Monday - Did it again!

The internet is very very slow tonight so I might not be able to post any pictures.   I'll try, but if it doesn't work, check back again.

After lunch we decided to drive up Whitney Portal Road to see the beautiful waterfall everyone has been telling us about.  It is at the end of the road, as high as one can drive (8700 ft. above sea level) and the peak is another 5800 feet higher!   It sounds like an impossible hike to the top, the road was bad enough. Yes, I knew it would be another one of those white knuckle rides for me, I must be really stupid.

It was an interesting drive through the brown Alabama Hills that we've been seeing along 395.  They are really different than we'd expected.  Not smooth hills, but huge piles of rocks thrown about as if a giant child were playing in a stone pile.

OK, I just tried to post just one picture and I sat here for almost 15 minutes, so no pictures tonight.  I'll try them again in the morning.

We stopped, took several pictures and walked down to a noisy stream following along with us.  After we passed through the hills and came out the other side, the scenery was very flat and expansive right up to the slopes of the Sierras.  I could see our road ahead and I screwed up my courage, ya just can't not do things because they scare you, right?

I think I need to start rating these winding up and down roads on degree of difficulty.  But, what kind of difficulty?  My difficulty in tolerating the climb, number of guard rails, sharpness of curves, surface condition of the road itself, distance from the wall to the edge of the cliff, how sweaty Dave's hands get, what fantastic thing is at the top/bottom?   I'll think on it a bit and perhaps I can come up with some sort of scale.

This one was rough, the road was rough, the climb was steep, the drop offs were sheer, the temperature dropped, but Oh, the waterfall at the top was worth it.  I wish I could let you smell the cool pine scented air at the end of the road, or hear the babbling of the brook below the ice crusted falls.  I saw a new to us bird bobbing its tail at me next to the cold water - an American Dipper.  My blood pressure went down and my muscles relaxed as we climbed over the rocks to see more of the icy water.

The way down, hmmmmm.  As Dave drove, I poured myself a cup of water, drank it, found a little snack and ate it, checked the pictures I'd taken so far, scrutinized the rock walls, thought about what to have for dinner, wondered how you all were doing with Miss Sandy, everything I could do but notice how little there was between me and the valley floor thousands of feet below.

I took a couple of interesting pictures of the Alabama Hills from the Sierra side, they really look pretty insignificant from this perspective.  I'll show you tomorrow.

Well, Dancing With The Stars is on, so I'll close for now and try again in the morning.