Tenaya Creek at Mirror Lake

The weather has not been optimal for photographing the tops of the granite cliffs which tower over the Yosemite Valley, although we did walk to Mirror Lake in a mist which periodically became rain. We have visited Mirror Lake over the decades, and the prevailing wisdom has always been that it is slowly silting up and becoming 'Mirror Meadow'. A new sign erected there by the National Park Service informed us today that the current theory is that it is a 'Seasonal Lake', a pond within a river that ebbs and flows with the volume of water in Tenaya Creek flowing down to the valley from the high country.

Although at this time of year the amount of water in the falls that drop 4,000 feet from the top of the granite cliffs should be much greater, we were pleased to see that they are flowing. A lot of the trails to the tops of these falls are closed right now, because it is snowing in the high country, which is a good sign….

I've added a picture of the Great Lounge in the Ahwahnee Hotel…not a bad place to go with a book when the clouds lower or the legs give up.