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.

A Moonbow in Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls, Idaho

 We have for the last dozen years or so been making a nearly annual pilgrimage to Yosemite to see the famous moonbows in Lower and Upper Yosemite Falls.  We have long thought that moonbows might occur in other waterfalls, but that few others have thought to look for them there.

 With that in mind, we headed to Twin Falls, Idaho to visit the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls, east of the city along the Snake River.  We got special permission to spend the night there on the night of Saturday, July 1st, two days before the night of the full moon.

Much to our delight, we did see a moonbow in the mist of the gushing waterfalls that is Shoshone Falls.  It first appeared in the far left end of the mist cloud just before midnight and progressed to the right as the moon climbed higher in the sky.  When we left at 2 AM, the moonbow seemingly had pressed itself against the cliff to the left of the waterfall in this view and had shortened to just a stub.

But that means that a waterfall that wasn't known for producing a moonbow, not only produced one for us, but that it lasted for some two hours two nights before the full moon night.

Thanks to Wendy Davis of the City of Twin Falls Parks and Recreation Department for allowing us the opportunity to photograph and videograph the moonbow in Shoshone Falls.  Check out our YouTube timelapse video of this event in our Nature Observations playlist.

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.

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.

Lower Calf Creek Falls by moonlight, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Bob attended the Natural Arch and Bridge Society's 2022 Fall Arch Rally at Escalante, Utah.  After he finished a hike to see a couple of arches, he hurried to the Calf Creek area in the Grand Staircase-Escalanate National Monument to hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls.  He made it to the falls in the early evening and then stayed to take photographs of it by moonlight, since it was the night before the full moon.  This was his last shot before packing it in for the night.

The long exposure makes the waterfall look silky and the stars show up in the sky.  This last shot had a cloud show up above the gap that the waterfall flows through.

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

 

El Capitan and the Big Dipper by moonlight, May 2018

 Bob was looking through his photos when he happened upon this photo that he took of El Capitan by moonlight.  The Big Dipper is in the upper left of the image.  He took this picture in May 2018.

El Capitan is one of the largest granite cliffs in the world and is a draw for rock climbers from around the world.

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.

Mount Lassen and our tent by moonlight

 We did an overnight ski camping trip in Lassen Volcanic National Park in March 2021 during Rick's spring break.  After skiing in about 8 miles along the Lassen Park Road, we skied off the road's course and set up our camp at this spot overlooking the frozen-over Lake Helen and Mount Lassen.  During the night we got up and realized that the moon was up and illuminating the scene around us.  We didn't bring tripods with us, so Bob had to take this photo by propping up his camera with some of our camp gear.  Because this was a 30 second exposure, he couldn't take it by hand holding the camera.

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!

Half Dome by half moonlight on a snowy February night

We visited Yosemite Valley to try to capture the "firefall" effect of Horsetail Falls at sunset in mid-February 2019 (pictures of that will be forthcoming).  Afterwards, Bob cross-country skied a lap around Ahwahnee Meadow and noticed that the half moon was lighting up Half Dome in a way that brought it out, while not washing out the stars above it.  He got his tripod and camera and shot these long exposure shots from a corner of the meadow.

While Bob was taking the first photo, the Valley Shuttle bus approached while the shutter was open.  The second photo was without a vehicle approaching.

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