ellen Meeropol tells the story of a botany major at the University of Massachusetts, named Jeremy who feels a kinship with plants that are nearing or have become extinct. Jeremy first appeared in Ellen’s book House Arrest as a nine-year-old child who had survived family trauma and found safety in the family greenhouse where he loved to draw plants. This book is 248 pages of one young man’s struggle to fight for the environment and climate justice without losing the people he loves. You can get a copy of Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $5   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart April 21, 1985 On this day, the garden writer, Frances Perry, shared a charming article in her regular gardening column in The Observer about how to grow a fern spore. She wrote: My father-in-law, Amos Perry, once told me that if I pushed a stopperless bottle upside down in moist shady soil, a fern would grow inside it. So I did just that and then forgot it.  Two years later, while separating some large hellebore plants, we came across the old bottle. Sure enough, there was a baby fern growing inside. The spores; can survive in their millions until conditions for growth are right.  Next, Frances shared how to propagate ferns: The best way to propagate [ferns] is by division. This is a good time both to plant and divide.  Propagation by means of spores is more laborious. Towards the end of summer, the spores are found on the backs of mature fronds. When ripe, they can be shaken off, then sown on fine soil in a pot or pan. Do not cover with soil, but lay a pane of glass over the top to maintain humidity. Stand the pot in a saucer with a little rainwater at its base. Keep the temperature at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and remove the glass for about an hour daily to change the air. Wipe it dry before returning.  Eventually, green cushion-like bodies will appear… Later, first tiny green leaves... It will be at least another 12 months before good plants are produced.  Finally, Frances highlights a variety of ferns. Regarding Queen Victoria’s fern, she wrote, Queen Victoria's Fern, Athyrium filix-femina 'Victoriae' ("ah-THEER-ee-um FY-lix--FEM-in-uh”), which has its 3-foot fronds and all their pinnae (segments) crossed to form V’s as well as boasting crested edges, was found near a Scottish cart track more than a century ago. Regarding the Royal Fern, Frances said, No waterside fern is more regal than the Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis ("oz-MUN-duh ray-GAH-lis"), the 8- to10-foot fronds once sheltered an ancient British king, Osmund, from marauding Danes. Then Frances shared her favorite ferns for wet gardens and indoor spaces. She wrote: Good ferns for soggy spots include all of the Heart's Tongues; the Netted Chain Fern, Woodwardia areolata ("wood-WAR-dee-ah arr-ee-oh-LAY-ta"), a creeping plant for swampy ground, and the Dwarf Oak Fern, Gymnocarpium dryopteris 'Plumosum' ("jim-n-oh-KAR-pi-um dry-OP-ter-is ploom-oh-sim").  Ferns suitable for indoor culture include most Maidenhairs, Adiantums ("AYE-dee-ANT-ums") — which incidentally loathe tobacco smoke — the Hare's Foot [or the Squirrel's Foot fern], Davallia fejeensis, (“duh-vall-ee-uh fee-jay-en-sis”) — ideal for hanging baskets with its brown exposed tubers like animal paws, the long-fronded aptly-named Ladder Ferns (Nephrolepis "nef-ro-LEP-iss" varieties - like the sword fern or Boston fern) and the Bird's Nest Fern, Asplenium nidus "as-PLEE-nee-um Nye-dis"; which produces 24-inch fronds shuttlecock fashion in a wide circle.  In nature, Asplenium perches on trees, but our 20-year-old does very well in a large flower pot. I only water into the center of the plant, not into the soil.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.

Every February, we have the chance to view one of the most remarkable natural events in Yosemite. Sunlight hitting Horsetail Fall on El Capitan in the winter casts a bright, neon orange glow that seems to emanate from the waterfall itself. It is a sacred and much sought after event, and we cover it all on this week's episode!Email Melittleyopod@gmail.comFacebook, Instagram, Twitter@littleyopodNature Notes Video Horsetail Fallhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyoa-QfeGhoNPS Websitehttps://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/horsetailfall.htm

Quietstorm, the MVP Collection brings you THE QUIETUDE SERIES, a relaxing stress-free blend of new age, ambient, chillout and much, much more. This series will provide the listener the best in quiet music experience, away from any stress in our busy, daily lives. 1. Intro ID by QuietStorm 2. Glacier Point by Tim Heintz 3. Echo Lake (Trio Reprise) by Tim Janis 4. Theme From "Gladiator" by Maksim 5. Kaze No Torimichi by Sarah Brightman 6. False Alarms by Josh Groban 7. Spiral Dance by David Lanz 8. Just The Way You Are by The Piano Guys 9. When You Take My Hand (feat. Julie Last) by John Boswell 10. One And Only by Jim Brickman 11. Through The Years by Louie Ocampo 12. Halflife by Jim Jacobsen 13. City Of Angels by Christopher Peacock 14. Elysian Fields by Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rumbel 15. Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song) by Scott Cossu 16. Living The Northern Summer by Jim Chappell 17. Dreams Of Spain by Roberto & Bobby Schnitzer 18. Siren Song by Michael Dulin 19. Lost In You by Craig Padilla

Quietstorm, the MVP Collection brings you THE QUIETUDE SERIES, a relaxing stress-free blend of new age, ambient, chillout and much, much more. This series will provide the listener the best in quiet music experience, away from any stress in our busy, daily lives. 1. Intro ID by QuietStorm 2. Glacier Point by Tim Heintz 3. Echo Lake (Trio Reprise) by Tim Janis 4. Theme From "Gladiator" by Maksim 5. Kaze No Torimichi by Sarah Brightman 6. False Alarms by Josh Groban 7. Spiral Dance by David Lanz 8. Just The Way You Are by The Piano Guys 9. When You Take My Hand (feat. Julie Last) by John Boswell 10. One And Only by Jim Brickman 11. Through The Years by Louie Ocampo 12. Halflife by Jim Jacobsen 13. City Of Angels by Christopher Peacock 14. Elysian Fields by Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rumbel 15. Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song) by Scott Cossu 16. Living The Northern Summer by Jim Chappell 17. Dreams Of Spain by Roberto & Bobby Schnitzer 18. Siren Song by Michael Dulin 19. Lost In You by Craig Padilla

Quietstorm, the MVP Collection brings you THE QUIETUDE SERIES, a relaxing stress-free blend of new age, ambient, chillout and much, much more. This series will provide the listener the best in quiet music experience, away from any stress in our busy, daily lives. 1. Intro ID by QuietStorm 2. Glacier Point by Tim Heintz 3. Echo Lake (Trio Reprise) by Tim Janis 4. Theme From "Gladiator" by Maksim 5. Kaze No Torimichi by Sarah Brightman 6. False Alarms by Josh Groban 7. Spiral Dance by David Lanz 8. Just The Way You Are by The Piano Guys 9. When You Take My Hand (feat. Julie Last) by John Boswell 10. One And Only by Jim Brickman 11. Through The Years by Louie Ocampo 12. Halflife by Jim Jacobsen 13. City Of Angels by Christopher Peacock 14. Elysian Fields by Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rumbel 15. Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song) by Scott Cossu 16. Living The Northern Summer by Jim Chappell 17. Dreams Of Spain by Roberto & Bobby Schnitzer 18. Siren Song by Michael Dulin 19. Lost In You by Craig Padilla

This week on Young Artists Spotlight, we feature a performance from the Glacier Point Middle School Chamber Choir, from Fresno's Central Unified School District.

In this episode of Little Yo Pod, I discuss the why's and how's of the Firefall, a nightly event that took place in Yosemite from 1872-1968 in which an actual fire was pushed from a cliff above Yosemite Valley.Huell Howser’s Firefall-California’s Goldhttps://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1996/01/08/firewall-californias-gold-706/

In this episode of Little Yo Pod, I talk about how and why winter sports came to Yosemite, how it influenced winter sports in California, and how it encouraged people to visit more during the cold and quiet months of winter.Yosemite Sentinel January 1986, “Badger Pass Celebrates” https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_sentinel/1986.pdfPhotos of early winter sports in Yosemite https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/four_seasons_in_yosemite/winter.htmlInformation on the Glacier Point Ski Hut https://www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/glacier-point-ski-hut/National Park Service website for planning your visit https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htmWeb Cam for current conditions https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

Description: Hello, brand new year! Since hindsight is 20/20, Danielle, Bryan, and the girls take this episode to reminisce on their 2019 park travels and look ahead to what they’ve planned for 2020. They add to their already extensive bucket list and answer a listener’s question about budget planning for a national park visit. And, of course, this wouldn’t be a family episode if it didn’t end with a joke or two. Discussion includes the following: 1:19 - South Florida Itinerary: Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park 2:15 - Government shutdown: what effect a shutdown can have on the NPS and how South Florida volunteers stepped in 4:41 - Bryan discovers the beauty, diversity, and chickee huts of Everglades National Park 5:47 - Biscayne National Park: from boat excursions to paddleboarding adventures in Jones Lagoon 6:25 - Saguaro National Park adventure (by of a snowstorm-thwarted Petrified Forest National Park visit) and bucket list items for the future 7:58 - Shenandoah National Park and Yorktown Battlefield 8:41 - San Francisco Bay, West Coast Adventure Part I: Muir Woods National Monument, The Presidio, Rosie The Riveter WWII historical site 9:03 - Yosemite National Park, West Coast Adventure, Part II: Ranger Shelton Johnson on Instagram, Glacier Point, High Sierra camping and site lottery 11:37 - East Coast Adventure, Part I: Boston Harbor, The Freedom Trail, USS Constitution, Fort McHenry National Monument 12:03 - East Coast Adventure, Part II: Fire Island National Seashore, the lighthouse, and the sunken forest plus Monarch butterfly migration 13:37 - East Coast Adventure, Part III: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site 14:20 - East Coast Adventure, Part IV: Saratoga National Historical Park and Alexander Hamilton’s Schuyler House 15:27 - East Coast Adventure, Part V: Springfield, MA and Harpers Ferry Amory and Arsenal National Historic Park 16:00 - Favorite Interviews, Part I: reminiscing with Ken Burns on the tenth anniversary of his documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea 17:33 - Favorite Interviews, Part II: Park Ranger Shelton Johnson and the Buffalo Soldiers 17:56 - Favorite Interviews, Part III: Becky Lomax, author of the Moon Guide USA National Parks: A Guide To All 59 Parks 18:48 - Twitter Patter: a trip to the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site for a live meetup of #parkchat participants 19:04 - A question from a listener prompts a discussion about trip budgets 20:04 - Budget Tip #1: the cost benefits of shoulder season travel 21:04 - Budget Tip #2: getting comfortable with camping 22:32 - Budget Tip #3: accommodation ideas from AirBnB to gateway towns to KOA campgrounds 23:02 - Budget Tip #4: the travelling (not-so) gourmet 24:11 - Budget Tip #5: you CAN take (most of) it with you if you fly Southwest Airlines (and even if you can’t, there are companies that can pack and deliver everything you need right to your campsite) 25:38 - Budget Tip #6: the Every Kid Outdoors program gets you in free with a fourth-grader (really!) or you can opt for an annual NPS pass 27:14 - Looking Ahead to 2020: Trips to Big Bend National Park in Texas and Montana’s Glacier National Park as well as an episode on Bryan’s guys-only trip to Isle Royale National Park 29:13 - Highlights from 2019, Part I: sunrises at Flamingo Campground, Everglades; hiking Saguaro’s Garwood Dam and Wildhorse Tank Loop Trail; walking Yosemite’s Vernal and Nevada Fall trails; seeing Tom Bopp, the singing historian of Yosemite, perform at Wawona Hotel 30:53 - Highlights (and a lowlight) from 2019, Part II: starlight and super crows in South Florida, the Fen Boardwalk at Happy Isles, Yosemite 32:05 - Yorktown Battlefield Historic Site: Bryan’s personal connection 33:44 - Gettysburg National Military Park and Matt Atkinson, park ranger extraordinaire 34:15 - Statue of Liberty National Monument 34:51 - A Second-Grader Reflects On Her 2019 Travels: fireplaces fit for performances at Yosemite’s Wawona and Ahwahnee hotels, storytime with Tom Bopp, Firefall history at Yosemite’s Curry Village, Vernal Falls hiking, 41:26 - A Fifth-Grader Reflects on Her 2019 Travels: Snorkelling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park invasive iguanas, a snowball fight along Yosemite’s John Muir Trail, and the Shark Valley Tram Tour in Southern Florida   For complete show notes and blog post, visit everybodysnationalparks.com. If this is your first time tuning in, go back and listen to past episodes: Listen to the entire Everglades & Biscayne series here (episodes 11.1 - 11.5). The Saguaro trip series begins here (episodes 15.1 - 15.5). Check out the Shenandoah episodes here (episodes 2.1 - 2.4.2). Get to know Yosemite National Park by starting here (episodes 19.1 - 19.8). 2019 was also the year of special conversations with a diverse group of national park champions. Author Becky Lomax chatted with Danielle and Bryan about her guidebook and offered travel tips to lesser-known parks. Ranger Shelton Johnson introduced listeners to the Buffalo Soldiers of Yosemite National Park while historian and entertainer Tom Bopp delighted everyone with a song. But the highlight of the year was a visit with acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns. The filmmaker took time out of his busy schedule to discuss the creation and legacy of the National Park Service and celebrate the tenth anniversary of his series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. We also have covered other parks including: Crater Lake, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Olympic, Rock Creek, Virgin Islands, Yellowstone, and Zion.   Actions: Subscribe to our podcast from our website https://www.everybodysnationalparks.com/ Tell your friends about Everybody’s National Parks Send us your national park stories, recommendations, comments, or questions to Hello at everybodysnps.com. Support us on Patreon Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Please tag us from the parks you are visiting at #everybodysnationalparks

Description: A visit to Yosemite National Park is incomplete without an evening of entertainment listening to musician and historian Tom Bopp perform in the piano lounge of the Wawona Hotel. Tom, Bryan and Danielle talk about the famous 1903 three-day wilderness camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir. The camping buddies sidelined the media. Therefore, what we know about the trip is pieced together from research and anecdotes from government ranger Charlie Leidig, who accompanied the gentlemen on this trip. Tom recounts the trip that took the two naturalists from Mariposa Grove to Sentinel Dome and Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley. Tom has spent a lot of time thinking about the songs the two men may have sung together on their rides on horseback in between campsites. Listen to the podcast to hear Tom sing some of these timeless songs.  Tom Bopp has been performing at the Wawona Hotel and The Ahwahnee since 1983. Tom performs an eclectic range of music as well as programs on Wawona history, Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir's 1903 camping trip to Yosemite, Yosemite music and culture, and a film documentary called Vintage Songs of Yosemite. Click here for complete show notes.   Actions: Subscribe to our podcast wherever podcasts are available. We also want to hear about your adventures. Email us at Hello@everybodysnps.com. You may write us a message or even record a short voice memo on your phone and then attach it to the email. You may also send comments at https://www.everybodysnationalparks.com/contact. You may be featured on an upcoming episode. Tell your friends about Everybody’s National Parks. Support us on Patreon Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Tag us from the parks you are visiting at #everybodysnationalparks  

Description: Yosemite National Park in all of its wonder-- from Cook's Meadow and Glacier Point to hiking the Vernal and Nevada Falls Trails and beyond-- is stunning. However, it wasn’t simply the awesome views, granite walls and falls that stunned our family, but the sheer amount of people immersing themselves in the Yosemite National Park experience. Danielle, Bryan and the girls reminisce about their trip in early May 2019 and offer tips and recommendations for others wanting to visit and avoid crowds. Our Discussion Includes the Following: Why Bryan feels that planning is important when visiting Yosemite (2:45) How we spent our time in Yosemite-- after hitting the “weather lottery” (5:23) Challenges to planning your trip in Yosemite (6:32) How adjusting your expectations may help you enjoy the crowds and camaraderie in Yosemite Valley (7:19) Arriving in the park and getting our bearings at the Visitor Center (10:00) Court settlement - original names of several iconic lodging are reinstated (13:00) Mirror Lake (14:15) Advantage of visiting in spring - waterfalls (15:09) Unforgettable Vernal-Nevada Falls - strenuous, popular hike that is worth testing the limits of your kids! (15:53) Biking around the Valley to Happy Isles  (25:16) Ansel Adams Gallery Camera Walk (30:48) Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center (Sierra Club) (32:27) Housekeeping Camp Beach (33:06) The Ahwahnee (34:20) Starry Night Skies over Yosemite through Yosemite Hospitality in Cook’s Meadow (36:18) Stops along the way from Yosemite Valley to Wawona starting with El Capitan, including tips for viewing climbers and parking (38:34) Bridalveil Falls, Tunnel View, Glacier Point (39:44) Wawona and the Wawona Hotel (42:14) Tom Bopp’s Yosemite Music at the Wawona Hotel (42:56) Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (45:11) Tip: Check the date of The Yosemite Half Marathon when choosing dates and planning your trip! (47:31) Something different that Danielle wants to do on the next visit to Yosemite (48:36) Lottery for the backcountry campsites to visit the High Sierras (49:16) Our youngest daughter’s take on our Yosemite trip- Night skies, Vernal & Nevada Falls a rainbow joke, Tom Bopp  (52:18) The “Firefall” around February (57:14) Our oldest daughter shares her favorite memories - bike riding to Happy Isles, waterfall hike, waterfall joke, Giant Sequoia facts (59:42) Tips for your Travels: Talk to a ranger at the Visitor Center when you first arrive at Yosemite. There is 20 minute parking at the Camp Store. Plan around the Yosemite Half Marathon if you wish to participate or avoid it. In cooler months, you may want to pay up for a heated tent at Camp Curry. It gets chilly. Plan ahead! It will likely be crowded as there seems to be no true “shoulder season” in Yosemite. Many of the waterfalls do not flow year-round, so if that is something you would like to see, plan to visit in spring. Bring plenty of water, especially on a hike like Vernal & Nevada Falls in warm weather. Check the park newspaper for special programs in Yosemite. You need a permit for back-country camping in the High Sierras. Don’t touch the large pinecones in Mariposa Grove! They will stain your clothes. Don’t forget your camera for some gorgeous and dramatic natural photos. In Yosemite, whenever you see those information signs, there is a photo opp! When traveling with family, schedule a day of solo photography ahead of time. Use a hotel shower cap to protect your camera from the rain in a pinch. Use what you have on hand, like a wallet or boulder, if a tripod isn’t available to you. Always backup your photos Always check the weather! Additional Resources From This Episode: Yosemite Lodging Yosemite Camping Reservations Wawona @ Yosemite National Park Sierra Club Yosemite Conservancy Programs Aramark: Experience Yosemite National Park - activities, tours, programs Guided Ranger Tours @ Yosemite Tree Ecology and the Giant Sequoia Moon USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 Parks (Travel Guide) Become a Patron through Patreon to continue this great podcast resource and our journey through these beautiful parks. Explore more adventures through beautiful parks. Contact us to tell us about your family adventures or ask a question. Visit our website for complete show notes.  

Links talked about in this episode: https://psa-photo.org http://malinconico.com https://brentbergherm.com/course-info/ https://brentbergherm.com/workshops/ww-print/ Selecting a workshop that is right for you… My perspective is from a Women selecting a Photo Workshop. Also from an older person who is in good physical shape but not that of my 30 something self. a. Ask workshop leader if there will be a mix of genders. I went on a workshop with all men. Bathroom issues :-0 b. Ask the workshop leader about getting the information up front on the physical requirements. For example, walking on trails that are uneven, walking on trails that gain serious elevation. Example, Two Medicines Hike Glacier National Park and Boulder Beach in Acadia. Matching the workshop to your physical abilities. c. Find a Photo Buddy – to go on workshop with. I have several friends who are always willing to go on an adventure with me. Abandoned Places – put my foot through a rotten footboard and had to get help putting my leg out  d. Workshop Leader – been on some workshops with poor workshop leaders – here are some examples i. Workshop Leader – not answering questions about camera settings or being able to explain why one setting may be better than other settings ii. Workshop Leaders – who are there to shoot for themselves and do not work with others to get better shoots. Workshop leaders should be helping you not working to get their own shots. iii. I went I a workshop in which we hiked to Taft Point at Yosemite. The workshop leader laid down and took a nap. Same workshop, we went to Glacier Point to shoot sunset on a totally cloudy evening. Did not have a backup plan. iv. Ask for References – call the references and ask questions about the workshop leader If the workshop leader will not give you references, then don’t go…any good workshop leader will provide references e. The other issue is the expense of the workshop. Going on a really bad one means you don’t get the bang for your buck. Transition into next topic…Camera Clubs Camera Clubs There are thousands of camera clubs located all over the world. I would recommend starting at the Photographic Society of America web site – list of their camera clubs. Click on the Link for Clubs and Councils. Web Page divides clubs by regions in the world. For example in there is a region for North America which include the US and Canada. a. Find a Club and visit…see what the activities they are doing. Many clubs do photo shoots for members every month or several times per month. b. For club members, the photo shoots are free and include social time after the shot like lunch or dinner. c. Membership to a camera club cost from $20 to $75 per year and includes presentations, competitions and photo shoots. d. Make Friends and share your passion with other photo people e. https://psa-photo.org/index.php?n-america-members

A new culture of rock climbers is overtaking Yosemite, including rock stars like Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell, who are pushing the sport to the edge by climbing with no ropes. In this episode, Ezra chats with rock climbing legends, explores how gyms are diversifying who climbs, and gets out on the rock near Glacier Point. He also talks with women climbers who are leading the way.

Yosemite Podcast Show Notes   Today we’re going to talk about photographing Yosemite, the national park that Ansel Adams made famous and one of my all-time favorite parks. I still remember getting goosebumps the first time I came down the hill on Big Oak Flat Road and the valley opened up before me.  I’ve been back many times since, but still remember that first time.  Most people only visit the valley floor which is only a very small part of the entire park, but it’s where the icons are and not to be missed.  My favorite spots are Tunnel View, Valley View and Glacier Point.  Pretty obvious ones I guess, but we’ll also talk about some of the lesser known spots too. The park itself is about a 4-hour drive east of San Francisco and southeast of Sacramento.  I always recommend people fly into Sacramento because of all the traffic in and around San Francisco not to mention the hassle of flying into San Francisco International. If you’re driving, you have more options depending on where you’re coming from.  I live in NW Nevada, so I prefer coming down Hwy 395 on the east side of the Sierra’s and going over Tioga Pass when it’s open which is usually sometime in May.  But if you’re in California or the Pacific Northwest, you will want to use either the Big Oak Flat entrance in the NW part of the park on Highway 120 or the South Entrance on Highway 41. The best times of year to be there are spring and winter in my opinion.  Spring for the waterfalls and wildflowers; winter for snow and clearing storms. Summer is less than ideal with lots of tourists and in most years the waterfalls are a trickle or not running at all.  There is some fall color in Yosemite usually in late October and early November, but the trees do not always change color at the same time. It’s a time for intimate landscapes along the Merced River mostly. So, a typical day in the park usually starts before sunrise and ends after sunset.  The best color is frequently a half hour before sunrise and up to a half hour after sunset.  For sunrise, you have to be there early not only for the pre-sunrise color, but also to get the best spot or any spot at all.  You definitely want to be there before the tour buses arrive. Likewise, at sunset you need to be there 45-60 minutes before official sunset to stake out your spot at Valley View, Tunnel View and Glacier Point.  Sunset light hits Valley View first and then Tunnel View with Glacier Point last because of the differing altitudes.  You can do Valley View and Tunnel View in one day if you don’t dilly dally too long at Valley View, but Glacier Point is at least an hour from the Valley Floor and a separate trip. The best time of day to photograph the various waterfalls like Yosemite Falls, Bridal Veil Fall and Vernal Fall is mid-morning for Yosemite Falls, mid- late afternoon for Bridal Veil Fall and mid-day for Vernal and Nevada Falls.  This is because Yosemite Valley sits in a deep canyon several thousand feet below the rim, so light does not strike the north rim until mid-morning and the south rim until mid-late afternoon otherwise these falls are in deep shadow.  The same is true of Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall because they’re in the Merced River canyon. I usually recommend people plan to spend at least five days photographing the park to allow for a couple of sunrises and sunsets at Tunnel View and Valley View and 1-2 sunsets at Glacier Point.  Plus time to drive to the Mariposa Giant Sequoia’s, Tenaya Lake and Olmsted Point. Off the beaten path spots for sunset are Olmsted Point and Tenaya Lake.  There are great views all around at Olmsted Point, but my favorite is the one of Half Dome at sunset especially if there are some nice clouds to reflect the sunset light.  You can shoot from the parking lot here or climb the rock on the west side or north side for a different perspective.  Don’t forget to look behind you or to the east for sunset lit clouds or mountains. At the Tenaya Lake parking lot, you have to hike a hundred yards or less to the east to reach the lake front.  There is a flat rock extending out into the lake which makes a good leading line for the lake and the distant mountains as well as spot to put your tripod. Night photography at Olmsted Point can be productive.  You have good views to the south and west and there are Jeffrey pines for foreground material.  The best time for this depends on the phase of the moon and the time of moonrise.  Ideally, you want either a new moon or a quarter moon at most and shortly after moonrise time wise.  If the moon is too full or in the wrong part of the sky the stars are nearly invisible. One other popular option is a moonbow over Yosemite falls which works best under a full moon in April and May.  Fortunately, the best times are pre-determined every year by Donald Olson at Texas State University at www.donolson.wp.txstate.edu  A new moon or quarter moon also allow for night shots of the icons from locations like Valley View or Tunnel View. My favorite lenses in Yosemite are the 24-70 and 70-200.  The 24-70 for the grand landscape view.  But sometimes it’s more interesting to isolate parts of the scene for a different perspective.  My go to camera body for landscapes is the D4.  Not a traditional landscape body, but if I want more megapixels I can shoot panoramas. I always like to recommend Michael Frye’s book “The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite” available through my Amazon A-store and his Yosemite app available at https://www.michaelfrye.com   Another useful app is The Photographer’s Ephemeris for figuring out sunrise, sunset and moonrise.  Available for iOS, Android and pc’s. Another useful app for national parks are the National Parks by Chimani available for Android and iOS both.  Apps are free and available for all 59 National Parks. Also helpful is www.npmaps.com where you can download free NPS maps for each park. If you like to hike, http://yellowstonehikes.com is a great resource. Here are a few photos from Yosemite from myself and Bill Naiman:  

This is the world premiere of the Yosemite Can O Peaches radio show. John DeGrazio interviewed the founder & conductor of the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra, Les Marsden. Les shared his love of Yosemite National Park with many recollections of his best moments in the the park. He also spoke about his gift to Yosemite, a four movement musical composition titled "Our Nation's Nature" and performed by The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra at Glacier Point in Yosemite on August 21, 2016.

The book of Ephesians is like the Empire State Building and Glacier Point! To have a grasp of the book of Ephesians gives you a BIRDS EYE VIEW of not only the rest of Paul's letters in the New Testament but you begin to get a CLEAR VIEW of who God is through Jesus Christ as well as a VISION of who you are in Christ. "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints." - Ephesians 1:18 (niv) "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:6

HOLY HOTDOG!  The Danger Hour-Episode#177(Take A Hike) is now infecting the interwebs!  In this Episode, James screams at himself about: Hot dog, atomic bomb, Yosemite, dead bear, porta-potty adventures, a river runs through it, firewood like a man, take a hike, waterfall, eyes in the dark, Glacier Point view, plague, Stallone Stands Alone, Netflix, Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, handle jigglers, and so much more! So grab a fancy iced coffee, press play and waste some time in style.

A progressive house set including tracks from Croatia Squad, Nora En Pure, Sasha, Tom Middleton, Oscar G, Mark Knight, and others...