Half Dome from the Merced River After Passing Under Sentinel Bridge

I, Rick, used to have an inflatable kayak. In January 1997, Yosemite experienced record flooding. People were trapped inside the valley due to the floodwater. A few months later, in May, I took my inflatable kayak on the shuttle bus and traveled as far upstream as the bus would take me, Happy Isles. Then I carried my kayak to the shore of the Merced River and inflated it. I shoved off and traveled downstream to view some of the damage caused by the flooding, including picnic tables in the middle of the river. Along the way, I passed under Sentinel Bridge and looked back at Half Dome. A lot of people like to get a picture of Half Dome from the bridge, but here I had the opportunity to include the bridge in the picture. That was the first and so far only time I've paddled on the Merced River. Must do that again soon.

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

Mount Lassen and the Chaos Crags during the Reading Fire, August 2012

 Mount Lassen is a volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range. It was the last volcano to erupt in California, in 1914 through 1917. During our visit in August, 2012, there was a forest fire northeast of Mount Lassen near a feature called the Chaos Crags. It became known as the Reading Fire. The road through the park was closed, but we still could get in at the southern end and loop around outside the park to get to the north end. While camping near the north end of the park we took our canoe and kayak out onto Manzanita Lake.We paddled from the south end to the north looking for a variety of angles to photograph the scenery around us.

This image was taken while sitting in a canoe and involved capturing 3 images and using the computer to combine them. This process is referred to as stitching or merging. You have to make sure that about 10 to 20 percent of the edges of each shot overlap and that the camera settings are similar, then the computer can find the parts and put them together seamlessly. Mount Lassen is at the right, the Chaos Crags are at the center, and the smoke from the Reading Fire is at the upper left.  This image is best printed at about a 2 to 1 ratio, so an 8 x 16 inch page would work best.

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