Today was a gorgeous day. It was right around freezing when we started out, with blue skies and full sunshine. The reflections of Cathedral Spires and Cathedral Rock in a melt water pond were a good way to start the day. With our snow boots on, we walked out into the meadow and stood in the shallow water to get the reflections. This has always been one of our favorites shots.
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| Cathedral Rocks |
Our focus shifted to shots of El Capitan and the Merced River for the rest of the morning. There are several small turnouts known to lots of photographers for shots that the average tourist would never find. With plenty of snow on the ground, the tracks from the other photographers make it easier to walk down the banks to reach the river. It worked perfectly at our first stop. One steep area was very slick, but we could walk in the snow beside the trail to reach the bottom. The sun was lighting the front face of El Capitan, and the reflections were nearly flawless. The challenge was getting the reflection and all of El Capitan in one image--even with a 16 mm lens. The bright granite against the azure sky was amazing.
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| El Capitan Reflections | El Capitan |
Our next stop was the Three Brothers view. Once again, there was a well-worn trail of packed snow and ice. But this time our path to the bottom was much less dignified. When I started to slide (even with my snow boots), I reached out for the bushes beside the trail and mostly crawled down. I walked back up to help Carol with her camera gear. She started down and then she started sliding down on her stomach. I tried to grab her coat as she slid by, but only managed to stop her after she had slid most of the way down the hill. I was glad no one was there to see us. We photographed the Three Brothers and then the North American wall of El Capitan. Without snow on the trees, the images were pretty blah. We're hoping for the same conditions later in the week that produced our amazing images in 2008. We found an easier way to get back to the Explorer without causing us bodily harm or more embarrassment.
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| Three Brothers | El Capitan |
We made a brief stop to shoot Yosemite Falls from Swinging Bridge but the lighting was hazy gray. Our final stop was sunset at Tunnel View. We took a few images shortly after we arrived, and then returned to our James Patterson audiobook. It's a good thing we had the audiobook, because the clouds rolled in and the Valley never lit up for sunset.
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| Yosemite Falls from Swinging Bridge | Tunnel View |
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