Fin Dome, up close, in the Kings Canyon Wilderness along the Rae Lakes Loop

 

Here is Fin Dome in the Kings Canyon Wilderness from the east looking west. It makes a very high, noticeable feature along a ridge that is in the middle of the Rae Lakes Loop, which starts in Kings Canyon and loops around passing Mist Falls and passing by the Rae Lakes on the far side of the loop. We spent 4 days backpacking around the 40-or-so-mile loop, but afterward, we wished we had taken another day. We knew that this feature has climbing routes on it and we saw climbers heading for it. It doesn't so much like a fin from this perspective, but further north or south from here, it did.

Canon EOS Rebel xSi, f19, 1/250 sec, ISO 800, 55 mm focal length

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

Grizzly Creek in Kings Canyon, 3 merged images

On the way to Kings Canyon National Park through the National Forest part of the Kings Canyon, we stopped off Highway 180 to look at Grizzly Creek Falls. You can hear it and see parts of it from the road, but the closer look is clearly better. From the trail I took, I had to cross the creek to get this full top-to-bottom view of the fall. It's on the north side of the Kings River and has a small parking area travelers can use to park their cars clear of the main road. It's only about another mile (1.6 km) to the boundary of Kings Canyon NP approaching the Cedar Grove area.

This image is the result of merging 3 separate images together. I took photos of the upper, middle, and lower part of the fall in order to get more detail and because I couldn't the entire waterfall in one shot since I was so close.

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

Roaring River Fall, in Kings Canyon NP, plus a huge boulder

In Kings Canyon National Park, there aren't as many waterfalls as in Yosemite Valley, but this one is in a special setting. Roaring River Fall gets its name because of how loud the water is as it drops down the canyon. The shape of the canyon at this point actually helps to amplify the sound. Also in this image is a huge erratic boulder that was left behind after the glaciers melted during the last ice age. You can get to this feature by parking along the main road and walking a short distance. During the spring, you'll be able to hear it. This image was taken in September after a very wet winter earlier in the year. So there was still a lot of water in the river. During the spring, though, the water can be as high as the whitish line of the rock face that you can see to the right of the waterfall.

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

Mount Spencer lit by the sun through a break in the clouds, Kings Canyon NP

In early July, 2018, we backpacked in to Evolution Valley in Kings Canyon National Park. From there, we day-hiked to Evolution Lake and had lunch before heading back to our campsite. While at the lake, we were rained on for a while, but also saw breaks in the clouds. When we looked up from eating lunch, we saw the sun light break through the clouds and light up the mountain to the south of Evolution Lake, Mount Spencer. We also noticed the clouds curling over the top of the mountain. After taking a few shots, the rain came down more heavily and we headed back to camp.

This section of the trail through northern Kings Canyon National Park has both the Pacific Crest Trail and the John Muir Trail combined.

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

Yellow-bellied marmot on the move, Kings Canyon

The yellow-bellied marmot is also called the rock chuck, closely related to the wood chuck. We encountered this one at our campsite in Evolution Valley in the northern region of Kings Canyon National Park. It was the morning after a rainy evening and we were setting our gear out to dry in the morning sun. This marmot came along, seemed to have something to eat while hiding in a crevice, then came out to search around the area for more food. It didn't seem to mind our presence that much, so we had a chance to take 20 - 30 images.

I used my camera that has a 50x zoom lens so we didn't have to be that close. We didn't want to disturb him and for him to show natural behaviors. I got lucky in taking this image while he had his rear right foot off the ground while he was on the move. He hung around camp for about 20 minutes or so.

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

Mariposa tulip in the Sierra Nevada, Kings Canyon National Park

The Mariposa tulip blooms in the Sierra Nevada. We found this one along the trail in Kings Canyon National Park, on our Rae Lakes Loop trip in 2012. The term "Mariposa" is Spanish for "butterfly". The characterisitcs of these plants is that they have 3 sepals, 3 petals, 6 stamens, and one three-lobed pistil. The Mariposa tulip is in the lily family. The dark dots at the base of each petal helps to guide the bees that pollinate the flower to their nectar reward. In this image, the flower also has the shadow of an unopened flower stem crosing over the upper petal.

For photos like this, it's a good idea to use a low f/stop setting and a faster shutter speed. For this image, the settings were f/6.7, 1/350 second. The lower depth of field allows the background to blur so that the clearest part of the image is the flower you want to show. The fast shutter speed helps to ensure a sharper image in case of any slight breezes making the flower move. The closer you get to your subject, the more noticeable any motion becomes in the final image. Using a telephoto setting for the lens, allows you to move farther away from the subject, so motion is less noticeable. Some photographers use tripods and clamps to hold the flower stem still, which is a good idea. But, in this case, we were backpacking along a trail trying to make sure we covered enough distance each day. When we got this photo, we still had our packs on and just tried to get a good shot with the conditions as they were.

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

Fin Dome reflected in Dollar Lake, Kings Canyon National Park

In July, 2012, we backpacked a well-known loop trail in Kings Canyon National Park. The loop is called the Rae Lakes Loop. It starts and ends at Roads End, which is where California Highway 180 ends, inside Kings Canyon. The loop can be taken clockwise or counter-clockwise. We decided to go clockwise, going into Paradise Valley for the first day, joining the John Muir Trail on the second day to reach the Rae Lakes, continuing over Glen Pass and starting down Bubbs Creek the third day, then back to Roads End on the fourth day.

On the first day, we spent quite a bit of time photographing Mist Falls, so we didn't get as far along the trail as we were planning. That also effected the next day's plans, and we didn't reach the Rae Lakes on the second day, but settled for camping alongside the much smaller Dollar Lake. It turns out that camping at Dollar Lake was one of those serendipitous moments. The next morning, while we prepared breakfast, we started looking at Fin Dome, the very prominent granite feature on the horizon north of us. Hoping to find a good photographic angle on the dome, we found that it was being reflected in the lake's water, which is how we got the image above. After we packed and started hiking toward the Rae Lakes, Fin Dome remained a prominent feature along the trail for most of that day, but the reflected view of it in the lake was the best view we had.

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