Dewey Point Snowshoe

With Baby Zephyr a mere four weeks away from joining our family, I convinced Laura to let me go snowshoeing to Dewey Point with Steve, Jonathan & Sean “one last time”. The trail starts at Badger Pass, follows Glacier Point Road and then peels off to the north at Summit Meadow. The four feet of snow was so compact along the trail that Steve made it the entire way without snowshoes. Hopefully some new snow will fall soon! I last did this snowshoe in April 2006 and remember very few fellow hikers. Apparently an article in a national outdoor magazine a few years back changed all that and now the trail has become quite popular.
  • Jonathan, Sean & Steve.  Glacier Point Road was in great condition.
  • Steve decided his big feet provided more than enough surface area to trapse across the packed powder.
  • Mr. Kamp adjusts his bindings.
  • And we're off!
  • We took the Dewey Ridge spur trail to start.  It added several hundred feet of easy climbing, but provided somewhat better views.
  • It was a beautiful almost-bluebird day. I'll ID the peak in teh background later.
  • There were a great dead fir trees along the hike.  I'll have to ask a park biologist if the cause is bark beetle-related or drought, or combo of both.
  • Note the yellow tags attached to the trees.  Those are the trail blazes that guide the way.
  • The trail is fairly dense, but still interesting to look at.
  • Steve
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  • Steve & Sean make one last small climb before meeting the junction of the Dewey Meadow trail.
  • This is purely a reference shot for my high school classes.  Looking west down the Merced River Canyon.
  • The same view, but zoomed & cropped in order to show the distincy v-shaped erosional patterns of the Merced River Canyon.
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  • Steve took it for granite that this boulder looked like a cow pie.  It's hard to tell the origins of this rock with all the snow.  I thought at the time this was most likely a glacial erratic.  Weaknesses in the rocks have been weathering and rounding the sharp edges and weak minerals.
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  • Time to teach Kamp some Hollister flying skills.  Here's his sequence...
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  • I found the lines of this rock very interesting.
  • Sean rounds the homestretch.
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  • Jonathan practices leave no trace.
  • Steve pushes ahead, sans snowshoes.
  • A wider view.
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  • Sean
  • Best buds?
  • Our first glimpse of Half Dome.
  • Sean gets a glimpse over the cliff.
  • El Capitan looms large across the valley.
  • Cathedral Rocks & Spire in the foreground.  Sentinel Rock just right of center.
  • Cathedral Rocks & Spire.
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  • Ribbon Falls had a whisp of flowing water going over the 1612' drop.  It is the tallest freefalling, single-drop waterfall in North America. Note the snow-cone at the bottom of the falls from freezing mist.
  • Steve.
  • Mr. Kamp... and the moon just above his head.
  • Kamp
  • Howdy.  I finally got in some photos.
  • I think Mrs. H would kill me if I got too close to the edge.
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  • Steve and his bugaboo glasses.
  • The crowds arrived shortly after we arrived.
  • This gal was Québécois.  She was much safer than this appears.
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  • Thanks to the Québécois for taking our photo.
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  • Boiling some snow for a warm bowl of pho at lunch.
  • These photos are the handywork of Jon & Sean.
  • These photos are the handywork of Jon & Sean. Steve and I eat lunch.
  • These photos are the handywork of Jon & Sean.
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  • Jon could use his snowshoes.
  • These photos are the handywork of Jon & Sean.
  • These photos are the handywork of Jon & Sean.
  • Sean's snowman / chili scrub pad.
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  • Oh, the crowds.
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  • Dewey Meadow trail.
  • Hoarforst lines the trails.
  • Back at Summit Meadow & Glacier Pt road.  In 2006 the snow was up to the roofline.