Thwack
Dec-29-2008, 06:31 PM
I spent most of the Christmas holiday within thirty miles of Yosemite so my son and I just had to make time to get down to the valley floor to see how much snow there was and to field-test the new lightweight tripod Santa brought me.
We came in on Hwy 120 from the west-northwest (Big Oak Flat Road) and had to engage four-wheel drive at the entrance. Two-wheel drive vehicles had to put their chains on before leaving the gate area. I didn't pull over to get any shots at the entrance because there was already a line of cars and I had 4-wheel drive.
Speed limit down to the valley floor was lowered to 25 mph but most cars were going well below that. The roads were interesting (but not difficult)....cleared up for a while below about 5,000 ft but that was because that stretch is in the sun. Just before the valley floor, the layer of packed snow and ice returned (due to being in the shadows).
We arrived mid to late afternoon and grabbed a quick snap of Half Dome and El Capitan before heading all the way down to the valley floor:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445160541_A6EqR-M.jpg
It didn't look like much snow from up there and the Ahwahnee webcam's pic wasn't clear enough to be certain either. But when we got to the valley floor, it was just perfect. Enough snow to be very interesting but not enough to make you miserable trying to get around.
We took this along the first pullout we found before Bridal Veil Fall:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445158972_M233F-M.jpg
Bridal Veil Fall was flowing kind of thin which had allowed lots of ice to build up around the edges and made it a little difficult to tell where the water stopped, the ice started, or where the trees began (too much white everywhere):
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445172478_jD7SB-L.jpg
We took that shot from the parking lot since the drive down from the entrance had taken so much longer than normal and we wanted to try to catch the late sun on either Half Dome or El Cap.
As we crossed the river near the base of El Cap, there was a cool looking blanket of fog in the meadow. We stopped long enough to grab a few shots and every time we looked up from the camera, the fog was noticeably thicker. Since there was a convenient little peak between us and the sun, I was able to shoot sort of into the sun for this shot:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445159546_aGVqv-M.jpg
By the time we got to the "River View" pullout, the fog was really starting to pile up:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445157153_n2hdP-L.jpg
The light on El Cap wasn't very compelling so we focused on other things for a few minutes. There were cool snow covered rocks in the river, ice along the banks, snow-laden trees... I was out there in November before the weather turned cold and it was amazing how different it looks in such a short span of time. Here's a quick shot taken across from River View while waiting to see if we'd get better light on El Cap. This was before I read a suggestion in another thread thread that landscape shots like this can look cooler if shot from really low (so I want a rematch with that spot to see if the tip helps):
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445156414_xhwGc-M.jpg
Remember the fog I kept mentioning? It just kept coming...
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445155762_qoUd2-L.jpg
We normally would try a long exposure shot across the water at that spot right as it gets dark. But with the fog steadily increasing, it would've just been a big grey blob.
So, we headed home a bit earlier than usual. On the climb back up above Cascade Falls, looking down the valley to the west (over the top of that old barn in the big meadow with the burned out trees), we saw a fantastic sunset.
The only place to pull over and try to capture it was the road to Foresta and I didn't think blocking the road would go over well if a Park Ranger happened along. There's a pull out just above that...which we discovered was one of the un-cleared/closed pullouts. :cry
The next pullout we came to had a completely wrong angle for the shot. Aw well, at least we got to see it even if we didn't get to shoot it. Maybe next time...
We came in on Hwy 120 from the west-northwest (Big Oak Flat Road) and had to engage four-wheel drive at the entrance. Two-wheel drive vehicles had to put their chains on before leaving the gate area. I didn't pull over to get any shots at the entrance because there was already a line of cars and I had 4-wheel drive.
Speed limit down to the valley floor was lowered to 25 mph but most cars were going well below that. The roads were interesting (but not difficult)....cleared up for a while below about 5,000 ft but that was because that stretch is in the sun. Just before the valley floor, the layer of packed snow and ice returned (due to being in the shadows).
We arrived mid to late afternoon and grabbed a quick snap of Half Dome and El Capitan before heading all the way down to the valley floor:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445160541_A6EqR-M.jpg
It didn't look like much snow from up there and the Ahwahnee webcam's pic wasn't clear enough to be certain either. But when we got to the valley floor, it was just perfect. Enough snow to be very interesting but not enough to make you miserable trying to get around.
We took this along the first pullout we found before Bridal Veil Fall:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445158972_M233F-M.jpg
Bridal Veil Fall was flowing kind of thin which had allowed lots of ice to build up around the edges and made it a little difficult to tell where the water stopped, the ice started, or where the trees began (too much white everywhere):
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445172478_jD7SB-L.jpg
We took that shot from the parking lot since the drive down from the entrance had taken so much longer than normal and we wanted to try to catch the late sun on either Half Dome or El Cap.
As we crossed the river near the base of El Cap, there was a cool looking blanket of fog in the meadow. We stopped long enough to grab a few shots and every time we looked up from the camera, the fog was noticeably thicker. Since there was a convenient little peak between us and the sun, I was able to shoot sort of into the sun for this shot:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445159546_aGVqv-M.jpg
By the time we got to the "River View" pullout, the fog was really starting to pile up:
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445157153_n2hdP-L.jpg
The light on El Cap wasn't very compelling so we focused on other things for a few minutes. There were cool snow covered rocks in the river, ice along the banks, snow-laden trees... I was out there in November before the weather turned cold and it was amazing how different it looks in such a short span of time. Here's a quick shot taken across from River View while waiting to see if we'd get better light on El Cap. This was before I read a suggestion in another thread thread that landscape shots like this can look cooler if shot from really low (so I want a rematch with that spot to see if the tip helps):
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445156414_xhwGc-M.jpg
Remember the fog I kept mentioning? It just kept coming...
http://thwack.smugmug.com/photos/445155762_qoUd2-L.jpg
We normally would try a long exposure shot across the water at that spot right as it gets dark. But with the fog steadily increasing, it would've just been a big grey blob.
So, we headed home a bit earlier than usual. On the climb back up above Cascade Falls, looking down the valley to the west (over the top of that old barn in the big meadow with the burned out trees), we saw a fantastic sunset.
The only place to pull over and try to capture it was the road to Foresta and I didn't think blocking the road would go over well if a Park Ranger happened along. There's a pull out just above that...which we discovered was one of the un-cleared/closed pullouts. :cry
The next pullout we came to had a completely wrong angle for the shot. Aw well, at least we got to see it even if we didn't get to shoot it. Maybe next time...