Post Processing Blues in my Yosemite Photographs

Removing a Blue Cast

Half Dome from Olmsted Point

When I was in Yosemite in early September, 2016 for my first visit, the skies were almost completely clear of clouds the entire time - the few clouds that were in the sky were small and almost singular. That meant my photographs had a lot of blue in them if I included the sky, but it also resulted in the granite reflecting a lot of blue.

I processed and posted a few of my shots to share them with others. After I saw them again a couple of days later, especially in the smaller thumbnails, it bothered me how blue the mountains like Half Dome looked. The entire images had blue casts to them and that wasn't how I remembered them looking when I was there.

I can't say for sure that they didn't appear to have blue cast in person, but I don't remember it. I think that as a human my brain probably understood that the granite wasn't actually blue.

I went back into Adobe Lightroom to alter the images. I just did a selection of the peaks or domes using a brush in Lightroom and changed the Temperature (White Balance) of the selected area to a warmer setting in order to make the domes look more like I imagine that I remember them. Note that the granite in the foreground does not appear blue and I did not touch it up.

Adding Blue to the Sky in Post Processing

This image of Half Dome still has some blue in the darker areas but the lighter areas are warmed up. The strange thing is that the sky isn't terribly blue either. I brought out the blue in the top of the image using a graduated filter in Lightroom in this shot. The original is more white, like the lower half of the sky.

I didn't use a graduated neutral density filter when I shot this and I'm not sure how well it would have worked. The problem with this shot is that I'd like the sky to be darkened but Half Dome sticks up into the sky where you want the darkening. Half Dome would get darkened as well. Perhaps that could be overcome in Lightroom but then I'd just be doing a different set of adjustments.

Dehaze added more Blue Cast

Half Dome from Big Oak Flat Road

The images where there was some distance to the peaks often had a "haze" in them which should be a perfect time to use the Lightroom Dehaze control. I also noticed that increasing the Dehaze also increased the blue cast as shown in the shot to the left.

Again, I went back to adjust the color cast using a brush and changing the temperature of the selection. In this shot I did more temperature adjustment of Half Dome than of the other middle hill on the right. It was closer and didn't turn as blue.

I didn't adjust the sky as much in this shot; it was blue from the top down.

Kudos

Processing these photographs has been more of a challenge than I expected. I have tried rendering some of them in black and white but I haven't been much happier with the way they look in black and white, mainly, I think, because of the boring sky. What I have gained is an appreciation for the amazing captures of the Yosemite scenery by others. The scenery is very beautiful and impressive but to get an image that stands out you really need the sky to match the landscape with interesting clouds and you need to try different things with the capture to control light. I want to go try again!

Yosemite National Park Day 3 - Glacier Point

My elaborate campsite,
Crane Flat Campground #410

I woke up early again on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. I was beat and sore. I decided to relax a bit and went back to sleep. I didn't roll out of my sleeping bag until about 8:30 AM. I leisurely heated some water for my instant Starbucks coffee and instant oatmeal. Note that one of John Muir's staples was oatmeal. I was hoping that I'd channel some more Muir!

I also want to plug the Starbucks instant coffee. It's pretty good for instant and I don't have to have to take any tools to brew coffee. I had started looking for such a thing before leaving on the trip and ended up finding that Starbucks had instant coffee. I ordered some from Amazon at $11.65 for 8 packets. Afterwards, when I was at my local WalMart to get some other supplies, I saw they had the same thing for about $6. Someone made some bucks off of me! Regardless of the price, it was good and convenient.

My plan for the day, now that I wasted and lost the opportunity to shoot sunrise photographs, was to visit Glacier Point. That was the last remaining highlight I had on my list of things to be sure I saw during my way too short of a visit:

1. Tuolomne Meadows
2. Tenaya Lake
3. Hetch-Hetchy
4. The Valley and El Capitan, Half dome, Yosemite Falls, Ansel Adams Gallery
5. Tunnel View viewpoint
6. Glacier Point

Eventually I got myself on the road. Yes, I'd lost the sunrise but I was very relaxed and happy, even if I was sore. I must have moved around and exercised some muscles more than I realized up to this point! Good for me!

I headed on out of the campground and down towards the valley to get on Wawona Road. I drove past the Tunnel View viewpoint and headed through Wawona Tunnel for which it's named. It's a long tunnel at 4,233 feet - about 4/5 of a mile.

Sign for McGurk Meadows along Glacier Point Road

Continuing up the winding Wawona Road you come to the turn off for Glacier Point. It seemed like it was suddenly there without a lot of warning (signs). I took the turn and headed up Glacier Point Road. There's a Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Resort along the way as the road twists through some lovely pine and granite. I wanted to stop along the road often but kept going, hoping I'd have time at the end of the day to stop more. 

I just found the scenery and landscape along that whole road to be beautiful and wonderful. Again I was wishing I could live there. I imagine a lot of other people wish that too! I also wish I was a park ranger, working there.

I did see some similarities between the Glacier Point Road and some of the roads in the Grand Canyon National Park on the north rim side. But the meadows at Yosemite were prettier (from what I saw as I drove past them). I'll also admit that I drove slowly, generally in tourist mode and under the speed limit. There wasn't a lot of traffic and when anyone got behind me, rushing to get to the end of the road, I pulled over to let them pass. I wanted to enjoy the trip! 

Washburn Point Visitors

I am reading "Wild" right now and Cheyrl Strayed has a line I read last night that I liked - she was in a car while bypassing some snow bound parts of the Pacific Crest Trail, and, to paraphrase, said that as she watched the landscape go by from the car it became general instead of specific and that she was an observer instead of a participant. I was trying to stay as much of a participant as possible.

As you get closer to the Glacier Point area you first pass by the Washburn Point viewpoint. Yep, I did pull in there to check it out. I didn't spend much time there at the time, but did get a nice view of Half Dome before continuing on to Glacier Point.

Between Washburn Point and Glacier point, headed to Glacier Point, there's a right hand turn around a point that looks out at the valley just before you get to the Glacier Point parking lot. There's a parking area inside the turn, and there was only one car in there. I thought it would make a great place to take some photos from.

The parking lot at Glacier Point was full. I drove around 3 times before I found someone that was leaving. I waited for them to back out of their spot and I grabbed it. It was probably about 10:00 AM, which is after the tourists start getting out. 

The area at Glacier Point was also full of humans. I didn't even get my DSLR out of the car, and my iPhone battery was dead so I didn't even get any photos from there. I walked the paved trails around the point, ooohd and aaahd. Watched everyone else taking their selfies with their selfie sticks. I went through the little masonry "tower" on one of the trails. I went in to the Glacier Point "store" and got a hot dog and coffee. The bees really enjoyed it - I had to take bites from it in between the times when there were a few bees on it grabbing a bite.

Outcroppings near Glacier Point

I tried to enjoy the view but there were a lot of people there. If I'd had another day at the park I would have tried to get up there a lot earlier. The view of Half Dome is better here than at Washburn Point because you see more of the face from Glacier Point. At Washburn Point you're looking about straight across the face, just getting the profile of Half Dome. But, due to the number of people, I didn't end up going back with my DSLR. I'll do it next time.

I decided to instead drive back to that sharp turn in the road just outside of the Glacier Point parking lot. When I got there it was packed full of cars. Bummer. I went on a bit farther and pulled off the road near some granite. I parked and walked out on the granite and found some decent views of Half Dome there so I grabbed my DSLR and climbed out on those rocks.

Half Dome from the outcroppings near Glacier Point

I actually climbed out on the rocks to get some shots, trying not to look down. In fact, I crawled on part of my excursion. I really wanted some photographs from up here and the drop offs weren't quite bad enough to keep me away. I enjoyed finding a path through the bushes and over the boulders.

Half Dome was visible through some trees. I won't say that I got award winning shots but I like them and I really like the memories that they'll spark when I view them in the future. If I haven't mentioned it, I was really enjoying my visit at Yosemite!

I was even able to pose and grab my own selfies with Half Dome in the background! How cool is that?

Me with Half Dome in the background

Okay, nothing spectacular but I was still pinching myself - I was truly seeing John Muir country!

I continued on, stopping at Washburn Point again to take some more photographs from that location.

I haven't processed the shots yet but I was able to use my 200-500mm lens to get some shots of Vernal and Nevada falls which are visible from there. 

When I looked at the falls without the lens, they were okay. Not a lot of water but enough. But when I looked at them with the long lens I saw that there were a lot of people at the falls. That lens is cool. I wish I had a teleconverter too; it would have likely worked fine for those shots - using a tripod in bright mid-day light. I could have picked out the people a lot better (and it would have been useful for the climbers on El Capitan).

Somewhere along Wawona Road

There were a lot of folks at Washburn Point taking pictures, as you would imagine. Out of the many DSLR shooters, all of them were using Canon cameras except 2. I spoke to one guy who stood right in front of me (it was okay, I was just sitting on a railing enjoying the view) about that, He thought it was funny - he hated the Canon ergonomics. I can't say I hate Canon ergonomics because I've never shot one. What I can say is for what ever reason, significantly more people were carrying a Canon DSLR than Nikon. That's just an observation...

At some time about 4:15 PM I decided to start heading back to the valley. I thought I'd stop at Tunnel View viewpoint again and see what I could get for some sunset shots from there. Along the way I shot a video of going through Wawona Tunnel (click this link to view the video).

Some non-humans at Tunnel View

I stayed at Tunnel View until dark and shot a lot of captures of the shadow of El Capitan as it crept across the valley using the interval timer on my Nikon D610 (again, when I process these shots I'll post another blog). I got about 100 shots at 1 minute intervals.

While I was doing that I talked to a nice young couple from Rhode Island. They were just as excited as I was to be there watching the sunset on Yosemite Valley! They'd come up to me and the man said "I see everyone else is over there (pointing) and you're down here. We figured you must know what you're doing so we're coming here by you." His flattery got him a smile and a laugh in return! 

I left Tunnel View after dark, heading back to my campsite. I wasn't looking forward to trying to fix some ramen noodles in the dark but oh well.

As I got into the valley and made the turns on to El Capitan Drive and Northside Drive and was passing by El Capitan Meadow, the moon was visible between the Cathedral Rocks and looked wonderful. I made the quick decision to pull over and shoot some moon pictures from out in the meadow.

I grabbed my camera which had my 70-200mm zoom on it and walked out into the middle of the meadow where the deer and bears roam. It was so cool, being there like that at that time of day with no one else around and hardly any cars going by. I tried shooting a picture but instantly saw that I needed a wider lens so I walked back to the Explorer, swapped the lens for the 20mm, and then returned to the middle of the meadow. 

I got some shots (which I haven't processed yet, as you might have guessed). When I turned around to go back to the car I noticed lights on the face of El Capitan. The climbers were settling in for the night and you could see where they were. Again, this place is something else (in a good way)! I put the camera down and shot some photographs of that too. Like I said on my post about day 1, every time you turn your head here, or walk a few feet, there is something new to take a photograph of. You better bring lots of film if you come to Yosemite!

Eventually I made it back to my campsite. I barely got my ramen cooked and eaten and cleaned up before the 10:00 PM "quiet" time hit. My second full day in Yosemite was over, dammit!

Yosemite National Park Day 2 - The Valley

At 4:50AM on Tuesday, September 6, 2016, I woke up in Yosemite National Park at site #410 in Crane Flat Campground. Or, it could have been heaven. I wasn't sure at first. At least not until I started getting moving and had to deal with the bear container. And, I think I had been grinning all night.

It was 51 degrees Fahrenheit with clear skies. The sky was light but the sun wasn't in sight - it was the perfect time to get going!

I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and left the campground as stealthily as I could. I went to the Crane Flat Store and filled up with fuel. That's a good time to take care of that - there was only one other person fueling at that time of day. The other times I'd pulled through the store it was busy as heck. There wasn't any other fuel for maybe 50 miles so the Crane Flat Store always had a waiting line - for fuel as well as the store itself, the pay phone, and the restrooms.

Half Dome from near Curry Village

I left the store and headed east on Big Oak Flat Road towards the valley for my first time. I thought I'd hit Glacier Point but after merging on to El Portal Road and the Southside Drive, and then getting to the fork in the road with Wawona Road, I decided to go get my Half Dome shots instead and didn't take the turn.

I drove to the end of the valley, driving through Curry Village and both Pines Campgrounds and discovered there weren't any great shots of Half Dome from there. I went back to the meadow where Curry Village Drive intersects with Happy Isle Loop Road and parked the Explorer. I got a few shots from there of Half Dome and the meadow. I really planned to go back there sometime to walk around the meadow or hopefully even the Mirror Lake Trail but never did make it. I guess that'll be for another visit.

Looking North at the valley near Curry Village

When you look at Half Dome from that meadow it's hard to tell the scale. The meadow (well, Curry Village) is at about 4,000 feet elevation. The top of Half Dome is at 8,839 feet, approaching 5,000 feet or just shy of a mile higher than the valley and almost straight up from the valley floor. Impressive!

This shot of Half Dome isn't great. The sky was clear with the sun behind the mountain. I tried editing it to get some blue to come out but no luck. And, the granite has a blue cast. I'll have to work on it...

I didn't think that the sunrise was going to much good from that location; the sun was going to rise behind Half Dome. I decided to head back to El Capitan to see what I could get there.

North Dome (I believe - the peak on the left)
and Half Dome

El Capitan is at the south-west end of the Yosemite Valley. For those of you who don't know, which I didn't until I started looking into Yosemite, the Yosemite Valley area is the main tourist attraction part of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite National Park is about 45 miles high by 35 miles wide, encompassing about 1,200 square miles. It is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island and was visited by about 4.3 million people in 2015.

The Yosemite Valley, which is where the Yosemite Village including the Ansel Adams Gallery, views of Half Dome, El Capitan, and Yosemite Falls, is about 7 miles long and 1 mile wide. The Merced river falls into the valley from Vernal Falls and meanders through the valley from east to west. The Yosemite Valley is probably the most famous part of the park but it is not the entire park.

One of the valley's permanent residents

There was some road construction going on during my visit so I got to detour around the Yosemite Village area. As I was getting out of the built up portion of the valley I encountered a deer in the road. He basically paid me no mind after he convinced himself I wasn't going to run him over, taking his time to get out of the road and continue grazing along the sidewalk. I'm guessing that he's probably encountered a human before.

I continued on towards El Capitan along Norhtside Drive, passing by the Yosemite Falls Trail entrance. It's quite a noticeable structure, leading to the tallest waterfall in the United States at 2,435 feet high (a bit less than 1/2 of a mile). However, I had found the Yosemite Conservancy's Yosemite Falls webcam and knew that there was no water coming over the falls. It was bone dry and I thought I might walk up the trail but never did make it. In fact I didn't even get a picture of the entrance.

El Capitan peeking through some pine trees

I started glimpsing El Capitan through the trees. What an imposing bit of rock! It sits closer to the road than Half Dome and has about a 3,000 foot face. I actually like how it seems to be revealed to you slowly as you approach from the Village end of the valley, building up the excitement. I have watched a few YouTube videos about people climbing El Capitan and I have seen the same gradual view of the mountain. Now I was seeing it in person!

The traffic at this time was still pretty good, by the way. It was still about 7:00 AM and the rest of the tourists were probably still in bed or just getting their breakfast. I hadn't eaten yet, saving that task for a bit later, after I tried to get a sunrise shot or two. I was only going to have a few mornings in the park, and probably only one in the valley, and I didn't want to waste it eating.

The sun greets El Capitan

I pulled off the side of the road a bit west of El Capitan on one of the turnouts and set up to get some shots as the sun came up and hit the face. What a lovely site! I would end up spending most of my time in the valley shooting El Capitan instead of Half Dome or anything else. The Merced had water but not a lot. The waterfalls were not of interest in the limited time I had. The village itself isn't really that photogenic and once the other tourists started arriving it wasn't that fun to negotiate around them (especially with the road construction).

I shot a good number of photographs with my DSLR and then headed back to the village after the sun was basically fully up over El Capitan. I did stop and take a few shots from the Merced.

I had to climb over a good number of boulders to get to the location where I shot the Merced / El Capitan shots from and I have to say, I enjoyed the heck out of it. There was another guy there also shooting, one stop up from mine. I ended up walking around him so I could be in front of him, ruining his shot instead of the other way around.

El Capitan from the Merced River

He wasn't getting his feet wet though and I was. I really wanted to be over the water but never did find a truly great spot. I tried a few places but with the water so low I wasn't going to get any kind of reflection. For the photogs, I found my Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G was not wide enough. I had to switch to my 16-35mm f/4 in order to fit this shot.

It struck me how lucky I was to have the selection of lenses I needed. I actually had them laid out in the back of the Explorer. When I got to this location I tried the 50mm to see if it was okay, which it wasn't. By the time I'd tried the 20mm and realized I needed an even wider lens, I was not only grinning about being in Yosemite Valley but I was also grinning about my photo gear.

I had my lenses laid out like a smorgasbord of nice glass and was using them (well, I hadn't used the telephotos much - yet).

And, I thought I was making good choices. If I wasn't carrying my gear bag I did a quick look through a lens to see if it would work. If not I'd switch it with the one that would work. And I had a lens for most needs.

What I didn't have, though, was a neutral density for the 16-35 that would let me slow down the exposure to get the silky water in front of El Capitan. I was a bit bummed, especially since I'd made half of an attempt to get one from Tempe Camera before leaving but they didn't have one (for the Cokin system). However, once I got to the water and saw there wasn't anything to slow down anyway my grins came back.

Phone booth and shuttle outside Degnan's Deli

I continued on to the Yosemite Village area where I walked around a bit. I got a wonderful breakfast burrito and dark, strong, hot coffee from Degnan's Deli. The burrito is NOT on the menu. I had visited the main Yosemite Store, looking for hot coffee. I picked up souvenirs but they didn't like like they'd be good for breakfast so I put them in my Explorer and kept walking.

I had met a young couple on a sidewalk and the woman had a coffee. I asked where she got it and they told me Degnan's so I promptly asked about a breakfast burrito and the man said he'd had a huge one there. I was on my way!

I sat outside to eat it, observed constantly by squirrels, and watched the shuttle come and go. Afterwards I called my wife (I wasn't sure that anyone else's wife would answer my phone call) using the pay phone. No cell phone reception for me.

I walked through the Ansel Adams Gallery where they had an original print of "Muir Pass, the Black Giant" priced at only $84,900. I was at least $100 short so I didn't get it.

I strolled through the visitors center with a lot of information about the park. I got to see a life size bronze statue of John Muir. I sat outside of the theater deciding if I wanted to wait for the next show and took a shot of the mountain above the village.

Ansel Adams Gallery

Bronze statue of John Muir

The view from the theater

My wife had put in an order for a stainless steel souvenir ring so I stopped in the store again to get that. I have to say that I have kind of changed my souvenir purchasing. I like getting something from the places I visit but I don't need useless things.

In the past I've tended to buy T-shirts and I'd wear them. But I've got so many of them (including concert and sporting event shirts) that I gave away a good number that I'd never worn at Christmas last year to a family we sponsored at work. I have been avoiding buying them the last couple of years and instead I've been getting ball caps.

I wear ball caps when I'm camping and not getting a shower in order to hide my (barely) less than perfect coiffure. But the caps that were available were just not to my liking. They had a lot of calligraphy type fonts which looked like gangster styles to me and I just didn't care for them.

Heading to El Capitan along Northside Drive

What I started last year was getting stainless steel rings and I kind of like them. I got my first one from the gift store at Cape Foulweather on the Oregon coast on my way to my 40th high school reunion last year. Then I picked one up from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I added one from Yosemite. Then it was off for some time in front of El Capitan.

I passed by Camp 4 and was tempted to drive through it. That is where the people stay that plan to climb El Capitan and the other rocks like Half Dome. But I kept going...

Getting full of myself, I wanted to try to get to the base of El Capitan. I first pulled in to the El Capitan picnic area thinking I might be able to get to it from there. Since there was no one else around I decided it would be a good place to remove my long underwear in the outhouse. Since there was no one around but me it must have seemed like a good place for about 5 other cars to pull in to while I was changing my clothes, and for the occupants of those cars to see if the bathroom was available.

El Capitan's first line of defense

After getting out of the bathroom, I grabbed some gear and walked down the trail towards El Capitan but soon realized (after it came in to view) that I was quite a ways from it. I got back in my Exploder to drive a bit closer.

I got to the next pull off where there's a trail head. I didn't notice the trail head at first so started trying to just make my way through the pines, boulders, and underbrush up to the base of the cliff. I didn't make it too far. I climbed up a good number of boulders, wiggled through some stickery shrubs, but it became too much for me to navigate while holding my tripod.

I headed back to the car and that's when I saw the nice, wide, manicured trail with a number of other folk on it so I headed down it.

I got a ways down and started talking with a pretty young slender gal (aren't they all?) about the face. She said the trail went right up to the face - something I never found out because I started shooting from right there and just didn't finish the trek. Another thing I'll have to do on my next visit.

The reason I got distracted was because there were climbers on the mountain. I started shooting photographs of them. I had my Nikkor 70-200mm telephoto zoom and put it on. Other folks were passing by and a family of 4 got very interested in the shots and wanted to see them on the back panel. You could see some details about the climbers, their gear, and the cliff face itself. Then a group of about 5 young men who were also photographing stopped and took some shots and we talked for a while. It was a photographic geek and appreciation fest for maybe 45 minutes or so! Man I was enjoying my visit!

El Capitan Meadow, looking southish

I decided to head back to my Explorer, then drove to the El Capitan Meadow which is across the Northside Drive from El Capitan. There is a good bit of parking on the meadow side of the road and I took advantage of it and then walked out in to the meadow near a fallen tree that was also in shade.

The meadow has wonderful, long grass even though it was more brown than green in early September. But it's the type of meadow you don't see a lot of in Arizona. I'd seen another meadow the year before at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and also enjoyed it. I hadn't wanted to leave it either.

This time I took my Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 with me into the meadow. I set up near the fallen tree where there was no one else.I got my 200-500mm lens on and started taking some shots. Within about 10 minutes I had a number of other folks either talking to me or congregating at the fallen tree, wondering why I was there. I think there were about a dozen people there. That was okay until the photography expert decided to join us.

Climbers on El Capitan

I shot some photographs of the climbers using the 200-500mm lens. The photography expert was asking how the lens was doing to which I replied it looks pretty good so he went to get his copy along with 2 tripods and 2 cameras. I didn't mind until he almost stepped on my bag with my other 4 lenses in it. I guess the shot was so good where I was in the open field that he couldn't set up 5 feet away in order to avoid stepping on my equipment.

I got up and left and went to take shots of other things in the meadow.

I shot some follow up pics from the meadow and decided to cap off my valley day by visiting Tunnel View.

Tunnel View is a favorite viewpoint east of the long tunnel on Wawona Road, looking into Yosemite Valley. There's a good chance you've seen photographs from the view point. A recent (I believe September 2016) issue of National Geographic had a nice shot from there (actually, from up on the hill above the parking lot).

I went up there to see what I could see of the sunset. There were a decent group of tourists assembled, and a few DSLR folks too. I couldn't help myself - I had to join them!

Tunnel View Viewpoint with El Capitan on the left,
Cathedral Rocks on the right,
and Half Dome distant in the middle

I took some shots there and they were okay - you have to take a photograph there if you visit Yosemite. It wasn't until later that I realized the iconic shots from that location include Bridal Veil Falls, to the right of Cathedral Rocks.

Since there was such little water flowing over it I didn't even notice that it was there, or more precisely, I didn't notice it was missing.

Afterward I headed back to camp, stopping to take a few shots along the way from some viewpoints along the Big Oak Flat Road which I hadn't stopped for in the morning. It was getting to be about 5:00 PM and I wanted to get back to camp before it was completely dark in order to make another helping of ramen and sausage and Ritz crackers! I needed fuel to keep the grin alive!

Looking south from Big Oak Flat Road

Yosemite National Park Day 1 - Tuolomne, Crane Flats, Hetch-Hetchy

Heading west on Highway 120 towards
Yosemite National Park

I turned west on to California State Route 120 just south of Lee Vining and was finally on my way into Yosemite National Park! I had been waiting for this, planning for this, wanting this for well over a year and it was finally happening. Yes I was grinning like a fool driving along the highway.

First, though, I had to stop at a rest area to brush my teeth after having a breakfast burrito from the Mono Market in Lee Vining. And, at the risk of being gross (not that it will stop me), I had to irrigate my sinuses. That was the first occurrence of this process on my vacation where I got to use very cold water. The overnight temps had got down to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit and my distilled water was close to that. Nothing like squirting that up your nose at 8:00 AM in the morning!

Then, after my procrastination, I climbed back into my Explorer, got my grin back on, and headed towards the park.

As my camping partner from the night before told me, the highway climbs fast once you get on it. Lee Vining is at an elevation of 6,781 feet, and by the time you travel the roughly 13 miles to the East Park Entrance at Tioga Pass, you're at 9,941 feet elevation - most of which is gained very quickly along the road.

Along the way you start getting into the mountains. You start seeing the granite that Yosemite (and the Sierras in general) are known for. You, if you're like me, start grinning even more. 


I have lived in Oregon and Washington a lot but the mountains there are not like these. One reason I like Arizona is because I can see something besides trees, which is about all you see in western Oregon and Washington. I enjoy seeing the dirt and rocks - the ground. In the Sierras you see what the mountains are made of but you also see a lot of trees. A great mix!

There are some cool viewpoints along the highway that allow you to turn off and enjoy the scenery. I hit a few of them even though I was torn by the desire to see where I was and the desire to get in to Yosemite National Park. As my visit unfolded I found that I had that problem often.

I wanted to savor the moment but I was anxious to see more. I'll say it now - my overall thought of Yosemite National Park was that I loved everything. When I saw something amazing, something that I just wanted to look at or photograph, I would end up turning my head or walking 20 feet and there'd be another amazing or beautiful view. 

Wide vistas or close under forest cover it didn't matter. There is always another wonderful view waiting. I spent 3 nights there and all it did was whet my appetite for more. I'm jumping ahead, I guess, but as I write this I have an overwhelming desire to be back in the bosom of Yosemite. 

I know I'm not the only one but I believe it affects people deeply, especially if you are in tune with nature and the beauty of that area. I suppose there are some people that could be more like Clark Griswold when he visited the Grand Canyon in "Vacation", but I couldn't and can't get enough! 

And I was still outside the park, experiencing the need to both linger and venture and wish I had at least two weeks to spend in the park.


I did continue on, driving to Tioga Pass where the park entrance is located. I drove past the various lakes and campgrounds and Tioga Pass Resort. I then made it to the park entrance.

Tioga Pass - East Entrance to Yosemite National Park

I had purchased an annual pass to the National Parks at Joshua Tree National Park. At Yosemite they asked to see some ID along with the pass. The ranger squinted at my ID and my signature on my National Park pass. I assume she was trying to ensure that the signature was the same on my Arizona driver license as it was on the pass. I don't get it - the passes are not replaceable if you loose them - they're basically like cash. 

Whoever has the pass can present it, as far as I know. And, as I'd find out a Sequoia National Park, not every park asks for an additional ID. I find it strange that different National Parks operate differently at basic levels such as how they indicate whether a vehicle has paid the entrance fee to the park. All three parks I visited did something different. 

Once I got through the park gate I felt like I'd finally made it. I was in Yosemite National Park! 

Driving along highway 120 was, as I've already alluded to, a never ending scenery fest. I had my iPhone on the windshield suction cup mount and kept clicking it. I didn't want to have too few photos!

I wonder if a better approach would be to walk the highway instead of driving it. You'd have more time to enjoy each and every detail. I wonder why I don't feel this way about the other places I go to, or why I didn't feel this way about the Hoh Rainforest in Washington. The two places have a lot in common - natural, trees, etc. I may need to revisit the Hoh again to see if I can be reset properly.

A lone Sequoia along Highway 120

I started seeing a sequoia now and then. It was relentless in the assault of beauty. I found myself hoping that the road went forever. My only regret was that my wife wasn't with me to share it. This was another thing I found I wished for a lot over the rest of my trip. I don't remember what movie I saw that had a line like that - but it sure does make an experience more profound if you're sharing it with someone you care about. 

Before I knew it, and before I wanted it, I found myself at Tuolomne Meadows. I wanted to see the meadows but I wanted the park to be more expansive at the same time. If you look at a map you'll see that the meadows are actually quite a distance from the west side of the park. I just was hoping to prolong the foreplay before arriving there.

Arriving at Tuolomne Meadows

At 8:55 AM I arrived at the Tuolomne Meadows area. There were quite a few people there by that time. 

The parking lot at the road that head north to the horse stables was full but there were a few spots left for parking along the road itself. I had to stop and get out and walk around. I didn't take my Nikon with me at this point, I just wanted to get my feet in the famous Tuolomne Meadow!

I spent a bit of time in the area and took a number of shots with the Nikon D610 (which I'll post when I get them processed). I got some photographs of Lembert's Dome, Tuolomne River, the meadows, some boulders and pine trees. I enjoyed the area and could have easily spent days there. It's beautiful and peaceful. There wasn't a lot of water in the Tuolomne River but there was enough to allow you to think of it as a river instead of a creek.

After a bit I headed on, stopping at the Tuolomne Meadows Visitor Center. I went in but didn't stay long. It wasn't a tourist trap and didn't have any souvenirs - it had information and registration for hikers if you need it.

I came to Tenaya Lake, again it was too soon! 

Me at Tenaya Lake

Some granite across Highway 120 from Tenaya Lake

Me laying on the granite across from Tenaya Lake - wonderful!

I have watched a number of videos (mainly on YouTube) about hiking the John Muir or Pacific Crest Trails and when the people have arrived at Tenaya Lake or Tuolomne Meadows I had the assumption that they were remote locations you had to work at to get to. Here I was driving to them!

I took out my Nikon D610 and got a few photographs of the lake that I like, even for mid-day shots. I'm sure they'd be better at the golden hour but I never made it back after this brief stop. 

Tenaya Lake

From there I stopped at Olmsted Point where I got my first view of the iconic Half Dome! I had now seen three of the famous points of interest: Tuolomne Meadows, Tenaya Lake, and Half Dome! I still hadn't stopped grinning! I never wanted to leave!

Approaching Olmsted Point from the east

From there it was quite a drive to Crane Flat campground where I was staying. The drive was mainly in the pine forest. The traffic wasn't bad, and I eventually arrived at the campground.

When I checked in to the campground they had a sign on the booth saying "Bear Crossing". I commented that it didn't look like the crossing was very busy at the moment the range told me the bears had been through earlier.

I was really hoping that I'd see a bear, not breaking in to my vehicle or chasing me, but perhaps wandering through the park. It wasn't to be, unfortunately; no bear sightings the entire trip.

Campsite #410 at Crane Flat Campground

I got to my site, #410, and it was something else. It was a "pull through" type lot but it was on a hill side. The Explorer was probably at a 10 degree angle when parked. The tent site was level but the picnic table was probably at 5 degrees or more. Things rolled off of it quite nicely which does help keep it uncluttered!

Then I found out that my new tent was not a complete tent. It was designed to work with a separate canopy section which I hadn't purchased. Due to my recent viewing of outdoorsy YouTubes, I fashioned additional support out of my trekking poles and some straps I keep in my Explorer. What a bit of ingenuity! It certainly saved me from driving to a city to buy a real tent. And, there was no way I could sleep in the Explorer there due to the incline.
  

Heading to Hetch Hetchy

After getting the tent configured I acquainted myself with storing things in the bear vault, had a bite to eat, and then decided to take the rest of that day to visit Hetch Hetchy. It was about 4:30 by the time I started on my way there.

Hetch Hetchy is another valley north of the more famous Yosemite Valley. It was dammed in the 1920's after a battle to keep it natural between the city of San Francisco and environmentalists led by John Muir was won by San Francisco. 

This battle was the last major thing John Muir was involved in and he passed away while trying to preserve the Hetch Hetchy valley. It is still controversial, due to putting a dam in a National Park. I wanted to at least see it in person and this seemed like the best day to do it. I could spend the following day in Yosemite Valley proper, and the following day at Glacier Point before heading to Sequoia / King's Canyon National Park.

The road to Hetch Hetchy exits the park briefly and crosses private land. It is hilly and twisty most of the way and would be fun in a sports car. Before you get to the dam and lake you go through the Mather Camp area which surprised me at how busy it was. I hadn't heard of it, and you just kind of come upon it, a busy, large campground and cabin area with a large store in the middle of the woods. 

There was even a little lake near there with a gazebo that would probably make a great place for a wedding or summer concert series. They didn't ask me to play.

When I got to Hetch Hetchy I parked the Explorer and got out to walk around. I parked near the top of the hill in the parking lot. When I got out I could hear loud water so looked over the bank to see the outflow of the hydro-electric generator in the river.

I hadn't known, or thought to research it earlier, but the Hetch Hetchy is fed by the Tuolomne River.

I walked down to the dam and across it. I didn't take the Nikon D610 so the only images I have are my iPhone pictures. I just didn't see anything that warranted lugging the D610 and tripod around.

The dam and lake were not entirely ugly but they gave me a bad vibe just because of the history. And possibly because everything else I'd been seeing was pretty much natural and not man made. 

I walked across the dam to where there's a tunnel through the mountain. At the other end there was a baby stroller and I could hear an infant but couldn't see anyone else. That, too, was unnerving. I'd seen the people ahead of me going in to the tunnel but they were no where in sight when I got to the other end of the tunnel.

I have a few pics of the dam area here:

A view of O'Shaughnessy Dam

O'Shaughnessy Dam

The tunnel entrance from O'Shaughnessy Dam

A view of the Hetch Hetchy valley outside of the tunnel

Tunnel entrance from the lake side

From there I headed back to my campsite where I made myself some ramen noodles and sausages along with some Ritz crackers. And I had a "Half Dome" wheat beer from the Sequoia Brewing Company that I'd picked up at the Crane Flat Store. 

My first dinner at Yosemite National Park

It was wonderful and after cleaning up I crawled into my cobbled together tent and slept. With a grin still on my face!