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 Post subject: My Exploration & Investigation At Bennettsville & Yosemite C
PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:30 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas, NV
My Exploration & Investigation At Bennettsville & Yosemite California....5/28/12

I am sorry this report is coming out late some of them I have wrote and have not posted others I have just put recently on my site rather then post them to all my groups. However Yosemite is a very special place every year a dozen or so folks write me about strange occurrences up there and well being I am only 100 miles away our first trip would be the first of many.

The first trip up here would be more about doing research, explorations, sightseeing and driving through the national park. I have huge plans for Yosemite this is ONLY the beginning keep that in mind. It was not about the paranormal although I did do some jaunts of the unexplained.

It was a gift from Tammy and her father to take me here for my birthday any national park is a great gift especially one renowned for Bigfoot sightings and other strange rumors. Being in Yosemite is like being in a vast mystical land with waterfalls taller then Niagara Falls, Cliff faces that are 3000' and rocks the size of buildings. I have no words to describe its beauty however I can tell you that millions of years ago this vast land was a mere flat prairie and today its much like the grand canyon of California.

I want to bring you guys something different which would include caves, cemetery, museums, waterfalls, ghost town and even a spooky marshland. I worked very hard to capture allot of nature to go with these updates that even means getting only a few feet away from a large bear trust me I was like my own animal planet lol.

We all have our own dreams I enjoy working with nature and being out in it. I have grown to love the outdoors over the years of being the founder that I wouldn't miss it for the world. Some folks go out to pubs on their birthdays I went out exploring.

I had to break the curse you see the last few previous birthdays I ended up having flats, caught in vicious storms and been stranded. I remember two years ago spending the night in a ghost town because I had two flats then last year in Berlin was caught in a rare May snow storm with a flat. Also a window that wouldn't go back up so I nearly froze to death. I wanted this year to be different and it was nothing like some spontaneous adventure.

We would focus our first trip on two different places of interest the first being Bennettsville which is a ghost town a place all on its own really as it resides just prior to entering into Yosemite. Then Yosemite which has all sorts of places I explored and adventured at which ill talk about more with everyone.

I was kind of surprised to see no snow up here and I have to admit the weather was pretty nice. Its not like this every year hell some passes into the park don't open till summer or later. However having such a mild winter has allowed me to go to locations I wouldn't normally go this time of year which has benefited all of you as members and viewers.

It was nice because we packed up all the gear, clothing, food etc for the trip just in case anything strange occurs like being stranded again. So its important to prepare and I always do no matter where I travel to that includes being armed as well as bringing blankets to.

The road into the Lee Vining Canyon is very high up their are some points that are deadly in a vehicle if you are not paying attention to the road or oncoming vehicles so I do think it was making Tammy's dad a bit nervous with the heights thing. It is very intimidating to drive through this region if your not use to heights and cliffs. I been doing it a long time so I just love thrill of great views on foot or driving.

Our adventure would start out near Bennettsville which is a bit of a hike on in it was well worthwhile though as I seen some pretty cool things. It was my first taste on foot of Yosemite and a very special one because it was challenging something I like. After the ghost town we would move onto heading into the heart of Yosemite and so our adventure would began here.

Bennettsville California

It is possible that without the miners and this ghost town its possible that the road that traverse through this national park may have never existed. Who would think some of the first white men to see this place were miners? Prior to that the native American people thrived here as Yosemite is plentiful with wildlife, fish and plant life.

As you ride on into Yosemite near its entrance you approach this small little parking area it has a historic plaque. Their is a very wide stream that runs up to a nearby lake also small rapids. Most of the mountains were snow capped at least the higher peaks and the viewers were breathtaking and we hadn't even entered yet into the heart of the wilderness.

I didn't grab as much supplies as I should but I figured a mile hike I wouldn't need much boy did my adventure start off quickly. I talked to a young couple who I asked about the ghost town to and they told me they had plans later to make it up here but were just as curious as to where it was.

Their was patches of snow around throughout the woods but the day was heating up fast. Their was a trail that followed the creek for a bit then where it meandered we had to cross a bunch of rocks without trying to fall in. When the trail became to narrow I had to hug the edge along the creek where I climbed up a wash onto a hill.

From the hill I hiked about a mile into the woods on an unmarked path where my son and I climbed this huge hill of boulders. This allowed me to have one hell of a view below of a canyon with a road below that leads to this lake. Its so vast out here I have no words to describe it that is why I made a shit load of videos and took allot of photos. I will show you rather then write about it that seems to work best.

I was having issues finding the town site I mean their are so many peaks and hills its hard to find where anything is. I seen allot of unmarked paths that is the thing trails are not marked well up here. You also have to watch for running into bear they are common and protected in the park so it was on my mind allot while exploring.

There are many valleys of forest so when you stand on hilltops that is all you ever see besides cliffs and massive peaks everywhere. There was some all fours climbing here allot of rocks and eventually out of a hunch I came up onto a hill and seen what looked like a wood structure through the trees. Thus I found another part of the same creek we followed early and a path along it that took me up a hill to the old bunkhouse/barn. I think Tammy was having her doubts if we would ever find it as we worked hard just getting here lol.

Their was also an Assay office besides the old barn which I was able to go in. However the barn/bunkhouse was locked up so all I could do is peer in the windows which had no panes. The assay office on the other hand I could go inside it wasn't very large just a giant wooden room with open windows.

Tammy would look around the town for old artifacts to photography while my son and I would make a hike up to the old mine. Boy at one time that was a very glorious mine it had a vast tunnel system but our hopes of me exploring it would be dashed.

The hike up to the mine was this long half mile trail that crossed these wet lands and the creek. My first time crossing the creek to the mines was not an issue however soon my bad luck birthday streak would live on in the name of Lord Rick lol.

I worked my way up this old mining road the higher we went along the mountain the better the views. I could see the ghost town below and we were above the tree tops. Below us was a series of ponds and eventually the debris pile was to our left and this giant entrance into the mine was to the right.

At the entrance to the mine was some snow half buried in it was two pieces of old mining machinery. I walked into the mine their was water flowing from it as I jumped onto one mine cart tie to the next trying to keep my feet from getting wet. Sadly when I got so many feet in their were iron bars put up preventing me from going any further.

I was pretty sad about this as the tunnel was large enough to drive an SUV through this is different then allot of other mines I have traversed in. So going into here probably would have been fun but as you know with national parks they seal places like this off if it was not near Yosemite it probably would have been wide open for the taking.

My son and I hung out overlooking the ghost town man what a great view this is why I do so much rock climbing. I have seen views over my career of doing paranormal expeditions that most people would pay to see seriously!

Before I headed back to meet up with Tammy at the ghost town my right caught a Beaver running around far away from the water. Man what a great experience I had I literally came a foot away from him then I bent over put the camera near his face and took a photo of him. It was the weirdest thing I ever experienced he was not scared of me at all maybe I have some special mojo with animals going on who the hell knows right lol.

After hiking back down I had to cross the river I was making a film about it with the cam in my hand stating that the logs looked slippery and that I had to be very careful. Well sure enough while filming I fell into the rapids I went completely underwater almost into the icy water. My sun glasses went down stream all my gear got wet hell the camera was filming underwater when I lifted it out it was still recording lol. I am not sure ill share the video it is a bit embarrassing but shit happens.

This is where the footage ended my camera stopped working it was water logged and I was a nervous wreck believe me I had to come up with a birthday miracle. We started to head back this time we found a much easier path on out I tried to find the couple I spoke to earlier as they wanted info on the town site. Sadly I didn't find them or id talked to them about it but they probably went hiking somewhere else.

I didn't realize but I had been gone a few hours which really cut into my day of other plans. Yosemite is so large you cannot see it all even if you stayed a month. Their are hundreds of trails, landmarks, domes, waterfalls and historical site. You kind of have to just take the adventure as it comes the ghost town was a good start so I could get my claws into this place on its terrain etc.

When we arrived on back we would then pay our fees entering into the national park. It is not cheap to visit national parks with $25 per vehicle it would be money worth spent considering it goes towards the forestry I have no issue paying it.

I didn't experience much paranormal up at the ghost town I was pretty wet but it worked out in the end. I was hot and it was a quick cool down. Its not as bad as nearly going over Akron falls once in NY when I fell in 30 degree water so it actually felt pretty good to be wet down as I would be doing more hiking and would dry on off eventually.

Yosemite California

It was turning out to be a nice day I was out of a cam thus I could not really take much media as I had the camera up on the dashboard trying to dry it out. But once electronics get wet internally they never work the same even if they do it is very short lived.

Along the way we passed a couple smaller lakes to bad I didn't have my fishing poles its so tempting to throw a line in there. We would also stop at the visitor center as they have a free museum inside which I feel is necessary to check out if you want to get familiar with the wildlife found in the region.

The visitors center had an extensive butterfly, pictures plant and miners artifact collection. They also had a bear skull, antlers and even bear paw casts. It helps to know what is what in case we came across it on our journey here. I enjoyed taking a gander at what they had then again I love to learn that is what being a paranormal investigator is about. Your always growing to learn and experience more only time as well as being inquisitive can earn knowledge.

We stopped at a place called Lambert Dome it looks like a giant stone ramp only mountain sized. In Yosemite they have allot of well known domes you have to be careful because some of them are crumbling and people have over the years fallen to their deaths. Such as the half dome when the other half collapsed it created enough force that the winds created from it downed trees and caused the ground to shake like an earthquake. I admired the dome from afar standing on a stone bridge watching trout swimming around in the river below.

I had come to the decision that most of the day had passed and we really had not gotten to see everything. I really didn't want to go home its hard to explain. But I felt really compelled to want to stick around see all what Yosemite can offer me. I mean one of the reasons I moved up in this region was to have the ability to enjoy Yosemite and all it has to offer so we decided to book some tents at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge which has a restaurant, free firewood, bon fire and tents. Each tent has cots, wood stove, table, chairs etc its not that bad but very pricey. From there would book our camp sites then head on off via shuttle bus which was a big mistake trust me.

When we had gotten on the shuttle bus I thought to myself that it probably would have just been better to drive. I was not sure how the shuttles work but I learned really quickly that once you get dropped off you can wait up to two hours to be picked up again. Its better to just drive that way you have more freedom.

I had gotten dropped off at an area called Tioga Pass at the Dana Meadows where their is just a big open prairie with snow capped mountains. Their is also a giant pond and multiple little creeks that flow through the area its rather scenic but its also very open thus the winds whip through here. The elevation at this point was almost at 10,000' so it wasn't exactly very warm here. Sure the views were scenic but even at the end of May it was very chilly here.

I wanted to have a picnic this is why I had gotten off the shuttle here unfortunately I would have rather went west on the shuttle deeper into Yosemite but they driver told me it would be an hour wait so I figured we would head here unfortunately I was not dressed warm enough hell none of us were and we nearly froze our asses off standing in the middle of this field lol. Sure their were deer running around and it was scenic but their was NOTHING out there accept a few rocks that we hid behind while we waited nearly 2 hours for the shuttle to return to pick us up. Man was I glad to see the shuttle my nipples were hard and not in the naughty way lol.

When we arrived back at the campground I ran to my truck and decided to drive no more shuttles screw that idea again. At least in Mount Zion they are every 20 minutes but in Yosemite its just not as reliable and that's a matter of opinion but when you have kids....plus Tammy's dad its probably better just to take your own vehicle so you have more leeway.

We would pass by a place called Pothole Dome didn't have time to climb it but it was just nice being able to see such landmarks. This would be the first stop of many including a visit to Tenaya lake which is absolutely gorgeous no Bigfoot tracks here though perhaps its to close to the highway.

Another area I stopped at was Olmstead Point which has beautiful views of the Yosemite valley below and the beautiful Half Dome miles off in the distance. The point had some really great views and allot of rock formations. It offered views of Tenaya lake below and the north side of Half Dome as I hiked down into the valley a bit to get more scenic shots.

It was starting to get late and we had dinner reservations so I didn't have much time to do a long hike at the point. I did however make time to stop on the side of a road and hike in some eerie marsh. I would give you a name for it but the thing was that it was a random find. I had no set trails just that I found another dome that I wanted photos of thus I figured id hike through the woods to get to it and ran into this place on accident.

Strangely I didn't find any human tracks in the marsh land except for one which had some worn toe impressions it was about 14 inches. The marsh was very overgrown with foliage and their were giant granite rocks all over. Much of the woods here were dead and the ground was very soggy to a degree where my feet became wet. It was also very dark in the forest as I seen another dome of sorts through the trees. My son was with me everybody else stayed behind. I could not spend much time here because I had dinner reservations however I will say the marsh was the creepiest place I been to and wish I had more time to hike around.

When we arrived back at the restaurant they placed us at a giant round table with a female couple. It was my birthday so I wasn't sure how this was going to pan out. I never heard of this type of seating before where they combine you with other strangers to break bread. I will say the ladies did turn out to be nice afterall they also sang happy birthday to me when the restaurant put candles on a nice piece of blueberry pie. I also had a nice trout dinner which I love along with fresh bread and garden salad. It was a nice little restaurant with a bon fire out back and the rapids from the creek flowing behind it. It was a bit pricey but the waiter did his job well and for awhile conversed with us. Their is an area up in the Tioga pass where all the trees were down I was told a few days prior a storm did that which tells you how fateful the weather can become in Yosemite.

When I went outside to start grabbing supplies for the tent I seen some eyes. It turns out their were deer roaming around the restaurant in the woods. One of those deer walked right out in front of me. Being in a national park allows you to get real close to wildlife and they are not very scared of humans. But you still have to be careful hell at first hearing walking I thought it was Bigfoot in the woods. They have these bear bins to keep your food in as they do not want you leaving it in your car.

I had a good nights sleep but we gathered allot of firewood and before bed I finally was able to get the wood stove heating better. It was a very cold night and I was able to make preparations for the next day of adventuring. I had candles lit at the table and did a little reading. I also did a little toking to that night haha so yeah it was a nice way to finish off my birthday.

The next morning we woke up Tammy stepped backwards out of the tent ended up rolling down a hill pulled some muscles in her calve muscle. I was just happy my cam was starting to work again. It was not completely working but I was able to use it at least. I had a big day planned of adventuring as finally I would make my way into the heart of Yosemite.

Our journey would take us to Yosemite Village which is at the bottom of the canyon. It would be a long ride as we would make our way through tunnels that went right through the mountain. I honked my horn as I road through the tunnel it was fun. I was able to make some stops at various locations to photography the canyon and river below. I also took some awesome photos of half dome and this valley where the forest burnt down. Their is nothing pretty about a burned down forest I could see for miles down into it.

We finally reached an area called El Capitan which is this massive cliff and across from it is a trail that leads to the Bridalveil falls. The boys and I hiked to the falls it was a nice little trail along some rapids. It was so warm out it felt good to get wet at the base of the falls by all the mist coming off the rocks. Those falls are about 600' high so they are a force. Their was a woman that cut right in front of my kid when he was taking a photo of me some people just have no respect. I cannot stand tourist I really think some of them are so rude they will trample you just to take a photo as if they never been outdoors before lol.

When I went back to the truck their was a giant bear in the woods lumbering along. I quickly pulled on over following it into the woods. I ran some video footage on the bear then I took a series of photos of the big ole boy. I do not think it was a black bear though its fur was a much lighter brown so probably a brown bear hell it almost looked like a grizzly although they do not have those up in Yosemite anymore so who knows. I just know that he was very large. He stopped turned around looked at me then kept walking off it looked like he was use to seeing humans. When I headed back to the truck I am not sure if I stepped down wrong or whatever but my left ankle popped I fell to the ground in pain thought I broke it. I had a sprain the worst of its kind and it nearly killed the rest of my day. I couldn't even barely walk was dragging my foot as the day went on wasn't a comfortable situation.

I would then head on off to the Merced River I was nearly at the bottom of the Yosemite Valley floor. I went search for Bigfoot tracks on some beach. It was very beautiful being surrounded by high cliffs. Their was people swimming in the river as it was very calm in this one area looked like fun I nearly took a dip myself.

We finally had made the rest of journey around the Yosemite Village area which sits just outside of Half Dome and below the mighty Yosemite Falls. We would cross these wetlands where at one time they said the water was nearly 8' high last year ago or something to that effect. Personally its the wetlands I like when it comes to track finding although the day prior I had my fun getting wet so this time around I decided to keep my feet dry.

We would make our way over to a Native American museum and village. Their was a tribal member weaving a blanket inside. I also seen a sweat house, teepees, chiefs hut, artifacts, cabins, grinding rocks baskets and dozens of artifacts. This was the historical aspect of the trip all about the Miwoks that once lived here and ill tell you what after seeing how beautiful it was it made me want to go back in a time machine to live here lol. Every morning you would leave your teepee only to be graced with views of the massive Yosemite falls and sheer 3000' cliffs how can anyone fret over that?

My next stop would take me to an old pioneer cemetery which I would spend a long time in doing EVP's for anything ghostly. I was astonished with how many older stones from the 1800's their were. Some were surrounded by wrought iron others were weathered illegible. Their was as old stone bench under a tree here and many old wooden grave markers. Many gravesites had large boulders with names engraved onto them while in the center of the cemetery was a very large monument. I seen a few vandalized grave sites but not as many as you would see at some of these ghost town burial grounds out in NV. The cemetery was an extra treat many of the people buried here were some of the first white settlers who came to the area when at one time a small town existed in the valley. Today the Yosemite valley is now more about lodging, tourism and smaller businesses.

After having hiked around quite a bit we ended up going to get some lunch. They had a building with multiple restaurants inside. I ended up getting a Philly cheesesteak the boys had a burger and hotdog. Their was some perv checking out my son up there on his laptop. I hate people like that he was making the kids really uncomfortable as they sat down to reserve a seat for everyone and I caught him checking out my kid. You have to be careful no matter where you go these type of people are everywhere. I wanted to knock the guy for a loop I wasn't thrilled believe me.

By this time my ankle had really swelled up Tammy and Stephen went back to the truck to take scenic photos. I guess while I was away Tammy had some deer walk right past the truck in the open meadows. She took some good photos of them up close so much wildlife. Just as I photographed a squirrel a very friendly one up about a quarter mile from Yosemite falls. I didn't agree to seeing someone eating food then decided to feed the squirrel with their hands. Sadly I watched the squirrel come back for more this time it jumped on the person trying to steal the rest of their food. This is why you don't feed the wild animals and some people just do not know how to act out in nature.

My dream was to climb around Yosemite falls bad ankle or not I was going to do it. Since I had the kids with me I decided to take them to the lower falls. The upper falls is not to dangerous as long as you do not cross the bars. This is the 6th tallest waterfalls in the world. It is the tallest in all of North American with about a height of 2,500'. Every year people go over the falls and the die its a sad situation.

I ended up rock climbing all along the lower falls and even that can be deadly if your not careful. The rocks are very slippery however if you are careful it can be done. I was so close that I became drenched by the mist that came from the upper falls which then drops off to a pool of water that then drops down over another smaller cliff. I climbed along the smaller cliff and I have videos as well as photos of my journey. There was no paranormal part of this I just wanted to live for the adventure. My oldest son had to help me out allot because of my ankle some rocks were taller then me so I had to use all upper body strength because I had no use of my left ankle or foot to grip rocks while climbing.

The force of these falls is amazing and as I stood above everybody on the bridge that crosses the creek I felt I had accomplished something. What I didn't agree with is the amount of unsupervised children parents allowed to place on the rocks a few of them are at an angle one wrong slip and your going over. I just do not think people understand safety outdoors unfortunately not everybody gets mentored by me. I take our investigators out and I train them how to appropriately rock climb. I also train them to hike, climb and all that other good stuff that comes with joining our team. But I seen some people acting like fools and I thought to myself it is no wonder people every year die here.

It took me awhile to get back to my truck I was pretty tired out but it was exhilarating. My kids and I found a series of rock formations back in the woods as big as houses. They love to climb rocks climb through little tunnels things of that sort. My oldest son discovered that up inside the rocks was a cave. He said it went back problem is I left my lights back at the truck so all we had is our cell phones which are dim. An older guy came up to me as I sat high up at the cave entrance to let me know these are called the Spider Caves. He told me its not a large cave system maybe about five rooms.

I went down into the cave where their was a room with a hole in the flooring. I dropped down into this hole it was a bit spooky considering I had to climb down into this room in the dark. The chamber then had another small hole that led in another room at this point it was all stomach crawling from there. The guy told my kids their were no spiders inside but we found out that was a lie their were spiders all over and we couldn't see half of them. My sons light was dying on his phone and mine just wasn't very bright. We eventually climbed up into another room which led us down a very long tunnel and under a pile of rocks where I emerged. The caves were quite intriguing although I ripped my new Speedos lol. Compliments of crawling through these small rooms. It was good to see the light I thought it was a cool cave system not very large but it still was worth doing some spelunking in Yosemite. I would love to find other caves next time I am out there maybe next time ill be more prepared.

I finally made it back to the truck three hours later Tammy was not happy but when you climb a massive waterfall and spend time in some caves the time flies. I did not realize I had been hiking and climbing this long. But all of what I did is going towards our website so we can give our viewers a look into Yosemite from various perspectives geologically as well as historically.

By that time the pain was excruciating I couldn't even walk people were giving me weird looks as I was dragging my leg. I had my top hat on so imagine this guy dragging his foot walking around in a top hat wearing the grim reaper with black nails. They could have called me high hat a creature that roams NY lol. My day was coming to a close the sun was going down and we had a long journey back home. I had one more stop to make then the adventure would come to an end.

My last stop would be at the Le Conte Memorial Lodge an old historic stone building. Their is no building like this in Yosemite Today is a library for the sierra club its European architecture is breathtaking. Unfortunately they were closed or I would have gone inside to take some EVPs. Tammy and I sat behind the old cottage on some rocks under some old trees to relax before our trip home.

All in all the trip worked out really nice I not only camped out in Yosemite but I experienced diversity in my journeys. I did try to find this abandoned stone house along one of the creeks but didn't find it and I have a feeling their is allot more to see. I have so many other places that viewers from our site have told me about that every year ill be making one or two trips to explore this national park more.

Their is so many places that are off the beat Yosemite that I just do not know where to start. Out of all the places in the sierras this is the most magical region of all. I look forward to exploring and investigating many sites in the future. All in all the trip turned out well didn't have any flats, break downs or get caught in any freak storms. My GPS worked great as that was one of my birthday presents is very state of art so it can take me to allot of places that normally would be difficult to find. I was glad that the bear didn't chase and eat me when I fell perhaps its a good thing they are use to people or id been its next meal lol.

The ride was very nice home I drove home as the sun was dissipating off into the west. I have to say over the years people have written me about allot of strange things that occur here. With great anticipation I cannot wait to see and experience more here. I also look forward to bringing these locations to our site they are going to rock your world and you will have so much greater respect for the work that we do. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday the food was great and the wilderness was absolutely gorgeous. Everytime I think I have seen it all I see something new and exciting!
Lord Rick
Founder
Author, Investigator, Producer and Talk Show Host
www.paranormalghostsociety.org

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