Photographic meanderings

Highways 120 from Groveland, 41, and 140 are all open into the park. Highway 120 westbound from Lee Vining remains closed. (Like, duh…)

Taken on the Stoneman Meadow road, Jan 22, 2010. For the first time in the five (almost) years I’ve been here, Yosemite was closed to incoming traffic due to tree hazards in Yosemite Valley.

Unconfirmed reports that Highway 140 is open to incoming traffic as of now. Best source of information on road closures and conditions is 1-209-372-0200. Be prepared–bring food, water, warm clothing and blankets, and snow chains.

Currently, NOAA is predicting a 10% chance of snow today–but a quick glance out my window makes me think it’s going to snow shortly. That can change.

It’s a deadly beauty, folks. Be careful out there.

Wish I could have gotten to the west end of the valley, but at this time Northside Drive is closed to all traffic due to downed trees. NPS is discouraging people from walking about the valley due to falling tree hazards. Still, it’s gorgeous if you can get to it.

Bands of color march toward a pinnacle-capped ridge.

I met this young man and his girlfriend Lian at Mesquite Dunes on my first morning in Death Valley. His name is Chris Noble, and his website is http://doglikehorse.com

Chris and Lian know a some friends of mine who used to work here in Yosemite!

For some time now, every time I logged into my WordPress control panel, I saw an update nag. WordPress 2.9.1 has been out for a while, but I really don’t like upgrading by hand, and the “automagical” update feature wasn’t working.

Through various sources, I discovered that my SQL database was too old; That’s why the autoupdate feature would hang on downloading the new WordPress files.

I also found out you can’t update an old database (mySQL 4.x to 5.x). You must create a new database, import the data from the old db, and edit the wp-config.php file.

I’m still having some issues–my RSS feed seems to be ger-borken, and to be honest, I’ve had it up to here (^) with trying to figure out what to do to fix stuff that isn’t working. It’s going to have to wait.

I’d not make a good web log admin.
(UPDATE: RSS feed issue seems to have resolved itself–thanks to Rich for letting me know!)

In other news, it’s finally stopped snowing here, and it’s a mess. Roads are pretty nasty, and you really NEED chains if you don’t have a 4-wheel drive car. Small branches (thickness the size of my thumb) are beginning to break under the weight. I’m worried about branches breaking and falling on my car.

Yes, I moved my car.

And that’s the news from Yosemite Valley.

I have no idea what I did, really, but comments are fixed again. Go figure!

Huge thanks to Loyd Schutte of Yosemiteblog.com for walking me through modifying my style.css file to fix the position of my sidebar!

FTW, Loyd is now working freelance as a designer; Check out his webpage
http://WalkaboutDesign.net. He’s patient with utter newbies, and knowledgeable about WordPress themes. Got a website issue? Need business cards? Talk to Loyd. Tell him you heard it at the Little Red Tent!

ETA: Loyd also clued me in to Twitter Tools, a plugin for WordPress that automagically sends a tweet when I post!

Virga is seen over the Panamint Range, on the western side of Death Valley National Park. This image was shot just after sunrise from my campsite on my first full day.

While the view from Red Pass on the Titus Canyon road is lovely, it will have to wait until another trip; It was raining, misty and the light was terrible for shooting. I found myself fascinated by this dead bush clinging to the embankment at the side of the road.

(Edited: Yes, Rich, dead bushes don’t grow. Thanks for pointing out that rather embarassing fact!)