Yosemite, Lower Falls Moonbow in June 23-24, 2024, from bridge and "the wall"

Here's an image of Yosemite's moonbow in the lower falls as viewed from the bridge over Yosemite Creek. Moonlight tends to make soft shadows and a less sharp photo. Here's the link to our YouTube video: What is a Moonbow? - https://youtu.be/S_ay06ZPjqA

ISO 3200, f4, 60 seconds

And this is an image of the moonbow in the Lower Falls of Yosemite from straight on. You can even see some of the Upper Falls at the top of the frame, along with some stars. We were up well past 3am getting these moonbow images. There is a predicted time online for viewing it from the bridge, but we found that moving to a different perspective allowed for much more time to view the moonbow. Most of the other photographers there that night had already left after the predicted time ended, but we kept at it and that action paid off.

ISO 3200, f8, 50 seconds

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

 

Upper Yosemite Falls Moonbow from Cooks Meadow, Saturday to Sunday, June 22-23, 2024

 

A second night of moonbow chasing for us (see the previous post).

This is the moonbow in the Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from Cooks Meadow during the night of Saturday into Sunday, June 22-23, 2024. 

This was part of our trip to see Yosemite moonbows from all three of the viewpoints that Brian Hawkins predicts on his website yosemitemoonbow.com.

For more info about these phenomenon, check out our YouTube video "What is a Moonbow?" Link: https://youtu.be/S_ay06ZPjqA

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

Moonbow in Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from Glacier Point, Saturday, June 22, 2024

 As we have tried to do just about annually, we visited Yosemite Valley to see, photograph, and videograph moonbows in Yosemite Falls. On this trip, we made a point of visiting all three of the vantage points that Brian Hawkins predicts on his yosemitemoonbow.com web site.

We started with Glacier Point, especially since Rick hadn't seen the moonbow from that viewpoint before. Here is one of the photos that we got from there on Saturday, June 22, 2024, the night of the full moon. From this perspective, the moonbow doesn't really show up as an arc of white light like it does from the Lower Yosemite Falls viewpoint, which makes it more difficult to discern when the moonbow is actually happening.

Please check out YouTube video "What is a Moonbow?" to learn more about this phenomenon.

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

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.

Moonbow and Yosemite Falls from OMG Point, Yosemite National Park, California, May 13, 2022

 This is a nighttime 3-shot panorama of Yosemite Falls from top to bottom showing Upper Yosemite Falls, Middle Cascade, and Lower Yosemite Falls.  Bob took this from OMG Point, aka Oh My Gosh Rock, a short unpublicized spur trail off the Yosemite Falls Trail.

We were there to see the moonbow on the night of Friday, May 13, 2022.  The moonbow is visible at the base of Upper Yosemite and the top of Middle Cascade.  We arrived there at 10 PM and stayed until 2 AM.  The moon shadows of our tripods and cameras are in the lower left corner.

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

Upper Yosemite Falls, moonbow, and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, April 24, 2021

 Bob was looking through his photos from April 24, 2021 and realized that he captured a moonbow in this photo.  He was trying to capture a moonbow from this perspective, but thought that clouds from a passing storm wouldn't allow enough moonlight through to create a moonbow or that the angle from this perspective was wrong for seeing one.  See our other postings on moonbows for a description of what they are.

In this photo, which he shot from the Yosemite Falls Trail, is Upper Yosemite Falls, the moonbow hovering over the Middle Cascade, and Half Dome.

Moonbow in Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

 This is a moonbow shot that Bob took on the night of May 24, 2021 from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.  Looking like some kind of frozen confection, Upper Yosemite Falls shows a moonbow in its mist.  Focusing in the dark is difficult, so Bob didn't get the sharpest focus on this shot, but it showed the most color of all the photos he took that night.

According to Brian Hawkins of Yosemite Moonbow Predicitions (yosemitemoonbow.com) the appearance of the moonbow in Yosemite Falls as seen from Glacier Point only happens for about 15 minutes and is a broader arc thanks to the fact that you're viewing it from so much farther away than the other vantage points that he does predictions for.

The park was conducting prescribed burns the week Bob was there and Yosemite Valley and Half Dome were almost completely obscured by the smoke from Glacier Point, but, fortunately for him, the smoke cleared out just in time for the predicted appearance of the moonbow.

See our previous post for more information about moon bows.

Oh yeah, and while Bob was at Glacier Point, he met Brian Hawkins who predicts the occurrence of moon bows in Yosemite Falls from various vantage points on his website Yosemite Moonbow Predictions (yosemitemoonbow.com).

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

Upper Yosemite Falls and Half Dome by moonlight, Yosemite National Park, California

Bob took this photo after hiking part way up Yosemite Falls Trail after dark the night of April 23 going to the 24th 2021.  He was looking for this perspective where he could get the Upper Yosemite Falls and Half Dome in the same shot, all lit up by moonlight.  The 20-second exposure left both the waterfall and the clouds looking fuzzy.  This photo was taken at 1:40 AM, a few days before the full moon.

The Yosemite Falls Trail is a strenuous and rocky rough trail that hikers can take to visit the brink of Yosemite Falls.

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

Yosemite Falls with a moonbow in the lower fall, Yosemite Nat'l Park

This image of Yosemite Falls, with the upper and lower fall visible, is lit up by moonlight. You can see stars in the sky above the falls. The rainbow in the mist of the lower falls is caused by moonlight, not sunlight. When we viewed this scene with our own eyes, we couldn't see the colors, but the camera picks them through a long exposure of 30 seconds, ISO 800. We were just at the falls getting moonbow pictures in the lower fall, but as we were leaving, we decided to look back at the whole waterfall and see if the moonbow was visible from this other perspective.

This natural event can happen 2-3 days around the full moon in the spring and early summer in Yosemite Valley, especially when there's enough water flow.

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

Yosemite Falls on a sunny day in February, 2020

Here's Yosemite Falls on a sunny day in February, 2020. The winter season is shaping up to be another dry one, unfortunately. Yosemite Falls can be viewed from Cooks Meadow. The spot I, Rick,  chose in the meadow allows for a clear view of the upper and lower falls. The trees at the bottom block your view of the water except at this spot. There's a little used climb to the top of the lower falls along the level ledge with some trees to the right of the lower falls. As I was setting up for this shot, I saw some one or a small group of people moving at the left edge of that ledge. It made me feel like trying it myself sometime. Also, Alex Honnold was on that ledge during the "Free Solo" movie.

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

Upper Yosemite Falls from the trail

In Yosemite National Park, you can see the tallest waterfall in America. Yosemite Falls, has an upper section, a middle cascading section, then a lower fall. There's a trail that leads to the top of the falls so you can look down on the entire falls behind a guard rail. This image was taken from along that trail showing just the upper falls. We've been to the top of the falls and have posted a video about that day trip to our YouTube channel, Robinson Twins Natural Adventures.

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

Yosemite Moonbow, Memorial Day Weekend 2018

In Yosemite National Park, California, in spring and early summer and around the time of the full moon, the mist from Yosemite Falls can form a moonbow, or lunar rainbow or a waterfall mistbow. A moonbow is a rainbow caused by moon light, rather than sunlight. When viewing this phenomenon, most people can't see the color of the spectrum because the moonlight is too dim to stimulate the color receptors in your eyes.  We have encountered some people who claim that they can see some color in the moonbows,  however.  With a long exposure, 20 to 30 seconds, with a camera, the colors appear in the final image. The night of the full moon is the brightest, but up to 2 days before or after the night of the full moon could also work.

For the above images, Bob went on the night of the full moon on Memorial Day 2018 to Lower Yosemite Falls.  Although the images look like they could've been taken during the day, he included stars in the sky to prove that they were nighttime shots.  In the vertical image, the Big Dipper hangs over the Lower Yosemite Falls and the moonbow.  When Bob first got to the falls, the moonbow was fairly high above the mist from the falls, but as the night went on, it got lower and lower until it was in front of the mist.

One of the great challenges of taking this sort of image is that you need the mist from the falls in order to get the moonbow, but then if the mist reaches high enough, it can make the rest of the image look fuzzy. There's also a very good chance that you'll get wet  depending on how great the water flow over the waterfall is and on which way and how strongly the wind is blowing.

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