Shoshone Falls double rainbow, July 1, 2023

 While waiting for the night to fall to look for moonbows in Shoshone Falls, we spent the afternoon getting photos of the falls during the day, including seeing this double rainbow in the mist of the falls.

These falls are east of Twin Falls, Idaho and at this viewing, there was a good flow of water, thanks to releases from upstream dams on the Snake River.  This view is from the main viewing platform for the falls in Shoshone Falls Park.

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

Ravine Falls, North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve, near Oroville, California

In January 2023 California was hit with a series of storms and it has been in the media that the seasonal waterfalls at the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve in northern California were flush with water. This reserve is northeast of Oroville, California.

 This is Ravine Falls. It's about a mile and a half hike from the trailhead. We knew we were heading toward this waterfall when the trail took us from open rolling plain and started switchbacking down into a ravine, hence the name of the fall.

We had been wanting to visit this reserve for many years now, because of our interest in vernal pools.  They occur in the rolling plains that visitors can see right at the trailhead.

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

McArthur Burney Falls and double rainbow

The centrerpiece of McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park in Northern California is Burney Falls.  The two main streams you see in the center of the photo is from Burney Creek, while the rest of the waterfalls you see here are from springs emerging from the cliff face.  Some 100 million gallons of water flow from this waterfall every day.  It creates quite a spectacle.

Since this cliff face is pretty much north-facing, it almost never gets direct sunlight, but the mist from the waterfall can catch the rays and produce rainbows during special times of the day.  Here Bob was able to capture a double rainbow in the mist.

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!

The Best View of Chilnualna Falls Ever, in Yosemite

For a while, we became obsessed with getting the best possible picture of Chilnualna Falls, in the southern part of Yosemite National Park. Everyone who hikes from the Wawona area to Chilnualna Falls, sees these falls from the north looking south. In fact, the trail is always north of the creek. We found a much better view by crossing Chilnualna Creek and positioning ourselves where we could see the falls from the south looking north, plus being there at the time of day when the sun's light reaches all the way to the bottom of the falls. Searching for the best possible view also invloved us climbing a rope up to a tree branch along the trail and also rappelling down the cliff face to the area at the right in this photo where the dried plants are located. That position got us too close to the falls to get it all in a single shot, so we figured on backing up further in order to take it all in. So that's what we did and how we got this image.

The falls can't be seen from the Wawona area because there's a big granite wall in front of it. After getting this shot, we also managed to get to the top of that wall and look at the falls straight on.

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.

Yosemite Falls reflected in a seasonal pond in Cooks Meadow

This is Yosemite Falls as viewed from the Sentinel Bridge parking area. During the spring and early summer, Cooks Meadow fills with meltwater and runoff to become a temporary pond. If you stand in the right spot and crouch down a bit, you can get the falls and its reflection in one shot. We've also taken multiple shots from this perspective and combined them, but this one was taken in one frame with a film camera in 1992. The trees have had another 25 years worth of growth since this was taken and are noticeably taller now.

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

Yellowstone's Tower Falls with the boulder on the brink, before and after

In Yellowstone, one of the popular places to stop and look at the scenery is at Tower Falls. Until the spring of 1986, this 132-foot waterfall had a precariously perched boulder on the brink. That year, the boulder fell to the bottom. We visited Yellowstone in the 1970's several times and got pictures of this waterfall with the boulder still there, as you can see below. The boulder to the right of the one that fell is still there. During the 1975 trip, we hiked down to the base of the falls and looked up at the boulder and tried imagining what it would be like to be under this waterfall when that boulder finally came down. The sign at the overlook asked the question about when the boulder would fall, but now it's not there, of course. It also looks like the same trees are there to the left of the creek after 40 years. The trees closer to the overlook have obviously gotten taller.
Tower Falls gets its name from the volcanic pinnacles that line the stream course.

   Here are the two pictures side by side for comparison.

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

Ribbon Falls, Yosemite's tallest seasonal waterfall, 2004 & 2017

The above picture shows Ribbon Falls, in Yosemite Valley, in March 2004. This is Yosemite National Park's tallest seasonal waterfall. The water in it actually freefalls a greater distance than the water in Yosemite Falls, which has a Middle Cascade before the water freefalls off of the lower falls. By summer, it is usually dried up, but this year, 2017, had a lot of precipitation, so the picture below shows Ribbon Falls in June, still with plenty of flow. The water falls 1,612 feet (491 meters). In contrast, Yosemite Falls' longest drop is 1,430 feet (436 meters), before cascading over 5 smaller plunges in the Middle Cascade. So, it turns out that the longest single plunge for a waterfall in America is Ribbon Falls.

Remember, it's not just a picture, 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!

Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite viewed from the north side of the Merced River

In Yosemite National Park, there are many very tall waterfalls. Bridalveil Falls is actually one of the shorter ones in Yosemite Valley. When you drive into Yosemite Valley from the south, though, it's the first one you can visit. It flows between the Cathedral Rocks to the east and the Leaning Tower to the west. Farther upstream, the Glacier Point Road crosses over Bridalveil Creek and there is a campground nearby. Bridalveil Falls gets its name because the valley gets windy, especially in the afternoon, causing the falling water to drift right and left so it comes down more like a sheet or a "veil" instead of one cohesive flow of water. The water then flows into the Merced River.

Image taken at ISO 400, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, 21 mm focal length (approximately 30 mm equivalent).

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

Undine Falls in northern Yellowstone National Park

Undine Falls in the north of Yellowstone National Park about four miles east of Mammoth Village.  In three separate plunges Lava Creek falls about 60 feet over a cliff of basalt lava flows.  These falls can be viewed by a short hike from the park road to an overlook.  If you look closely, you'll see a trail passing by the falls on the other side of the canyon.  During his college years, Bob hiked on that trail past Undine Falls on a backpack trip from Mammoth to the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River east and north of these falls.

This image was shot at 1/4th of a second to create the silky appearance of the water.

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