A Night in the Park

I had a lot of time off before my next assignment and almost wasted my chance to get up to Yosemite and get some more pictures of my favorite place on this planet. (I'm sure there's bigger canyons and more colorful places on other planets.)

I picked a place that I had been to before, many years ago with my friend Euell. And, true to form, that day was amazing for taking pictures. This time was no diffeent, either. I wanted to be on top of the very easy Mount Watkins by mid-afternoon. Accessible from the Tioga Pass Road (Highway 120), Mount Watkins is an easy 2 mile hike from Olmstead Point, the famous overlook that everyone stops at on their way up to the high country and Tuolumne Meadows. Being right across Tenaya Canyon from Cloud's Rest and Half Dome, Mount Watkins offers close-up views like nowhere else in Yosemite. As you can see in this picture below, the view of Half Dome is much different than you're used to seeing. Somehow, I think it looks much more impressive from this direction.

I always marvel at the smooth glacial-polished granite near the Quarter Domes and Cloud's Rest. A huge glacier once came down Tenaya Canyon and scoured it clean of any soil that was once here, millions of years ago. The combination of ice and sand will, literally, polish the rock very smooth. In this picture, I like the diagonal ledges and the smooth granite. Might be an adventure to explore (with ropes, of course!).

This peak was discovered by the famous mountain explorer, and Federal employee, Clarence King. He was one of the first explorers in the Sierra Nevada, braving the wilds of the times and risking death at every turn. Look for his book someday, written in something like 1873 (I can't remember the title). King named this peak "The Obelisk", for obvious reasons. Topping out at over 11,000 feet, and not being on the Sierra Crest, makes this peak really stand out. Eventually, the peak was named after Gaylen Clark, another Sierra explorer.

Speaking of the Sierra Crest, here is Mount Conness, which sits squarely atop Yosemite's high country. Conness sits so high that even glaiers could not touch it, The old volcanic deposits still cling to the peaks and ridges. I used the powerful 10X zoom to get this close to the peak. I had hoped for a colorful sunset but, I had to settle for the evening's light instead.

Finally, here's the picture I came up here for. It's the perfect angle to capture the light of what some photographers call "the golden hour" (the hour before sunset and the hour after sunrise). I waited for the last possible moment to capture that light, as you can see, the shadow had begun creeping up the face of Half Dome.