Yosemite Incursion

Herein I detail pieces of my trip (thus far) to Yosemite Nat'l Park...a heavenly place on this Earth shared by many, to include the good British folks (names redacted) above with whom I shared the tour bus and a bag lunch chillin'. They hail from Manchester...the two boys (on the right, the eldest, is studying to be a Personal Trainer; the youngest (L) desiring to go in the British Special Forces (the SAS)) are both on vacation/term breaks. So, me being me, and with the full support of Dad (and a side-eye from Mum), I regaled the young man with tales of derring-do to inspire him to such lofty goals. I told him of what I knew of thier Selection programme (which is a MF) and the time I spent with a Troop in Bosnia. (Alluded to in the OG 'Las Vegas on Twelve Dollars a Day': "...Jon’s true mission as a singleton, under Operation AMBER STAR and reporting to Trooper at Buckeye base in Pale, was to provide technical support to the Brit SAS troop stationed at Banja Luka in the conduct of Persons Indicted for War Crimes (PIFWCs) captures. His dual reporting chain was to Sir Cedric Delves, the Brit MND commander and former SAS hero from the Falklands..." Very nice chaps, all.

I don't really like these vertical pics, because I feel I have to write a lot to line the text up. That said, there is a theme here in this particular blog...and that is a waterfall theme. Things grow like weeds in Yosemite, all spectacular in scale and visual depth. Get it? Depth. Anyways, I believe this is 'Yosemite Falls'.

Waterfalls and water in general have been on my mind lately, particularly for imagery purposes. Started a poem (not finished):

A raindrop fell in Callaghan

‘Twas poised for destiny

Along a snow-slicked trail he ran

A buoyant sprint t’ward Harmony

He sought to find the Rivulet

Her dewy smile enchanting

Soft titters brooked him no regret

To join with no recanting

There's 4 more 'stanzas', working on a 5th, and I'll get there eventually. The poem isn't about Yosemite, just some stuff on my mind, might go into a book, might not. I have other 'projects' I'm working on this summer...to include (*thrill*) house painting.

So, here is the famous El Capitan, a 'vertical rock formation' in the park, all granite. I saw it yesterday when I rode my bike around the Valley Loop (and forgot my camera, more later). This pic is a bit blurry because I used the phone zoom feature-- but I hope it impresses upon you how massive the damn thing is. It is 3000' (914 meters) high-- apparently climbers mighter climb it in as few as 3 days, but the average is 5 days. Today was 13 April, it was 77 deg F and glorious-- there were three climbers about 1/3 of the way up-- visible only because 1 was wearing an orange high-vis jacket.

I did some climbing in MOAB last year and was reminded that I don't particularly like rappeling/abseiling. Something to do with heights. I could jump out of a perfectly good aircraft at 18,000+ feet...I could climb the damn cliff... but I didn't like to rappel down.

Make any sense?

This pic is looking down the south axis of the Yosemite Valley. What is that white stuff in the deep background? Snowz!!! There are mountains in the 12-13,000' range deeper in the Park. I would love to be able to hike much more, but (self diagnosis) the hip problem that has plagued me for 7-8 months seems to be a 'torn labrum' and is getting pretty painful. Top that off with the torn A/C joint in my left shoulder from a bad fall in Jiu Jitsu...well, sad to say, summer is looking like rehab type activities. Point is, I am not really getting my full value out of this Yosemite trip and will just have to come back. Damn.

I am too early to see Glacier Point and the entire Tioga Road is closed until late May-- so lots to come back and see, anyways. Otherwise-- this time is fantastic-- Spring flowers, no bugs, plenty warm. This was a perfect weekend, and I can only imagine the traffic/queues in the park in July! This was a great time to visit!

We all know @OGA_Ron will be looking at me lustfully and @DolioJ will covet the sheen of the bronze tanlines on my massive legs. It is merely a hazzard of my professsion, and I will fend off their amorous advances to protect my honor. Unlike some of these heathen, I am a paragon of virtue.

Side note: Sir Cedric Delves, bless his soul, had a hobby: photography. Apparently, he was very, very good at it. Amazon used to carry his 'coffe table' size portrait book, but no longer. If I ever find a copy, I will buy it!

Side-side note: The good folks at WarGate Publishing asked me to pen a 'product description for Spine of the Hindu Kush': "For the readers of Mark Sibley’s Mongol Moon world, there is a parallel universe in which an antihero strives to stave off the attacks of America’s enemies.  Here, in Spine of the Hind Kush, the Warlock runs an extrajudicial, covert program to disrupt the Alliance: China/Russia/Iran/NoKo/Turkey.  The Warlock sends special operators overseas to conduct a myriad of preemptive operations focusing on economic targets—gas pipelines beneath the Baltic Sea; railway nodes at Zhuravka–Millerovo in Donbas; undersea power cables in the Turkish Strait.  Due to deceptions never uncovered, soon China is at Russia’s throat; Russia is convinced of Turkey’s betrayal-- throughout, no one suspects it was the Warlock all along."   

Side-side bonus: As I said, I've been writing poems lately: