Barn Dance!

Sketch: C-Falls

I made this sketch of Chilnualna Falls a few weeks ago when the water was running high.

Yosemite's Old Fashioned Fourth of July

 Independence Day is officially celebrated in Yosemite at the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. The park relies on volunteers to provide for the festivities.

It's a great way to celebrate our nation's birthday!

Thanks to Kelsey and Wendy Lahr for providing the photos.

A Quick Sketch

Although I usually post photographs of Wawona and its environs, today I'm posting a quick sketch I drew recently. I have a thirty minute lunch break. I usually gobble my lunch down in ten minutes and then draw for twenty.

I hope you can recognize this drawing as the Covered Bridge that leads across the South Fork of the Merced and into the Pioneer History Center.

More water photos

Another entry of water photos. Perhaps "water" is this year's theme in Yosemite. I give credit to my wife for these photos since she was the one that stopped at this point on the Illilloutte trail to take some photos.

A New Post for a New Year

Welcome back to "Alone-a-in-Wawona". I did not intend to resurrect this blog again this year, but I had a few requests to do so. Beyond those requests is the fact that artists and photographers like to show off their work; I am no exception.

As many of you know, this was a very wet year in California (which is a good thing!). So it is appropriate to have my first entry dealing with the snow melt and the very heavy run off this summer (which has been more like a late spring). These photos are of Chilnualna Falls' lower cascade. It was a dark and damp afternoon, and I think the photos express that very well.

Alone-a in Wawona

Welcome to Wawona, CA. This is where I spend my summers. You've never heard of Wawona? What if I told you that I spent my summers in Yosemite National Park? I do both because Wawona is a small community located in Yosemite.

For many tourists, Wawona is hardly more than a speed bump on the road to Yosemite Valley, as they race to see roaring waterfalls, massive cliffs and maybe a bear. This blog is my attempt to introduce the viewer to another part of Yosemite National Park, a quieter, more relaxed area known as Wawona.

The entries in this blog will not follow any logical sequence. Primarily, my camera will dictate the daily topics. I don't promise to follow the Element of Style as I write my entries, but I will try to carry my camera around in order to capture visual slivers of my summer in Wawona.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff. For the past twenty summers I've been Ranger Jeff. I work as a naturalist in the southern portion of Yosemite. Each season I rent a house from the federal government... well, it is actually just part of a house because  each year I have a new housemate that shares my summers with me. Sometimes these fellow rangers become great friends; other years they remain nearly the same stranger I met in June. I entitled the blog "Alone-a in Wawona" since every summer I have had to leave behind those dearest to me, my family, since there is no family housing for seasonal workers.

If you are guilty of visiting Yosemite and speeding past Wawona, perhaps you recall a quaint hotel and  golf course near the south entrance of the park. Congratulations, you just passed Wawona! During the next seveal weeks, I'll try to make a daily entry to show you what you missed.

This first entry will be a few photos of the hotel since that is the most prominent landmark in the Wawona basin. Most of my entries will have more photos and less words. Promise.