Skiing was Great

The Cross Country Center at Badger pass opened this weekend, and Tom and I wandered up to see what the skiing was like. The previous storm dropped about 12 inches, meaning that the road had a decent coverage, but there wasn’t enough on the hill for the lift-served area to open. In some ways that was fine with me. I was excited to get a nice aerobic workout in.

The connector trail from the parking lot to the road wasn’t groomed, so we put our striding skis on, but then turned back when we realized that the road itself was freshly groomed, and changed to our skate skis.

With all of the fresh snow, the skating was slow enough that we skated most of the downhills, but firm enough to be fun. We went out past the Bridalveil Creek bridge and up to just before the next section where it starts downhill again. I was feeling surprisingly tired from the P90X workouts I’ve been doing lately, and decided that was a good place to turn around. Tom went a little further and then caught me on the long climb back up to Summit Meadow.

I’m looking forward to more of that!

Watch that Last Turn

We had just pulled out of the Badger Pass parking area, and were getting ready to make the left turn onto Badger Pass road when we caught sight of a green Subaru driving entirely too fast for the conditions. Sure enough, although the driver turned the wheel, his car kept going straight, careening wide into our lane. Fortunately, Tom managed to slow down just enough and the Subaru smacked hard into the snow bank just in front of us. I suppose it’s a no-harm-no-foul sort of situation. We backed up to give him space to back out of the snow bank and he pulled himself clear, wheels spinning and sliding across the ice. I thought at one point he was going to hit us after all and Tom muttered that someone needed to learn to drive in the snow.

Naturally, the guy was very apologetic. He hadn’t had any other issues with handling on the way up, and was surprised to lose control so spectacularly and completely.

That’s the second time we’ve almost been hit at that intersection. The first time was also due to someone trying to take that corner way too fast. That car had chains on the front wheels, and as the front end of the car turned the corner, the back side whipped around into our lane, pulling the rest of the car with it.

It’s a tough corner. During the summer, as you’re driving up, Glacier Point Road actually takes a slight left bend there, and it looks like a hard right turn into the Badger Pass parking lot – the kind of turn you’d want to slow down for. In the winter, the road beyond the parking area isn’t plowed, and if you aren’t paying attention, it might look like just another right turn in the road. And if you aren’t paying attention, you might not realize how steep the turn is. And if you aren’t paying attention, you might not notice that as you continue up the Badger Pass road, it gets more snowy and more icy as you gain elevation.

My point is – pay attention. I love running into friends at Badger Pass, but not like that.

A few things that caught my attention:
- Although Wellman has a great deal of respect and admiration for the grizzly, his thoughts about wolves and cats aren’t nearly so generous.
- Two guys milled a tree, packed the lumber on a mule and built a scaffold 10 feet off the ground in one day, and I wonder what kind of tools they were using.
- Wolves and wolverines!
- The letter written on April 20, 1918, was finally received June 19. I wonder if they thought a two-month transit time was fast or frustrating.

Notes on the transcript:
I tried to preserve the spellings where I could make out the letters, and things I couldn’t figure out are noted with [brackets]. I could probably have figured out more, but was more interested in the spirit of the story, which I think comes through clearly regardless.

Hornitos Apr 20, 1918
Mr. Joseph Grinnell.
Berkeley
Cal
My Dear Sir
Your f____
of the 4th ____ is just now read
I having been absent from home
since the first & have not yet returned
which must be my excuse for not
answering you inquiry sooner.
My friend Mr. Bruce is correct in
naming me as the executioner of the
Grizzly in question. Yet if there is any
credit due a man for destroying such
a magnificent animal, I cannot claim
it all my friend JH Duncan, who long
since [journd??] into the happy hunting
grounds stood beside me at the time
& if his Bearship had not have been so verry
inquisitive, he would never have got harmed
that night. The circumstances leading up to
the capture of this bear may be of interest
so in as brief a maner as possible, I will relate
them. Our head quarters were at Buck Camp
sum 16 miles East of Wawona near the
South Fork of the Merced River

This region was the summer grazing
ground for our horses & cattle for a number
of years prior to the formation of the
Yosemite National Park. We built three
good log houses, corralls & fenced pastures ~
opened & improved trails leading into the
high Sierras. On the evening of the 17th Oct. 1887
in the head of a small valley about a mile
below camp, I discovered a dead cow [brute?]
which some bear had already comenced
feeding on. From the sign I judged them to
be an old she bear & her yearling cubs. I
felt sure they were camped clost [?] by & so I
scouted around a bit to see if I might jump
them up. While I was carefuly working my
way thru the thick brush clost to a fallen tree
when sudenly thare was a fierce growl & a
swift rush as the old mother bear charged
straight for me. But my rifle barked into
her open mouth killing her instantly & I
heard the young bear scurying thru the brush.
The next morning I discovered that there had
been a monstrous beast at the carcas the past
night having draged the cow several yards
from whare it first had laid & I felt certain
that it must be a Grizzly.

That same day I rode over to my
friend Duncans camp & told him thare
was a Grizzly Bear stoping [?] on the
buck camp [rang(e?)] & if he would come
over I felt quite sure we could bag
him. He smiled & said why Bob, your excited
thare hasn’t been a Grizzly track made
in this neck of the woods for years. But sure
I’l go over & see what youve found. But when
he finally put a rule onto the Bruins foot [_____]
10 inch wide & 13 long . He exclaimed, by heck [hese]
a griz all right & I give it up & right thare
he said, pointing to a huge granit bowlder
some 40 feet distant will be a dandy place
for us to shoot from. But I protested saying
that beast will never come to the cow while
we sit on that rock. He will wind us & he won’t
show himself & furthermore he is a silvertip
Grizzly & they are dead on the fight & we would[ent]
stand the ghost of a show. What makes you
think he is a silver tip Grizzly. I said come
with me & prove my judgment is correct . A short
distance below where the carcas lay, Bruin had
taken a bath in a pool of watter & then used a near
by pine tree for a drying towell & I pointed out to Jim
several small [toufts] of long black & silver gray hair

which was sticking to the bark of the tree.
Well Bob, I guess your right again & I judge
from the size of his foot that hese a whale & notice
how he has draged that heavy carcas around.
Well, after we had spent three nights in succession
sitting on that granit rock, waiting for his Bear
ship to show up, I said I would build a scaffold
& Jim if you wish to assist me, all right. If not, all
right. He replied, of course I’l help. But it’s foolish, just
labor for nothing. [I bet you a well] we sawed a 5 foot
cut off a shake tree near camp & split out
enough boards 2 inch thick for the floor of scaffold
packed them on a mule down where the carcas lay
& before sundown the job was done. The flore of the
scafold was 10 foot from the ground, firmly secured
to a group of young fir trees some 60 [___] distant from
the dead cow & the big granit rock being some 50 feet
directly in front. We now returned to camp ate
our supper, took a couple of blankets & arrived
at the scaffold as the dusk began to settle among
the somber mountains.

I amediatly climbed up the pole lader we had
prepared while Jim remained below & sent up
the guns & blankets, which I hauled up with a rope.
Jim was half way up the lader when I discovered
that he had not set up my canvas coat in the
pockets of which was my rifle cartridges. He steped
back gathered up the coat & endeavored to throw it up
but it failed to reach my hand but it resulted in
spilling the amunition on the ground the fact of
which I was to learn later as Jim came puffing
up on to the platform & handed me the coat, he
remarked, well Bob, of all the foolish things I ever
had any hand in, I think this is the silliest.
I was somewhat anoyed but made no reply
within a verry short time, after we had got our positions
to suit us, a large gray timber wolf came sneaking
up thru the [_low?__] quakin asp bushes to get his supper. He
stoped, one foot raise & sniffed the air. I saw Jim rais
his gun. I put out my hand & whispered, don’t shoot, but
his rifle barked. The wolf sprang into the air & disapeared.
I was mad & felt hurt that he should have lost his head
& fired that shot.
[_____] a time there was a dead silence. Then we heard the
three young bears whose dam I had killed a fiew
days before coming down the hill to get their supper
in a fiew minutes more, we could hear them grunting
& working away at their feast. The extreme darkness
saved them from a shot from Duncans rifle
& he wanted to fire at the noise they made anyway
but I persuaded him not to do it. An hour or more
must have past & I noticed Jim was geting
[dousy] & I could still hear the young Bruins
working away. Then suddenly, something seemed
to disturb them. I could hear them grunting & sniffing
the air. I punched Jim & said Listen to them cubs.
I bet you they hear the old boss coming. [Aw dont]
he replied, nothing doing, I want to sleep. 3 nights on that
dam Rocks nuff for me. but the nois the young bears
made tearing thru the brush, seeking a safer locality
seemed to disipate Jims drousiness & he remarked
gosh, them little divils is scared sure, after
perhaps 20 minutes of dead silence, we heard
the breaking of dry twigs directly in front of our
position & then sudenly thru the gloom by the side of
the gray granit Rock, appeared a black shadow
darker than the night.

[Seemed] to be walking on the air & advancing directly
toward us after passing the big white rock. The advancing
shadow was plainly visable darker than the night
gloom & continued to advance. (He saw the white floor of
our scafold & came on straight to his doom.)
The hamer of my Rifle came back as I heard Jims
lock click. The dark shape sudenly assumed
an upright position. the two rifles barked as one
& the great beast sank to Earth with a roar & a
continuation of [barks] which were thrown back
by the granit walls of the Canyon of the River
Merced & were heared by the distant peaks of
Mount Raymond & were sent back to our ears
like far distant thunder. I felt in my coat pocket
for shells. It was empty. Jim, what did you do with
my cartridges. Gosh he says, their on the ground. I forgot to
bring em up. Well Jim, You let my gun down to me I’m
going down. Don’t do it Bob, wait till daylight. But I went
down – found a fiew cartridges & put into the magazine
scraped some dry pine needles together & soon had a
light. Now Jim, come down & we will make some torches
& one can hold them while the other plants a shot in his brain.
Duncan came down & we soon prepared a good torch.
All this time, our bear was trying to get farther away

[He] succeeded in draging his big bulk several yards from
where he fell into some quaking asp bushes. On the
aproach of the light, the bear raised himself partly
to a sitting posture & I got Jim to work around in front
& as the bear turned his head to look at the torch, my Rifle
barked, sending a ball under the [bur?? base] of his ear. He
rolled over on his side, a fiew convulsive strugles
shook his frame he raised one huge fore arm & waved
it back & forth a fiew times. Then it dropped. He never moved
again. The King of the Sierras was dead. We gazed on the
prostrate beast for some moments in silence & then
I said, we must open him & draw the entrails. I want
to save the lard & some of the meat. When we had
that done, we went to camp & to bed, the hour 2 A.M.
Next morn, we went down to the slaughter pen. The 3
young bears were sleeping by their dead dam & they
scurried off in a hurry. After skining I severed the
head & put it on a high rock, intending later to clean
& take it below when I should go out. I never saw it
again. Some animal, a wolverine I think, got away with
it. I searched for it the next season, but evidently
the animal had packed the head a long ways.
Bruins hide, when first stretched was nearly 10 foot
from nose to tail. Judged by his teeth, he was not an old bear.

[I] sold the skin to the Artist Thomas Hill
as I have before stated & after reading my
history of the case it would seeme that I certainly
must have had a hand in taking that poor Bruins life
& it might be interesting to some people to know, that
my first encounter with a Grizzly was in the days of
the old muzle loading rifles, in 1860 – that after he
knocked me down & sat on me, I killed him.
I believe the brown & Black bear should be protected
by law from wanton & ruthless destruction, but
the cat & wolf tribe should become extinct as
soon as possible, my dear Grinnell.
I trust you will be able to read my poor
writing & if I should happen to come to
Berkeley, I should be glad to call & meet you at
the museum.

Most Sincerely Yours

R[obert] J Wellman.

According to a document that looks like it might have been published as a collaboration between the National Weather Service and the National Park Service, the Mono Winds are a cold wind blowing downhill from the Mono area that can reach speeds of 50 miles per hour as it gets funneled through geographic constrictions like Yosemite Valley. This event is predicted to have 20 – 40 mph winds with gusts as strong as 60 or 75 mph. For some perspective, the fastest recorded winds are 231 mph on Mt Washington on April 12, 1934, (the date my mother-in-law was born), a hurricane doesn’t rate the name until it has consistent winds of 75 mph, and a Category 5 hurricane must have winds of 155 mph or more. The Fujita Scale gives a rough description of the kind of damage that you might expect from strong winds due to tornadoes. From that it looks like the Mono Winds are definitely on the gentle side of serious. However, they are still strong enough to knock down trees and branches, and that poses the biggest danger to people and property here. (Woe to the few remaining autumn leaves that thought they might hold out for another week or so.)

It’s best to be prepared, so the executive team met to discuss possible emergency measures. They are taking the situation seriously. A tree fell down early in the day near where I live in Curry Village. Certain evening programs were cancelled as people were encouraged to stay indoors, and some residents were asked to prepare in case they needed to be evacuated quickly – if a tree fell and hit their building, for example. I called Tom and suggested that he move the car to an open area out from under any trees. The climate around me started to feel a little jumpy. People were trying to figure out what they were going to do with their pets, where they would go etc., and when it came time for me to leave for the evening, the prospect of walking alone in the dark for a mile back to my apartment was starting to make me nervous.

Thank goodness for cell phones. I called Tom and made idle chit chat as I walked, figuring that if the freak accident did occur, at least he would know to call 911 quickly, and I chose a route home that avoided overhanging trees as much as possible. I think that walk home felt like being a mouse for a few minutes – like something big might come crashing down on you at any moment. Best to be alert, and just this side of paranoid. Other than being blustery, it was a beautiful night, crunching my way through all the leaves and pine needles that covered the walkways and roads, but it was hard to enjoy it. All in all, I’ll be happy when it is over. Hopefully we’ll all enjoy a peaceful and uneventful night.

On the plus side was the discovery of road biking, cool days, misc. writing projects (not here) and learning about meditation. I completed a 10-day silent meditation retreat and came out feeling invincible – or as another meditator said ‘like I could dodge bullets in the Matrix’.

I finished up a volunteering stint with NPS interpretation at the Visitor’s Center, and am excited to explore new opportunities for a mid-week opportunity to volunteer to help with youth education in the park. With the few short hours I am willing to spare each week, I expect I won’t be able to get as much face-time with the youth as I might like, but it will feel good to have contributed in some small way. Volunteering, by the way, is amazing. Even within the context of a small place like Yosemite, there are so many opportunities to see different perspectives and learn new things.

The rental business has been busy and fun. It’s interesting to meet the people that come from all over to stay with us for a short time, and be part of their vacation. And this year we’ve had so much help from Donald and Sarah who’ve made it easy to do the work part.

My milestone birthday came and went, and I’m planning a 5th boulder day party to celebrate and also to remember some of the people that helped me out so much back then. It’s not just the summer that’s flashed by – the last 5 years have disappeared like magic. If I think about it – the last decade or two has too.

This bear explored the trap from every angle, trying to get inside.

Bear distraction

On the way through Yosemite Valley to look for them, we stopped to watch a young bear exploring a bear trap. If the door hadn’t been locked closed, I’m sure NPS would have itself a trapped bear, because this bear was trying as hard as it could to find a way in. It sniffed at all the openings, tugged on the door, swiped several times at the padlock in the back, and climbed all around and under that trap. Bears are so cool.

As usual, whenever there is a bear close to the road, a huge crowd gathers, and it was disconcerting how comfortable this bear seemed to be in spite of all the people around. Unfortunately, it’s precisely this bear’s comfort with people that is likely to get it in trouble. A little bit of fear, judiciously placed, can keep bears out of the wrong situations. Hopefully, it won’t end up as a sad bear story over on JeffreyTrust.com.

It’s always a treat to see an untagged bear – even if it is probably on its way to earning a tag.

Knobcone Pines

Knob Cone Pine sapling

There are plenty of great animals that don’t get their proper attention because of how common they are – like robins, which are really great birds – but there is something special about going to a place to see something that you can’t just see anywhere. Plus, these trees have some really cool and interesting biology.

Instead of dangling its cones out on the ends of a branch like most pines, the knobcone pine shelters them in around the stem and trunk in small clusters, and is reluctant to give them up. Sometimes the trees hold onto the pine cones for so long that the tree actually grows around the cones, swallowing the still viable cones into the growing trunk. Did you catch that? So if you cut down one of these trees and found one of these cones embedded in the wood like an insect in amber, you could still extract the seeds, plant them, and watch them grow. Nature is amazing.

If you look carefully, above the open and blackened pine cones, you can see the still unopened cones waiting for the next fire.

Now that we know what to look for, maybe we’ll start seeing knobcones all over the park. According to Yosemite Naturalist extraordinaire, Pete Devine, there are some in the Rockefeller Grove, and the Sierra Nevada Tree Identifier says there are supposed to be some on Hwy 140 above the Arch Rock Entrance Station. But the ones that we saw were on the Foresta Road, right after the first sharp right turn as you head down from Hwy 120. The burnt out tree skeletons give you the first sign that you should stop the car, climb out and start looking around.

Rockefeller Grove

We also finally got around to exploring the Rockefeller Grove. This area is supposed to be known for the old sugar pines that were saved from logging back in 1939 when the Rockefeller Foundation matched contributions to set it aside as part of the park. We didn’t notice the knobcone pines there, but we didn’t know what to look for yet.

Sugar pines have a special place in our hearts. There are two ~80 year old sugar pines on our small chunk of land in Yosemite West. The fact that they drip pine sap and occasionally pine cone bombs onto everything we own, is offset by the fact that they seem to attract Chickarees to our property, and I love watching those little squirrels. Plus, sugar pines are Pinus lambertiana, aka the Lambert pine, so really, they are like family. Having seen an enormous but unheralded sugar pine on the ski from the transfer station to the Mariposa Grove, I had visions in my mind of similar-sized trees clustered in huge numbers at the Rockefeller Grove. Not so.

There are some good-sized sugar and ponderosa/jeffrey pines along the way. It’s a beautiful walk through the forest, and would be an even better XC ski, with a gentle grade especially good for beginners, but ultimately not much different than the forests closer to our house. I hear there are some amazing sugar pines closer to Hodgdon…

The Sentinel Hotel was located right on the bank of the Merced River and used to release its sewage directly into the river. Ew!

One of the things I learned that was that the Sentinel Hotel used to be located right at the edge of the Merced River and dumped its sewage directly into the water. According to Sue Beatty, this is why the campers all moved upstream of the hotel, and ultimately one of the reasons that so many of the current campgrounds are located at the west end of the valley.

Devils Elbow - pre and post restoration

One of the more striking before and after images, for me, was of Devil’s Elbow in 1993 vs 1995. You wouldn’t think that two years could make such a dramatic difference, but restoration crews and planners managed to turn a tired, trampled picnic area back into a place of natural beauty. It’s almost hard to believe that this is the same location until you notice the boulder in the river in both pictures. Now, I’m told that willows, a sign of healthy riparian ecosystems have also returned to the area. Hoorah! We can make a difference.

A rare orchid was seen growing next to a boardwalk in a once trampled meadow.

Yesterday I did something that I rarely make the time to do – I went to one of the Evening Programs put on by either NPS or DNC Interpretation. After a long day at work, it can be hard to motivate for anything other than a relaxing evening at home. However, this program was being given by film-maker, Steve Bumgardner, on the making of Yosemite Nature Notes which I love. Plus Tom planned to spend the evening at a YWPHI meeting, so I thought I’d check it out.

I’m glad I did. I’ve seen most of the Yosemite Nature Notes videos before, especially the most recent ones, but even I saw some new stuff, like the the previews of episodes to come, and enjoyed listening to Steve’s take on the park, on filming in the park, and sharing Yosemite’s magic with people. I suppose it isn’t that surprising that a guy who makes his living telling stories on film, can put together a fun series of stories in person too.

We got to watch three of the finished YNNs, starting with the most recent video on Horsetail Falls, the Glaciers Episode, and then the Big Trees Episode which narrowly won out over the very popular Frazil Ice video as the parting shot. Plus, a couple of shorter pieces – some ‘making of’ shots, and a timelapse of Yosemite’s crowded spots which drew out-loud giggles from the crowd in many places.

During the making of sequences, Steve talks on camera about how difficult it is for people to get to remote corners of the park, like Mt. McClure and Mt Lyell where the glaciers still live, and the pleasure of being able to share some part of that experience with people via camera. I hadn’t thought of these films in quite that way before, but it’s true. I’ve been asked if there’s enough to do in Yosemite for 3 days, and these films are the start to a visual answer to that question. If I think about all the things that make Yosemite special, the ideas for film topics goes on and on. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Moonbow episode, and whatever comes of the backcountry ski/backcountry hut footage. What about the High Sierra Camps? Big Time? Climbers and Big Wall climbing? Each person who has spent time in Yosemite has this running list of things in their mind of what makes this place so special. There are rafters, and hikers, and painters, and people that hang a hammock out by the river and spend all day with a good book. What kinds of things do they think are amazing? What else belongs on that list?

Tom and Bruce on the NFS trail to the Mariposa Grove

The transfer station just outside the park boundary isn’t a very auspicious trailhead, but there were several families there picnicking in the parking lot and playing on the snowbanks. We snapped on our XC skis and headed straight off into the woods guided by Tom’s unerring sense for fun, and it wasn’t long before we run right into blazes that looked suspiciously like trail markers along a nice wide road/trail, and then even trail signs with faded lettering and icons of XC skiers. Goal!

Giant Sugar Pine just inside the Park

After just a little more skiing, we skied over the still half-buried gate marking the park boundary, and come across one of the most amazing sugar pines I’ve seen. (We haven’t been to the Rockefeller Grove yet, where the biggest of the big sugar pines are supposed to stand, but these were pretty amazing.)

Stream crossing

A sense of anticipation drove us on. I couldn’t wait to see those sequoias, and then just as we started feeling like we were getting close, a fast running creek blocked our way. Tom sure-footed and confident immediately found a way across, but both Bruce and I vetoed the crossing as being too sketchy, and we decided to ski upstream for a little while to see if we could find anything more reassuring. The next opportunity was an fat downed log lying across the creek. In the summer time this would have been an easy crossing, but with snow piled high on the log, the footing seemed less certain, more slippery and more likely to collapse or do other unexpected things. Also, it was high enough that I imagined a tumble before a head first splash into the freezing water below. Tom forged the way – kicking his feet carefully to test the snow beneath him. Bruce bravely carried his skis across, but I asked Tom to carry mine so I could focus on my footing. It went just fine. Easy even.

Once that hurdle was crossed, we headed off again with excitement until we crested a small ridge and popped out just across the road from the Grizzly Giant. We had lunch, shared the view of the trees with a few people who’d walked up the road from the parking lot, and then even though there really is no place like the upper grove in winter, opted to ski back down our trail to continue the rest of our day, celebrating the whole while our extraordinary luck that the main road to the grove had been plowed.

Tom with the Grizzly Giant in the background

Actually, the warm temperature has created trouble of its own for us. All the melting snow is slowly puddling up on our property, and Tom spent the day digging a drainage trench and carrying buckets of water out of our crawl space. Fortunately, DNC facilities let me borrow a sump pump so that we’re not going to have to do that in shifts throughout the night! Tomorrow’s forecast for warm rain over all that snow uphill of us still has us biting our nails, but it’s going to be ever so much better with that pump!

In a certain twist of irony, as we battle too much water in the crawlspace, we’re also dealing with no water in the tap. The county guys have been here for a couple of days and with all the snow and melting they can’t even find the source of the leak, much less work on repairing it. The water has been out for about a week now, and the county has decided to save money by not having their crews work through the weekend.

We’ll be fine, of course. It’s like camping, with the bonus of heat and electricity, but after the big storm, lots of us are ready for a return to normal, and of course the renters that had planned to stay this weekend weren’t very excited about the lack of water. We found them a place to stay in El Portal, at Yosemite View Lodge, so they’ll be fine, but we’re sad to see them go.

Tom in front of the snowbank in front of our house

Tom and I missed most of the drama. Returning from a wonderful weekend in Bishop visiting a friend, we saw no need to wait for the convoy and fight our way INTO that situation when we had wonderful welcoming friends who were willing to host us for a few days. While friends dealt with 42 degree INDOOR temps, no hot showers, and the like, we were taking walks in the central valley sun, having dinner with friends, watching movies IN THE MOVIE THEATER – a rarity for us, and telecommuting happily from our computers, showering, doing laundry and enjoying central heat.

Looking out at our front porch

When we finally did return to the park on Sunday, we were greeted by many neighbors as we made our way down the single plowed lane to our house. One neighbor who’d stayed through the entire ordeal, and had been doing daily shoveling duty wandered down to our house with his shovel over his shoulder to help us dig out. Another neighbor with a bobcat plowed through the 10-11 foot berm in front of our driveway and created a spot for us to park, a third neighbor took some extra time with a plow to clear our street, and widen the mouth of the parking spot, and a forth neighbor, having finished his driveway drove down later to make sure we were doing OK. How could we not be OK with awesome neighbors like that?

That’s my Yosemite.