Spring break started a few days early as i drove up to Yosemite National Park on Wednesday evening to interview with the Yosemite Institute for a job next year as a Field Science Educator. After spending the day in the field with YI on Thursday and interviewing on Friday, i was free to enjoy being in Yosemite during a beautiful time of year. As 120 past Crane Flat is still closed due to the ton of snow still up there, i spent my time bumming around the valley, crashing at Camp 4 and trying to find hikes that were both away from the crowds and not totally covered in snow. The weather in the Valley was beautiful and i enjoyed running past El Cap each morning, trying to picture myself living in Yosemite and spending each and every day hiking around the park. Decisions, decisions....
Most of these photos are from my hike up the Snow Creek Trail near Mirror Lake. The trail's rather large vertical gain means that i saw relatively few people, but got a great view of Half Dome and Tanaya Canyon from the top.
The view of Half Dome from a rocky outcrop near the top of the climb
Enjoying a rather chill day of hiking by lounging (Crazy Creek and all) at my lunch spot with North Dome in the background.
Snow Creek above Tanaya Canyon was still surrounded by winter, a sharp contrast to the hot and dry climb up the side of the valley. 
The trail sign at the top of Snow Creek. As it turns out, you can hike all the way to Yosemite Falls from here, which would make a great 20ish mile day hike. It was certainly tempting, but i was trying to keep the hike relatively chill and all the snow at the top would have made it slow going. Maybe a trip for later this spring. This trail also leads all the way into Tuolumne Meadows, linking up with the trails to May Lake and Glen Aulin. What i really liked about this sign, though, was its muppet-like mop of green lichen hair sitting on top.
More lichen photos. It was so green!
The view up Tanaya Canyon. Basket Dome is in the foreground and in the background you can just barely see the top of Clouds Rest.
On my way home on Sunday, i took a side trip to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir simply because it was there and i had never been. Hetch Hetchy is lower in elevation than Yosemite Valley, low enough that i had to side step quite a bit of poison oak along the trail. It is also much drier than the Valley; the sides of the reservoir were pretty rocky and brushy with not nearly as many coniforous trees. Throughout my hike, i kept trying to picture what it must have looked like before the dam was built. It was a beautiful, if a bit strange place, but definitely worth a return visit at some point. 
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