First Hike to the Top of Yosemite Falls, June 2, 2007

We've just posted a video about my (Rick's) first hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. I went with my wife, Mally, and her brother, Art, on June 2, 2007. Before starting out from Camp 4, we saw a car damaged by a marauding bear. The hike involves covering 3.2 miles and gaining 2425 feet in elevation. That's 5.15 km distance and 739 meters elevation.

Here's the link to our video: https://youtu.be/0jmZVzwASW8

Remember, it's not just a picture (video), it's a story!

Yosemite Falls and the Lost Arrow, Yosemite National Park

From this view along the Four Mile Trail, you can see almost all of Yosemite Falls, the Lost Arrow (to the right of the falls), the Merced River below, and parts of the trail that leads to the top of the falls. You can see that trail by basically starting at the middle of the left edge of the frame, following the line of trees that leads from the ledge up to the rounded top of granite to the left of the falls on the granite ridge.

ISO 100, f8, 1/180, 37mm focal length, taken during February, 2014.

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

California's El Dorado National Forest's Bridalveil Falls, between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe

On the drive between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, along Highway 50, in the El Dorado National Forest, there's a turnout for people to view Bridalveil Falls where Esmeralda Creek flows over the brink on its way to join the South Fork of the American River. We were on our way to the Sierra to get in a few hours of cross-country skiing while California has plenty of snow. The storm that dropped snow on the mountains was followed by a blast of cold air, so the falls had ice coating the rocks away from the main stream. Because we look like well-equipped photographers, we are often asked to take group photos for other people, and that did happen while we were stopped at these falls. The family seemed happy with the result.

This image is a merging of three images taken horizontally from top to bottom using the same settings for each. These were ISO 100, f4, 1/45 sec. It has been cropped to a 4x6 ratio and would make a good 8x12 picture.

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

Le Trois Teton - Grand, Middle, and South Teton as seen from Hurricane Pass, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

In Grand Teton National Park, most visitors view the Teton Range from the east and look westward. In 1999, Bob and Rick backpacked nearly the length of the Teton Range on the west side. Along the way, we viewed the highest of the Teton Range: Grand, Middle, and South Teton to our east. Along this route, we crossed over Hurricane Pass in the afternoon and had the range illuminated from the west as we looked eastward.This trip took 5 days and we covered around 55 miles, ending at the Jackson Hole Resort and taking the tram down to the valley.

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

Subway Cave: a lavatube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park

Subway Cave is a lava tube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park, in the Lassen National Forest. Lava tubes form when lava flowing out of a volcanic eruption cools and forms an upper crust, but lava underneath is still warm and fluid and eventually drains out, forming a tube. When parts of the roof collapse, entrances are created. Subway Cave has two roof collapses about .3 miles apart, which allows visitors to take a short hike from one to the other. The visitor can then return to the start through the cave or take a surface trail back.

Northeastern California has at least 300 such caves, but few are as high or as easily accessible as this one, being right off a main road. The cave entrances have cement stairs for easy access. The actual lava tube continues further along than where the stairways are located, but these parts of the cave may be considered less stable and therefore more hazardous. We've hiked into the extended parts of the cave to explore it more and found that the tunnel split. Very fascinating, these features, especially when you try to imagine what the flow of hot lava would look like when the tube was forming.

Anyone wishing a print of this photo will need to keep its dimensions in mind when ordering.  The dimensions that our online photo processing offers that applies to this image is 2x1 (or 8.5x17 legal size paper).

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

Sentinel Point, in Yosemite National Park, at sunset.

Sentinel Point towers over the south rim of Yosemite Valley. Not as famous as other features, like El Capitan or Half Dome, it can still offer some spectacular views. This image was taken as the sun was setting and Rick was looking for Horsetail Falls to the west of El Capitan picnic area. After gazing westward at the falls, Rick looked east and was surprised to see the moon rising near Sentinel Point, which is the left-most point of rock in this photo. The image was taken in February as the setting sun reflects from El Capitan's east flank, which only happens in November and February, each year. Because this was in February, you can see some  patches of snow on the cliff.

So many people know about Horsetail Falls glowing red from the setting sun in February, that the Park Service has started closing off one lane for parking, so all the photographers can park and be close to the waterfall feature. We've tried several times to get Horsetail Falls lit up by the setting sun in February, but there are other features around Yosemite to keep an eye out for, so don't fixate on one thing to the exclusion of others.

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

Bridalveil Falls at sunset with the Cathedral Rocks above and the Leaning Tower above right.

In Yosemite, Bridalveil Falls appears above the trees at sunset. After seeing Yosemite Valley from the Tunnel View, many visitors stop at Bridalveil Falls and hike to the base. Especially in the spring, visitors can get thoroughly drenched by the spray. This makes taking photos near the falls a bit hazardous for the integrity of lenses and electronics.For much of the day, Bridalveil Falls is in shadow. It's only afternoon and evening that the cliff face gets direct light. The setting sun made a slight orange glow on the granite in this January photo.

The Cathedral Rocks above the falls were the first high points in Yosemite to be climbed by mountain climbers and are still popular. Also, climbers ascend the Leaning Tower to the upper right in this image. Together they remind me of something like a Stegosaurus's back with the rocks forming the bony plates, and then Bridalveil Creek flowing over its back before falling. This image was the result of 4 images merged together to capture more detail. It was taken with Rick's 6-megapixel Minolta camera that has since been replaced by a Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR.

It's not just a photo, it's a story.

Yosemite Falls, upper and lower, with a lunar rainbow, or moonbow, with stars.

The mist from Yosemite Falls can turn moonlight into a moonbow, or lunar rainbow, around the time of the full moon. It also depends on how much precipitation the area had during the winter and sping, since the misting water droplets coming off the falls is what separates the white light into the spectrum of colors. The moon-caused bow is dim enough that human eyes can't distinguish the colors. We have rods and cones in our eyes, cells that respond to light. The rods respond to brightness and don't detect color, but the cones do respond to color, but only if their light has enough intensity. Moonlight isn't usually intense enough to trigger the cones. When looking at this moonbow, we only saw an arc of ghostly white light, but the camera's time exposure, 30 seconds, does pick up the colors that our eyes can't see.

This perspective also includes the upper falls and stars so that it's easier to tell that it was taken at night. To get here, you have to be willing to do a little scrambling off of the paved path over granite that is sometimes slick, right up to the base of the cliffs, but it's well worth it. You also should bring along a dry cloth to wipe the droplets off of your lens, since it will get wet. Wearing rain gear to keep yourself dry and protected from the wind is a good idea, too. Waterfalls create their wind. The falling water drags air down with it. 

This image was two shots, lower and upper, then merged together to create one larger image. The two were taken on June 2, 2012. We tried again this year, 2013, but last year's results were better.

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

Multnomah Falls, Oregon's tallest waterfall.

Multnomah Falls is the highest waterfall in the state of Oregon. For the traveler, it is very convenient to see it since it's right next to a major road. You don't even have to get out of your car to see it, but, of course, you'll want to get closer. The bridge that crosses the creek was built in 1914. There's a trail to the top of the falls that Rick hiked and got the view from the brink looking down at the people on the bridge, the Multnomah Falls Lodge and the parking area where his car was parked. This part of the Columbia River Gorge has many other waterfalls along the road and even farther upstream from those, if you're willing to do some hiking.

Because the falls are on a north-facing cliff, it is always in shade. That creates a bit of a challenge for photographers to get the right degree of contrast and exposure to bring out the details. Northern Oregon and southern Washington often have cloudy weather as well, adding a little more to the degree of difficulty. This image is the composite of three images that were merged together to capture more of the detail of the scene. The camera Rick had in 2006 was a 6 megapixel Konica Minolta camera, so the three images minus the overlap from the merge process gets to about 14 megapixels. The merging process allows a photographer to make images that are much greater in image detail than a single image.

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

Burney Falls and springs at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park

Burney Falls is within the McArthur-Burney Falls State Park in California. Burney Creek splits into 2 streams at the brink to form 2 waterfalls, but the rest of the cliff face oozes spring water in huge amounts. The park is in northeastern California in a volcanic region that includes the Cascades, Modoc Plateau, and Lava Beds National Monument. The water from rain and melting snow percolated through loose volcanic rock and travels sideways after coming to an impervious layer deeper underground.

This image is a composite of 8 separate images taken with a film camera, scanned into the computer, then combined. The separate images were taken in the vertical direction. We were in the park on the Fourth of July. The park was packed with people and parking was a problem. This view was just off the road along a side walk that stops at a viewpoint. The walk continues down to the creek where you can stand in front of the falls across a pool. Some people even took a dip in the water.

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

Sedona, Arizona's Red Rock Crossing

Sedona, Arizona is famous for its red rock formations. In 2006, we made a side trip to Sedona as part of our travels to see the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. This image was of Red Rock Crossing.  Oak Creek is in the foreground and Cathedral Rock towers in the background.  These formations show the erosional patterns of sandstone rock formations in a desert environment.  Red Rock Crossing looking at Cathedral Rock is the most photographed spot in Arizona.

This was our first time using a digital camera for most of the images we took during this trip, even though we still felt that film would yield better results.

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

Coyote posing for the camera in Death Valley National Park

While driving the many miles of roads in Death Valley National Park during a visit in 1993, Rick pulled off the road to double-check the map for his next destination. Along came a coyote probably expecting a hand-out, but when none was forthcoming, it started looking around at the terrain to decide where it wanted to go next. For this photo, Rick didn't even have to get out of the car, it was taken while he was still sitting in the driver's seat through the passenger window.

It always amazes us how hardy animals and plants can be in such harsh enviroments as Death Valley. During the summer, this coyote would probably only come out at night, but this image was taken in April, so he was out during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, these animals seem to have gotten accustomed to the idea of a stopped car meaning free food, but ironically it's how Rick was able to get such an easy photo of this one, even though we never feed wild animals..

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

Lower Yosemite Falls showing a rainbow from the mist

On a camping trip to Yosemite in March of 2010, we were seeking rainbows in the waterfalls and the nearly full moon rising next to Half Dome. It turned out to be a very successful trip. The moon rising next to Half Dome you can see in an earlier post. The morning of that same day, we hiked out to Yosemite Falls from Camp 4 and arrived just in time to see this prominent rainbow, or mistbow, in Lower Yosemite Falls.

Fortunately, there was no wind this morning, so the mist from the falls went straight out from the wall and across the cliff face where the mistbow made its appearance. We were closer to the falls than the bridge and down a little toward Yosemite Creek, so that our view could be looking up enough to include the sky in the image. This image is the result of 2 images being merged together. The bottom image included the rainbow, the second one included the sky and didn't include the rainbow at all. We didn't want to try merging two images with separate parts of the rainbow because it could've presented a greater challenge in making them fit together seamlessly. This image has been cropped into a square shape.

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

Yosemite's winter landscape from the "real" Tunnel View

Maybe this could be called "The Real Tunnel View" of Yosemite Valley.

Many visitors to Yosemite Valley arrive by driving Highway 41 through the south entrance and pass through the famous Wawona Tunnel. In February of 2011, we went skiing at the Badger Pass ski area and the Glacier Point Road. After skiing, we paid a visit to the valley and were immediately struck (not physically... mentally) by the icycles hanging from the rim of the tunnel. So we pulled off into the Tunnel View parking area, and, when traffic permitted, we walked back into the tunnel to fire off several photos of the view of the valley with the end of the tunnel and its icycles included in the images. To the left is El Capitan, with icycles pointing down at it. To the right are the Cathedral Rocks, with another icycles marking the high point, sort of. Just left of center is Half Dome and Clouds Rest, which, true to its name, very often has clouds enveloping it, as is the case here.

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