Upper Yosemite Falls moonbow closer-in, Yosemite Valley, California, June 2, 2023

This is a tighter shot from the previous posting.  Read the story there behind this photo.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Upper Yosemite Falls with moonbow and reflection, Yosemite National Park, California, June 2, 2023

 After a very wet winter the waterfalls in Yosemite Valley were gushing.  So, it was that we visited Yosemite the night before the full moon, June 2, 2023 to observe the moonbow in Upper Yosemite Falls.  We had gone to Lower Yosemite first, but the mist kicking off the falls was so heavy that we got drenched in a short order.  Only an occasional favorable wind kept us dry before the mist would hit us with a good soaking.

So we decided to go see this night's moonbow in Upper Yosemite Falls instead.  It turned out to be gorgeous.  When the predicted time for the moonbow to start came up and we weren't seeing much happening, we thought we might be disappointed with tonight's display.  The colors of the rainbow started in the main stream of the Upper Falls in a narrow band that wasn't very extensive.  We hoped that eventually the moonbow would work its way downward and eventually hit the big cloud of mist coming off the base of Upper Falls and that's what happened.  Eventually, the moonbow extended across the entire mist cloud to the base of Upper Falls.

Also, thanks to the wet winter, Cooks Meadow, where we shot this from, had a large pool in front of us that provided us with a nice reflection of what was happening up on the granite walls of Yosemite Valley.

If you've never heard of a moonbow, or lunar rainbow, be sure to check out our YouTube video "What is a moonbow?"

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.