March 2018 Adventure - Part 1 - Side Trip to Yosemite

During our Redwoods trip, Beast sprung a leak.  After the penthouse had been up for a few hours in a light drizzle, we found a puddle of water on the cover to the shower.  Checking things out, we noticed that the fabric on the rail was damp as well.  Nothing to do but call Sportsmobile when we got home.  Given that it was covered under warranty, and we could pretty much schedule an appointment any time we wanted, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and made an appointment for a Thursday.  Why Thursday instead of Friday? Well, that gave us Friday and Saturday morning in Yosemite!

The trip itself was less than ideal.  The Thursday appointment meant a long evening’s drive after work on Wednesday, a drive that ran into morning.  And then an early start a few hours later.  (Beast is fine - a gasket needed replacing and they added some spacers to protect the gasket.)  Also,  a winter storm hit Yosemite the week before (photos we’ve seen of it are incredible) and the forecast was for more of the same - something Ann and I were thrilled about.  Unfortunately, as the week progressed, the forecast changed, and changed, and changed again, so we wound up with what can only be described as mediocre weather conditions.  Then again - it’s Yosemite!  What an incredible place to be regardless of how tired you are, or how less than ideal the weather or light conditions are! 

The Sportsmobile folks were done with us by early afternoon so we headed out to Yosemite taking the Wawona Road which enters by the south gate of the park.  That gave us a lovely drive through the snow-covered mountains, past the “closed for restoration” Mariposa Grove and the “closed for the season” Glacier Point Road.  However, we pulled through the Tunnel View parking lot to slow down for that iconic view, and made our way into the valley straight to the campground, happy to be back again as the sun sank behind the valley walls.   

We got a late start on Friday because, when I climbed down to start the day, I was as the British would say, totally knackered, so I climbed back up for another hour’s sleep.  (Thanks Ann - I really needed it).  So it was a late start that first morning.  We decided to do a slow loop around the valley and to stop wherever we felt like.  

Along the way we saw several coyote.  First was a pair not far from the campground.  One of the pair tried the “leap in the air to dive face first into the snow” hunting technique, only to be foiled by the layer of ice on top of the snow.  Poor thing, but I had to laugh at the face plant.  It was smart enough not to try again, and so we watched it trying to break through the ice in frustration with its paws.  The third coyote, a solitary one, we saw near our first stop.  This one had a lovely, rich coat that looked almost fox like.  Definitely a coyote, but a very healthy looking one.

By the time we made our first stop, the sun was well down the valley walls - which does not make for easy photography.  However, from the Valley View pull-out, I got a nice shot of the light glistening from the base of El Capitan with Horsetail Falls pouring down a shadowy area.  We’ve never been there when Horsetail was flowing, so it was strange to see water coming down by El Capitan.

We didn’t stay there for long and so looped around to drive back into the valley.  We decided to pull off on the side of the road by an isolated stretch of the Merced River where we’d photographed before, and tromped through the snow.  As we expected, we had views both up and down river.

I even managed a detail shot looking across the river photographing the receding snow. 

If my first trip to Yosemite was one where it seemed Half Dome appeared every time I lifted the camera, this trip it was El Capitan.  That morning, it was glorious popping in and out of the clouds. 

And in case you’re wondering, no, the rock climbers aren’t crazy enough to be climbing El Capitan in the winter.

We were at that location for a couple of hours before we moved on - the clouds having rolled in.  The other locations we stopped at that morning were not particularly interesting, in part because the larger fields had patches of melting snow and simply did not call on us to pull the cameras out.  But really, who needs a camera to enjoy Yosemite?  So we just soaked it in, stopping whenever we felt like scouting out locations we may want to return to on this or some other trip.  

After lunch we headed out again and decided to plan for the following morning’s shoot.  We’d shot once before at Leidig Meadow and had discussed photographing there again.  However, the parking area next to the meadow was closed for repairs, so we had to find an alternative area to park.  Parking at the Camp 4 parking lot (the walk in campground the climbers like to use) was out of the question given the number of warning signs up that it was for campers only - on penalty of heavy fine.  So we decided to see what was available past the meadow, which wasn’t too bad a thought given we were interested in the trees at the far side of the meadow in any event.

We found a nice parking area next to the Valley Loop Trail and started hiking up-stream on the north bank of the Merced River.  The clouds started breaking up and offering us some interesting (though technically challenging) light conditions in the snow.  The Merced River was running a bit low and was stunningly clear.  Seeing the bottom of the river was no problem, so at one point I climbed out onto a large boulder that jut into the river to capture the light on a barren tree, the reflections of the snow covered bank, and the rocky river bottom. 

While still on the rock, I turned to face downstream to photograph into the sun.  Earlier, I’d photographed a leaning tree that I thought was interesting and, from my vantage point well into the river, I had a much clearer view of it.  I realized that, if I turned my polarizing filter just right, and framed the tree on the top portion of the frame, I’d be able to catch not only the tree, but the lovely light shining on the bottom of the river, the textured bottom and a reflection of the billowing clouds above. 

I changed my lenses and set up for another shot when suddenly I felt a swift breeze hit me - the first of the afternoon.  Realizing it was an oddity, I immediately fired off 4 frames, trying to catch the patterns of the wind in the water.  This, the first frame, had the best pattern.  However, it’s a bit out of focus, having just attached the lens to the camera.  I waited a long while for another breeze to add texture to the water, but it didn’t come.

Who knew the adage, “f8 and be there!” was as true for landscape photography as it is for photojournalism?

We eventually made it to the meadow and started photographing.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly happy with most of my images.  I tried a lot of new things this trip, and as is the case when you do that, not much came of it.  But you have to try and experiment because that’s how you make incredible discoveries that guide your work to new directions.  

One of the problems we had was that they are doing a lot of logging and clearing activity at Yosemite to clear the park of bug infested trees.  Near the meadow they had a huge bonfire going.  While it wasn’t really evident in photographs like the one below,

on wider images of the meadow you would clearly see a smoke pattern.  Still, we were getting some nice side lighting as the afternoon wore on, and we made the best of what was there, trying to avoid the billowing smoke in the background.

But sometimes what you think will make a nice image winds up a bit disappointing. 

We stayed at the east end of the meadow, which gave us a great view of Half Dome, and decided that this would be the place to return to the next morning. 

As we looped around the valley again heading back to the campground, we continued our scoping out of sites.  There was one beautiful stretch of river that you could see from the road that had a very interesting snow island in a lovely bend.  But there was really no way to get to it, since you’d have to hike about half a mile on trail-less, rocky, steep sloped, snow covered hillside, or walk on the vehicle-only road to get to it.  Neither was an adventure we were ready to try that weekend.  We also kept looking at an area of trees that were visually fascinating, but a total chaos, and and kept asking each other how would one photograph it?  

All in all, it was a great day to be out and we called it an early night so we could have an equally early morning the next day.