Saturday, June 12, 2010

Springtime in Yosemite

In April, I took another daytrip to Yosemite Valley, with all the great spring runoff. I did make good on my promise to visit Cascade Falls and capture it up closer. The parking lot was almost full and I surmised that most of them had wandered up the path of least resistance. That is never where I want to go, so, I wandered across the bridge and went up the other side of Cascade Creek.
.
I soon found a trail that followed a pipeline up towards the base of the falls and found a spot a LOT closer than the other tourists had found. Alas, the light wasn't quite right and the mist was stopping me from getting the clear shots I wanted. Soooo, I once again relied on my superior "woods sense" and plodded uphill, in search of a view above the falls, yet clear of the live oak/California nutmeg forest. The poison oak was everywhere, yet I persisted in the search. I spied a ledge that might lead to where I wanted to go, so I worked my way across and found an awesome spot that would have made Ansel Adams drool.


I hooted and hollered at my good fortune and shot photos to my heart's content. It appeared that people have found this spot in the past but, not more than just a few in the last 5 years.


The afternoon was spent hiking up to Mirror Lake, beneath the iconic Half Dome. There was a persistent breeze but, I was able to capture a nice mirror-like image of Tenaya Canyon, as well as the site of last year's big rockslide, on the right.


A zoomed-in shot of the top of Half Dome includes some views of big old growth trees, to give you an idea of the immensity of the world famous landmark.




Yep, it's a long way up there! When I was in 9th grade, our school took a field trip there and we were gazing upward from this same spot in April of 1973. All of a sudden, someone shouts to look up at Half Dome. I watched as a giant chunk of ice had fallen off the rim and was in freefall down the face. As it hit the bottom, it sounded like thunder.

Labels: , ,