Day 9 - Yosemite

I started out the morning by driving up to the northern part of the park as it was one area I didn't get to see during my last trip. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is part of Yosemite and a real power-producing hydro dam. The environmentalists of the early 1900's fiercely fought to protect this valley from damming, calling it the "little Yosemite valley", however, they weren't able to stop the project. Today, the area is not heavily visited due to 9/11 restrictions that curtail access except for viewing and picnicing during the day. But it is a gorgeous place, and really makes you wonder what got hidden beneath all that water.

Why oh why did I not pull out my infrared camera earlier? It does an amazing job with some of these classic Yosemite scenes--

The overlook as you first enter the valley from the southern access road showing El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Falls on the right, and Half Moon back in the distance in the center.


The same scene from the valley floor with the Merced river in the foreground:


And my favorite scene of Bridalveil Falls:

For sunset this evening, I decided on the view of Half Moon with a reflection from the Merced river. This time, I was only joined by about 15 other photographers!

Day 8 - Yosemite National Park

When I first saw Yosemite valley eight years ago, I thought it was the most impressive, power-packed 20 square miles of land in the whole national park system. Since then, I've seen some other pretty amazing parks-- Yellowstone, Denali, the Grand Canyon. But still nothing compares to Yosemite Valley. Above, is the tallest waterfall in the United States, Yosemite Falls.


I had wanted to come to Yosemite in mid-February for two reasons-- first, to try and photograph the valley in winter (didn't happen), and second, to catch a once-a-year phenomenon called a "Firefall" off the edge of El Capitan.

As the sun sets on El Capitan in mid-February, it's positioned in such a way to shed light onto a small waterfall. I had read a magazine article about it a few months ago and recalled the author saying you'd find the spot by looking for a small parking lot jammed with cars that seem to be there for no good reason (no visual landmarks nearby). Well, he was precisely correct. I got there about a 1/2 hour before sunset, and had to park at another small lot a few yards up the road because the little lot was already full with photographers' cars! At the height of activity, there were probably 30 or so photographers all shooting this. With our tripods and telephoto lenses, we must have looked like we were the press pool for the Super Bowl! But it was lots of fun to chat, and all "ooo and ahh" together as the mist lit up off the waterfall.

Initially, the fall looked like a nice normal waterfall and sunset:

But as the sun continued to set, the light became a more narrow vertical strip along the face of the mountain, until it only illuminated the waterfall and the mist itself. One of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. Quite spectacular!

Day 7 - Death Valley to Yosemite

For my last morning in Death Valley, I decided to catch the sunrise on Zabriskie Point.

The previous afternoon, I had taken a fun little 4WD road called the 20 Mule Team Trail, so decided to drive it once more. I'm not sure what the rocks are, but they leave a chalky dust around them, and when you're driving in between these little hills you really do get the feeling you're on another planet. Nothing looks earth-like here!


After that fun drive, I went back to the campground to hook up the T@B and start my drive out to Yosemite. To get out of Death Valley, on either side, requires a 4000 foot climb out of the valley. On the west side, the climb is straight and uphill. They position these large tanks of "radiator water" every few miles. I'd never want to be here in the 120-degree summer heat!

I thought alot about pioneers trying to cross these valleys on their way to the California gold rush country on the other side of Yosemite. If they somehow managed to drive their horse-drawn wagons across the hot, dry Nevada desert, and then through the torturous heat and elevation changes of Death Valley, can you imagine their utter hopelessness of finally surviving and crawling out from Death Valley only to see this? (the 14,000 foot Sierra Nevada range!). I honestly don't know how they did it.

Since the Sierras were still filled with snow, I had to drive south and around them to get to Yosemite-- down through the Mohave desert and up the San Joaquin Valley through Bakersfield and Fresno.

The final drive out of the Mohave desert just east of Bakersfield was interesting. On one pass is a giant wind power plant (dozens of large windmills). It's very cool to see some new alternative power plants being built. It apparently was positioned on the last of the "arid" hills, because as soon as I went over them, the landscape suddenly changed to lush green grassy hills. Very weird.

The San Joaquin was busy as usually with it's endless line of semi trucks hauling fruit and vegetables, and almost half the radio stations were all in Spanish!

I finally reached the entrance to the south end of Yosemite as the sun was setting. On the park brochure was a piece of paper stapled on warning that all drivers were required to carry snow chains with them in the park. Yikes! I didn't have any. But crossed my fingers that the weather would be warm as forecasted. Fortunately, it was.

One nice thing about camping at Yosemite in the off season--- you easily get spots at the primo campground in the Valley itself. Here's the T@B at Upper Pines campground, a gorgeous place.