The Traveling Widower

Category: travel

Default category for all travel related posts.

  • More Bears and Lousy Drivers on Glacier Point

    Panoramic view of a mountain landscape at sunset, featuring a prominent granite peak, lush green vegetation, and a colorful sky with scattered clouds.

    10th, Sept, 2026

    I had a very quick recovery period from my Alaska adventure – I returned on Saturday night, and was leaving for Yosemite on the following Thursday. A short trip – I was meeting some friends of ours (I still use the plural…hard habit to break) on Friday, to tour around the park and I wanted to try and capture some Milky Way shots over Half Dome, so I planned to get there the day before, and maybe even get a short hike in. I’ll never learn.

    There are a couple of routes for driving to Yosemite from Sacramento, all of them circuitous with a lot of 2 lane winding roads. I chose my favorite, which avoids all highways, and passes through a lot of the smaller towns. A fun drive. This time it was a pain, with lots of slow traffic – I made it to the park around 2PM, after three and a half hours. I had hoped to get there a lot earlier, but overslept by two hours, a rarity for me.

    I had a choice as I sat in more traffic just past the entry (road work) – I could go to the hotel and relax for a while, or head up Glacier Point to check it out for the evening photo session, and hike for a while. I should have gone for the former. The drive to get to Glacier Point goes past Bridalveil Falls, and then 15 miles on winding, 2 lane Wanona Road, and another 16 miles up to Glacier Point. And I planned to do that again before sunset. Dumb. Yosemite is not quite as crowded as it would be before Labor Day, but there were still hordes of tourists, most of whom are from the flatlands and have never driven on a mountain road. Or understand that there are turnouts along the road for a good reason – if you have a line of cars behind you, with drivers who appear to be screaming at their windshield, then maybe you should pull over and let the go buy.

    A line of cars parked along a winding road in a mountainous area, surrounded by tall trees and rocky terrain, with a prominent mountain peak in the background.
    Not real..AI generated

    So, my 34 mile drive turned into a frustrating, very lengthy, blood pressure climbing experience – I opted out to stop most of the way up to cool off and stretch my legs on a hike. The constant braking was not helping my cramp prone legs.

    There were two hikes starting from the same place that I’ve always wanted to do, both relatively short. One went up Sentinel Dome (nothing like that other one with the cable route), and the other to Tioga Point/Fissures. I opted for the one with the least elevation gain – the Fissures. 

    A narrow pathway winding through a forest of tall pine trees, with shadows cast on the ground.

    And once again, I somehow managed to forget the fact that I live at sea level, and was now hiking at about 7000’ with no preparation. My heart did not. The trail was easy, but my BPM was pretty high, so after about three quarters of a mile, I decided maybe I should just go back to the hotel. Which entailed traveling behind the slow drivers once again. Even worse – one of the big park buses. At least he pulled over once there were about 20 cars stacked up behind. But, I still managed to get to the hotel by 5:30…and had to leave again by 6:30. Not a lot of time to relax.

    After snarfing down the sandwich I brought along and unpacking, I headed back to the car for what I hoped would be a stress free drive to Glacier Point, a mere 34 miles. No luck there. Apparently, this is the place to be for sunset, along with the Tunnel View which is along the way. So I once again had drivers crawling along at every turn, ignoring the lines of cars behind them. There are turn-offs pretty much every mile along the road, and one car ignored them all until close to the end. Grrrrr. And as I sped up for the last mile, I had to brake quickly. Bears!!! Black bears of course, a mother and two little cubs. I stopped as did a car approaching from the other direction, and the bear family ran off into the woods. Nice to see. But no photos….darn.

     I made it to the parking lot by 7:30, with enough light left to find a reasonable place to shoot Half Dome with the Milky Way. The view was spectacular without the stars, And the viewing areas and parking lot were crowded – a very popular place for sunset photography, and for night sky viewing.

    I was the only person with a tripod and camera, which attracted people for some strange reason – I guess it’s odd to see someone who is not photographing with their phone. So I got to talk to a lot of folks, which I enjoy. One couple came over and asked if I could take their picture. Of course! He handed me an antique camera – a Kodak film camera! No screen to review the image….how primitive.

    A person holding a Kodak Ektar H35N half frame camera with a silver and orange design.

    Eventually, nightfall came about, and the stars appeared. I was using the PhotoPills application to figure out where the Milky Way would be – unfortunately, it was very thin since the brightest sections had already passed. Not very impressive. So I just settled for taking starry night photos with Halfdome as a backdrop. It was pitch black up there, which is always fun for me, trying to move around without tripping and falling off a cliff. But I was not alone this time – there were large groups of star gazers, walking around with flashlights. Not a good thing when you are taking long exposure (30 second) shots. Even worse – a newly wedded couple brought a photographer along, and setup right behind me…taking flash photos. More stress. 

    I played around with with the camera, took a bunch of shots but nowhere near what I expected, and decided to head back to the hotel much sooner than planned. The Milky Way was not going to get any better, and I was getting tired after a lot of driving. So, I very carefully hiked back to the car, and started the long way back. It was extremely dark, and just getting out of the parking lot was a challenge. But once I found the road, it was easy driving….until I quickly came up on someone who clearly had never driven at night, on a mountain road. Going 15 mph below the speed limit, and constantly braking, then speeding up, then braking. Pretty soon, he had four cars behind him and of course, ignored all the turnouts. When we reached the main Winona road, I was hoping he would turn left. No such luck. I now had another 12 miles ahead with this idiot, before we hit the Bridalveil Falls turnout. And with all the unnecessary braking, my right leg was already beginning to cramp. 

    To make a long, miserable story a bit shorter:

    1. I did not ram into his car out of frustration, nor did one of the cars behind me speed up, pass me, and fire a shotgun out his window to blow the guy off the road.
    2. I did pass him eventually when we reached the two land loop road
    3. My leg did cramp up, and I did have to very carefully drive the last 9 miles back to the hotel, where I had one of those magic shots of pickle juice waiting for me. Always works for cramps.

    So after all that, I went through the 30 photos I got – not what I was hoping for (beautiful Milky Way cutting through Half Dome), but there were a few nice, starry night shots, with the granite peaks below. These all had to be heavily curated with Light Room Classic – just a little artistic creativity added. Here’s a few:

    A panoramic night sky filled with stars over a mountain landscape, featuring visible constellations and meteors streaking across the sky.
    Night sky filled with stars above a mountain landscape, featuring a prominent rock formation, clouds, and silhouetted trees.
    A starry night sky over a mountainous landscape, featuring the Milky Way and multiple shooting stars, capturing the beauty of nature.

    Today my friends show up, and we’ll tour around the park. A nice, relaxed drive. I may go to a closer location tonight, the famous Tunnel View parking lot, a few miles away, and try for a few more night sky shots. What the heck…I’m here.

    Peace

  • Grizzly/Brown Bear Trip – Random Thoughts On My Alaska Trip

    A large black and white fishing vessel named 'Ursus' anchored in calm waters, surrounded by lush green hills and mountains under a clear blue sky.

    Sept 6th, 2026

    I usually remember things I wanted to include in my trip posts after a day or two home. I also come up with a bunch of random thoughts about the trip like issues I thought I’d have but did not or issues I did not think I’d have but did. I’ll stop there before I dive too deep into Dick Cheney type logic. 

    Brown vs. Grizzly Bear – our guide lectured about this somewhere along the way. The trip was billed by NatHab as a Grizzly Bear tour but in reality, we were dealing with Coastal Brown Bears. Both are the same species (Ursus Arctos), and are classified as Brown Bears. Grizzly bears do have a sub-species classification, horribilis. Sounds terrible. The difference is basically location and to some degree, diet and behavior. Grizzly bears live inland – Denali, the Pacific Northwest states and Canada, while Katmai and Kodiak are Coastal Brown Bears. The inland bears subsist on berries, grasses and preying on other animals, while coastal subsist on fish rather than animals. I’d be snacking on those annoying and loud sea gulls though if I were a coastal bear.

    Traveling solo – even after all the trips I’ve been on, I still worry about having to interact with a group of complete strangers, especially when it’s a small group like this trip. But unlike the larger cruise ships, where I have to deal with the dreaded “May I join you” moment the first night, there was no choice on who to sit with. There was just the eight of us plus the guide, and one table. It was like a big family gathering, passing plates of food around, sharing stories, bad jokes, fun jabs at each other. This was one of the best trips I’ve had so far in terms of interactions, maybe the best. 

    I’m old, just deal with it – this is probably the first time I have accepted help from others, when I needed a hand getting up a big step or steep slope while hiking, or just needed a steady arm to hold on to while crossing a stream, or walking across a rocky surface. I really did appreciate that helping hand on this trip from our guide, and also from the younger members of our group. I have to accept the fact that I’m the same age as some of their grand parents, and just say thank you. 

    Nat Hab vs. Nat Geo – this was my first Natural Habitat Adventures trip, after having six straight trips with National Geographic. Obviously the ship and accommodations would not compare with what I’ve experienced with NatGeo – different trips, but the lead/guides and crew from NatHab were top notch, and overall trip organization were just as good. This was really two trips – Kodiak and Katmai. Both leads were excellent, very focused on our safety and comfort. I was surprised to be picked up at the Kodiak airport since I came in a day early. They get points for that. The guide/leader on the Ursus was awesome. Given my experience with my land-only Iceland trip, I currently think NatHab did a much better job with travel arrangements than National Geographic – Lindblad handles all the cruises and they have fantastic travel support. National Geographic land expeditions have almost no support, not even a portal for managing trip arrangements. I have two more Nat Geo/Lindblad this year, and four more NatHab trips next year. I’m sure they will all be fantastic. 

    The Ursus Chef – I never really mentioned the food on this trip. This was different than the National Geo/Lindblad trips, where you have a large dining room with a significant staff, which serves a variety of main courses with each meal. On the Ursus, we had a fantastic chef who lives part time in Hawaii when not in Alaska, amd who had to feed a small group (13 including herself and the crew) nutritious and filling meals, in a small galley with limited storage space for ingredients. She did an amazing job. And she is publishing a recipe book for what she serves on the Ursus, and one of my photos may be in the book. I’ll be ordering a copy for sure.

    A major oops – I was in a rush when the hotel van showed up way early at the hotel to take us to the airport. After checking my luggage at the airport I discovered that I had left my iPad at the hotel. I immediately panicked of course. But, one of the attendants at the Alaska Air counter called a cab for me, and 10 minutes later, a Ford pickup showed up with a really pleasant, local driver, who got me to the hotel and back in about 20 minutes. She would have just picked up the iPad for me if I had asked. Either way, I made it back with plenty of time.

    Disappointments – Just a few. First would be not getting the fly around of Denali, but that still worked out with the flight that I did go on. Second would be not seeing a moose, other than at the wildlife conservancy thing. I hiked in two parks around Anchorage, but came up empty although I did see this one at the airport. It seemed pretty tame.

    Taxidermy moose displayed indoors with a colorful ceiling mural and decorative plants in the background.

    Another disappointment was how sloppy and careless I was with my photography. Once again, I shot without checking my settings, and lost probably half of the action shots (too soft) because I did not reset my shutter speed. Dumb – that’s why I consider myself to be an amateur photographer. I still do really stupid things. My last disappointment of course were the puffins, especially after seeing the photograph my cabin mate got of the classic shot of a flying puffin with a beak full of fish. He was just so annoying with all those great bird pictures. Just kidding Dave. I had the wrong lens. And probably the lack of experience as well.  But I get another chance next summer in Iceland. I’ll be better prepared for sure.

    What worried me….needlessly – if you follow my blog regularly, you can probably guess that I tend to be high strung, a worrier about small details. Yeah, in first grade, I had a panic attack about not having straws for our milk break and they had to call my mother in to calm me down. So what were my worries on this trip:

    • A stranger for a roommate – Other than a tennis trip I made with a bunch of guys from my club a few years ago, I have not shared a bedroom with someone other than Jan for about 49 years. So I was a bit concerned about sharing a tiny room with bunk beds, with a complete stranger. What if they snored or talked in their sleep. Well, that could be interesting depending on what they said. At any rate, it all worked out great. My roommate was pretty much as strange as I am with a similar warped sense of humor. A perfect match. I also convinced him to take the upper bunk which seemed like a good idea at first, until I realized he had to boost himself up by stepping on my bed. That could be dangerous in the dark. He is a much better photographer, especially for eagles and puffins, and he shared a lot of good photograph tips throughout the trip.
    • Sharing a bathroom with 3 people – that also worked out well. We never had one of those “Hi there” moments with our neighbors in the adjoining tiny cabin, where you both open your doors at the same time. We did manage to lock them out once, but we both had keys to free the locks.
    • Balance Issues – probably my biggest fear. My neuropathy has progressed to the point where my balance can be a problem, especially on uneven surfaces. Which I expected to have a lot of. I’ve become extra careful now, using a hiking stick (or my multi-purpose monopod). I did OK most of the time, including the long stretches of walking on matted grass (bear trails), and most of the stream crossings. I did bail out of the short walk to a waterfall on a very unstable, rocky beach. One of our group did fall, and I decided to just find a comfortable boulder to sit on, and enjoy the scenery instead. And I accepted help from others when needed. 
    • Nature calls in the wild – not a major worry, but I was a bit concerned about finding an appopriate (and safe place) when we were mingling with bears. There was always a good place to duck into..usually in ankle deep water. 
    • The bears – I viewed enough videos from Nat/Hab and other companies, to pretty much calm my fears of being so close to these very large and scary looking beasts. The first time one approaches, my heart did skip a beat or two, but then you realize that what our guide told us was true – the bears pretty much ignore people, unless you do something really stupid. Like approaching a cub, or trying to grab a salmon from them. 
    • Small airplanes – I kind of got over my fear of flying on small, single engine planes on my Baja trip, but this was something new – small planes that land and take off from water. But other than our aborted first flight to Katmai, I really enjoyed the flights, especially sitting up front. 

    Speechless in Alaska – I had more than a few moments on this trip that what I was seeing through the camera lens was so absolutely stunning, that I stopped shooting, put the camera down, and just watched. And not just the bears on Katmai – seeing the glaciers around Denali from above was incredible. Sometimes I’d rather just have a memory rather than a photograph. 

    Worst Hotel Breakfast Ever – I set the bar low for hotels in Kodiak after doing a search on what was available. No Hiltons or Marriotts – that’s a bad sign. NatHab put us up in the best one available, the Compass Suites Inn, which was actually pretty nice. The rooms were huge, with a comfortable bed and a reasonable good shower. Like most hotels at this level, they offered a buffet breakfast in the morning. It was absolutely the worst excuse for a hotel breakfast I’ve ever experienced. Awful, dried out bagels, luke-warm coffee, cheap packaged pastries, warm packages of yogurt – what’s not to like about that menu? Fortunately, NatHab an account at a great coffee house across the road. It was worth the morning walk to have a selection of great coffee drinks and breakfast food. 

    And just for the fun of it….

    Peace