(N37° 52.620 W119° 20.780)
About a year ago I visited Lyell Canyon. I had never been there before so my brother and I were in the mood to check it out. So, we got up early in the morning, and travelled into Yosemite to the parking lot near Tuolumne Meadows. This is where the above coordinates get you.
We then got onto the John Muir Trail and started going south into Lyell Canyon. I didn't take many pictures that early morning, but did more on the way back. So, this next picture really doesn't show what it was like that morning. There weren't any clouds and the grass was light-orange and green looking at the time.
This trail is rather easy. There is very little uphill in it. The problem is it got really repetitive the more we went. The scenery alternated between big open areas like this back to cramped tree forested areas. Like here, after crossing the stream I was about to enter the forest of trees again.
We were following the trail that ran parallel with Lyell Fork River. For most of what we did it was right beside us.
We encountered some wildlife on the way, and off the trail we could see a few tents, but we were mostly alone the whole time we were there. We might have encountered a few John Muir Trail hikers coming into Yosemite, but most of the people we saw hiking were from the Tuolumne Meadows area when we made our way back to the trailhead. The following picture is looking back at where we had come from. Again, this was later in the morning while heading back. On the way there were no clouds like this.
Along the way we finally saw Mt. Lyell through the forest of trees:
This ended up being my modest goal of the hike. I just wanted to view Mt. Lyell and it's glacier from a shorter distance than where I have normally seen it. Usually, I am on top of a local mountain when I view it.
It was not too much longer before a big meadow opened up, and I was able to view it. That will be in Part 2.
Relaxing in Lyell Canyon (Youtube Version)
Relaxing in Lyell Canyon (Vimeo Version)
The music from Incompetech.com that I used in the video is called Clean Soul.
