Yosemite 2

The El Capitan bridge was just nearby and the water was the same beautiful green. This is looking downstream.


Looking upstream with the flank of El Capitan in the background.


Really, really green. It was also interesting to see the number of trees and other rubbish in the river.


This is Bridalveil falls, which comes from a hanging valley, so called because the end of the valley has been cut by a glacial and left it hanging. This is looking across the Merced river and Bridalveil meadow.


Bridalveil Falls.


This is looking at Ribbon Falls from the road in front of Bridalveil Falls. El Capitan is to the right.


A different view of El Capitan.


I stopped along the river in front of the Catherdral rocks and found all the rocks covered in a layer of snow. The water was very cold ...


I was amazed the moss could grow, never mind looking as healthy as it is.


The ice on the 'beach' at Catherdral Beach looked amazing.


Very layered and jagged looking.


El Capitan. Again. This is one of my favourite photos for the subtle play of light across the rock, picking out and defingin the crags and crevices.


Further down the flank of El Capitan with Horsetail Falls disappearing into the rockface.


I can't figure out why it's closed.


I found a flooded meadow near the village with a great view of Half Dome, the sun was setting behind me.


More tree reflections.


I wasn't sure if the sun was going to kick for a great sunset, but eventually it did.


It turned a lovely pink after the gold.


And then a deep red.


And then the sky lit up.


The meadow looked like it was on fire.


Looking west was also beautiful.


And South.


And a last photo of Half Dome glowing red.

Yosemite.

I was given the opportunity for a weekend at Yosemite. My GPS took me a different way in, that lead me up the river instead of over the mountains. It was also half an hour longer. The wierd thing was that it then took me home across the mountains ... Go figure.

The river was actually very scenic and the morning was great.


It also meant the I went into the park through a different entrance. A very different entrance.


The river here was a bit calmer and very green.


I was soon back in familiar territory. Anyone recognise this rock ?


This tree was looking more forlorn and cold.


One more winter comparision.


The snow looked like it was water lapping around the fallen leaves.


There was a lot more water coming over the Upper Yosemite Falls and there was snow at the bottom.


I finally made it to Camp Curry and checked in. This is the tent. Note the large heater on the back right wall.


This is the entrance to the tent complete with bear locker, although it looked too small to fit a bear in, and it was bare.


The cloud had closed in by this stage and it was bright overcast, not ideal for photos. I walked the Lower Yosemite Falls trail which was an easy 1.6 km wheelchair accessible trail. The high point was the bridge over the river, looking downstream was this.


And upstream was the Lower Yosemite Falls.


I scrambled around the rocks to the right and got reasonably close to the base of the falls, not as close as some though.


I was trying to get a shot where you could see both falls, but I was up against the fence next to the bridge and I couldn't quite make it. The upper falls come through the vee in the top right.


I set off back down the track to the car and found an amazing rock covered in thick moss.


There was a great 3D map of the tracks around the falls and I decide to attempt the track to the upper falls the next day. The track I was just on, is the circular one to the left of the sign on the map.


I got a much better shot of both waterfalls nearer to the road. you'd almost think the trees had been felled in line with the falls ...


I saw a note about frazil ice on one of the signs and looked it up as I had heard the term before. There's a Youtube video here that explains what it is. Looks like I'll be going back in March or April to try and see some.


I kept exploring and found a very cool flooded meadow.


The trees and their reflections were even better.


I turned around and realised that I was in front of El Capitan. I couldn't see any climbers though.


There was a thin trickle of water down El Capitan, which I worked out was Horsetail Falls and that the trees and their reflection were in El Capitan meadow.


After eating a late lunch, I found a great place to shoot the sunset, but that's for tomorrow ... ;)

Sous Vide Eggs

Sous vide (pronnounced sue veed) is French for "under vacuum" which is an incorrect description of this cooking method. It should really be water bath, but that doesn't sound anywhere as near as exciting.

Sous vide is an very interesting cooking method as it relies on lower temperatures and longer cooking times to achieve the necessary pasturisation of the food.

The easiest food to do sous vide is eggs, mainly because you don't have to vacuum seal them first, like you have to with meat.

So first the brains of my sous vide cooker.

The white wire is an American style triple adaptor, a short length of wire with three outlets on one end, plug on the other. The active wire on this has been cut and wired into the back of the temperature controller. The black power pack is providing the 12V DC for the temperature controller. The brown wire leads to the thermocouple.
The temperature controller reads the temperature of the water via the thermocouple and switches the triple adaptor on if it is below the set point or switches it off if it is above the setpoint. I simply plug a slow cooker into the adaptor, stick the thermocouple in the water and have a temperature controlled water bath.

So, I filled the water bath, programmed the setpoint to be 65 degrees C and went for a bike ride. When I came back, the water bath was up to temperature and I gently lowered a couple of eggs in the water. (You can see the other end of the thermocouple in the top corner.)


An hour later, I made some toast and cracked the eggs on top. Perfect poached eggs.

The whites were soft and the yolks had a texture and consistency somewhere between honey and vegemite, spreadable and ever so slightly sticky.