Valley View / Fritos & Beer

Valley View - Yosemite  2020

Fritos & Beer -  El Portal  2020

Last stop in Yosemite for the postcard valley view shot. Then, lunch at my old campsite near El Portal.

Trees, Cameras

Trees, Rock Wall - El Portal  2019

After taking a short walk taking photos near the El Portal campsites I returned to my motel in Mariposa, arriving in the late afternoon. Once there I set up my cameras and used an iPhone to take the photo shown below.

From left to right: an iPhone held by myself, an Olympus E-M1II and an E-PL7, then a Canon G5X. Note the obligatory A. Adams poster.

Cameras - Mariposa County  2019

Merced River - El Portal

Merced River - El Portal  2019

Merced River - El Portal  2015

Two photos of the Merced River from the Foresta Bridge taken at different times of the year. Top one taken in February, 2019, next one taken in May, 2015. No real sign of fire effects.

I drove down to my usual campsite (closed for the winter), walked around, then had my sandwich for lunch, along with some Fritos and beer.

Fritos and Beer - El Portal  2019

Lions Fire

Lions Fire (from Mammoth Lakes) - Sierra Nevada  2018

Just prior to leaving, there were three fires in the Sierra of concern to Mike.

- The Ferguson Fire, near Yosemite and El Portal, ended up closing access to Yosemite National Park for some days. By the time Mike started driving the fire had been 100% contained, but smoke remained in the area.

- The Donnell Fire, in the area of highway 108 (route over Sonora Pass) was still burning while Mike was in the mountains.

- The Lions Fire, just south of Devils Postpile National Monument, was still not close to being contained.

Mike had planned to hike out of Devils Postpile towards Lake Ediza, but just after picking up his wilderness permit, he looked northwards towards the direction of his projected backpack. Yikes! Smoke from the Lions Fire was extremely heavy and ominous-looking, and drifting right over his backpack locations.

Plan B was therefore put into effect: no backpack, instead, car camping. (Just like in 2015.) He had thought that this eventuality was come to pass, so he had brought along a goodly amount of car camp equipment in his Toyota.

Monday Phoebe Blogging

Phoebe 1 - El Portal  2017

Phoebe 2 - El Portal  2017

Busy swooping out over the Merced River, catching bugs.

Photos taken using an Olympus 75-300mm lens.

El Portal Campground (Video)

El Portal Camping, May, 2017 from Mike Mundy on Vimeo.


Dry Gulch Campground near El Portal. Special Baggy Pants edition. Shot with a Canon G5X.

El Portal Campground

Tent, Merced River - El Portal  2017

The Merced River is running very high this year. The noise was a continuous rumble although my tent was perched safely above the water.

El Portal Lupine

Lupine, White - El Portal  2017

Lupine, Merced River - El Portal  2017

To be honest, because of the wet season I thought that there would be more flowers than there were. But these are nice.

Photos taken with an Olympus E-M10 and a 14-150mm zoom lens.

Monday Kitten Blogging

Kitten - El Portal  1990

The story behind this photo has been lost in the mists of time.

Bonus photo below, the telephone booth located in the Yosemite employees' mobile home area.

Telephone Booth - El Portal  1990

Merced River, Afternoon

Merced River, Clouds, Mountains - El Portal  2016

Walking up the road from my campsite in El Portal, 5:30 PM.

El Portal Flowers

Vetch - El Portal  2016

Lupin - El Portal  2016

Vetch down by the river, lupin just off the road.

Monday Ladybug Blogging

Ladybugs - El Portal  2016

Ladybugs Flying - El Portal  2016

I looked up from my Kindle to observe bright red blobs whizzing past the campground. Whoa . . . a ladybug swarm! Difficult to photograph flying beetles, but I was able to spot a few of them as they alighted on a nearby plant.

BTW, "Entomologists in the United States widely prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as these insects are not from the order called "true bugs" in the profession."

Buckeyes #2

Buckeye Blossoms, Sunset - El Portal  2016

Buckeye Blossom - El Portal  2016

Upper photo taken with an Olympus E-PL5, 25mm lens.

Bottom: Olympus E-M10, 14-150mm zoom lens.

Buckeyes #1

Buckeye Blossoms - El Portal  2016

Buckeye Blossoms Against Sky - El Portal  2016

As I said, lots of California Buckeyes in and around my El Portal campsite this year.

El Portal Camp

Tent, Toyota - El Portal  2016

I returned last May to my standard El Portal campsite. Lots of California Buckeyes in bloom, and the nearby Merced River was in full flow.

No rain this year, alas. BTW, once again amazement at how small the bear box is. Yes, I've complained about this before.

Bear Box - El Portal  2016

Monday Robin Blogging

Robin (El Portal) - Sierra Nevada  2016

Robin in Pine (El Portal) - Sierra Nevada  2016

Frequent visitor to my campsite in El Portal last May.

Although, to be honest, I guess that I was the visitor.

Monday Merganser Blogging

Merganser - El Portal  2015

Mike had seen this fellow out of the corner of his eye several times. Finally he splashed into the river just opposite Mike's camp.

There has been an earlier merganser post, in 2009, on the mikereport. That photo was taken with a Canon G9, this photo with an Olympus E-M10, its larger sensor providing a better picture.

Rock Wall, Rain

Rock Wall - El Portal  2015

Mike woke up at 4:45 AM to the sound of rain on the tent.

He had been planning an excursion into the Sierra foothill area, but the weather changed his plans. He resolved to head up into Yosemite Valley to check out the atmospheric conditions. His first stop was across the Foresta Bridge to take a tripod shot of this rock wall.

Merced River, El Portal

Merced River - El Portal  2015

Taken from the Foresta Bridge. Mike's campground was a few miles down the road seen on the right side of the river.

Similar view from last year: Yosemite Camping.

Hite's Cove Trail

Hite's Cove Trail - Sierra Nevada  2015

The trailhead is west down the canyon from El Portal. Mike knew that he was going to be late for truly spectacular wildflower displays, but wanted to go anyway.

He had hiked here some years ago, but had somehow managed to forget how narrow the trail actually was.