Tag Archives: national park

Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall

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Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall
Morning, Merced Canyon and Bridalveil Fall. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of morning light on the Merced River canyon leading into Yosemite Valley with Bridalveil Fall in the distance.

If you enter the park via state route 120 and head toward Yosemite Valley, after passing the exit to Foresta you cross a ridge and begin the descend toward the Valley. I almost always stop at this location right after the longer of the three tunnels on this section of roadway and enjoy the view straight up the Merced Canyon toward Bridalveil Fall and a point where the Valley bends to the right.

The more I see this photo, the more I like it. Yosemite is, obviously, a place with quite a few famous and iconic photographic subjects, but I don’t think this view – at least not in these conditions – is one of them. But it is a view that many of us know well, as it is along the main northerly entrance to the Valley and is one of the first open views down into the Merced River canyon and the Valley itself, albeit the lower section.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cloud Shadows on North Dome

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Cloud Shadows on North Dome
Cloud Shadows on North Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon cloud shadows race across the top of North Dome with Mount Hoffman beyond and Yosemite Valley below. Photographed from Glacier Point.

Mt. Hoffman is one of the most historic locations in the park. It was from Hoffman’s summit that members of the California Survey Party did much of their early mapping work in the 1800s. Today there is almost a trail to the summit – a steep but not overly difficult route (if you are used to off-trail alpine travel) from May Lake.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Glacier Point, Late Afternoon

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Glacier Point, Afternoon
Glacier Point, Late Afternoon. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of Glacier Point, strongly backlit by late afternoon light, with Yosemite Valley and Yosemite Falls beyond.

It is hard to imagine a more exposed or spectacular place to be than Glacier Point as the day comes to an end over the Yosemite Sierra. This photograph was made from this popular overlook high above the Valley, with strong backlight from the late afternoon sun and a bit of haze below.

(In my attempt to describe the precipitous location of this shot, this post originally contained a fun but accidental pun: ” This photograph – as exposed as it may seem…” To good to delete! ;-)

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Cascade Creek Falls

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Cascade Creek Falls
Cascade Creek Falls. Yosemite National Park, California. May 16, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of Cascade Creek Falls along Big Oak Flat Road into Yosemite Valley, California.

It is hard to imagine a more accessible waterfall than this one. The road into the Valley (the highway 120 route) passes right over this creek, and this photograph was made from the bridge. (This spot is also among my earliest memories of Yosemite, from childhood trips to the park with my parents. This waterfall, cascading down from unseen heights above, suggested to me at that early age that there was something interesting beyond the road. Turns out that this suggestion was right, and I’ve spent some decades enjoying that something. :-)

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