wild places

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 163 (Sentinel Dome – Nevada Falls)

Jeff

Vernal Fall viewed from the top of Sentinel Dome

A closeup view of Vernal Fall taken from the top of Sentinel Dome

**NOTE** – The waterfall pictured above is inaccurately referred to as Vernal Fall when this was initially posted. It has now been corrected to reflect the appropriate reference to Nevada Falls.

Standing on the top of Sentinel Dome, was like having my head on a 360 degree swivel mechanism. All I could do was turn a bit and stare and then turn a bit more and stare until I absorbed as much of the 360 degree view as I could. While I had seen many of these Yosemite features from other areas of the park, it is much like looking at a spouse or good friend and noticing something that perhaps was not as memorable prior to that instant. These familiar features took on a different character because of the change of perspective when viewed from Sentinel Dome.

I hope this photograph conveys the power of Nevada Falls. The curtain of water had prominent cascades with the new waves of water trying earnestly to overtake those that went before. This, my friends, is a first-hand example of the power of the natural world.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 163 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 162 (Sentinel Dome – El Capitan)

Jeff

El Capitan is well within view from the top of Sentinel Dome

El Capitan is well within view from the top of Sentinel Dome

Moving up onto the very top of Sentinel Dome and looking west, El Capitan stood out among all of the other mountains. This colossus of the valley asserts itself into the minds of Yosemite visitors as well as the camera rolls of numerous smart phones.

Also shown is the topography of the distant hills as well as the dome. Sentinel Dome’s colors and textures where on display as it drops off into the wooded hillside below.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 162 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 161 (Sentinel Dome – A View of Yosemite Falls)

Jeff

Yosemite Falls viewed from the top of Sentinel Dome

Yosemite Falls viewed from the top of Sentinel Dome

It felt like I was standing on top of the world. Obviously I knew intellectually there were many places that were higher, but when walking across the top of Sentinel Dome, which was quite wide, it seemed as though I could see most of Yosemite’s major sights.

The picture above is a distant view of Yosemite Falls. Because of the height of the dome and the distance, a larger portion of Yosemite Falls is visible and it was splendid. The torrents of water spread out as they fell into the basin and then traveled down the crevice into the rest of the valley.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 161 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 160 (Sentinel Dome Trail – How Far Away?)

Jeff

Below is the photo from yesterday’s post. This was the top of Sentinel Dome as seen from a distance.

A view of the top of the dome from the trail

A view of the top of the dome from the trail

Since I had my Canon SX50 HS bridge camera which has quite a reach, I decided to take a picture of a person standing on top of Sentinel Dome from the place in the trail where the above photograph was captured. I could see people up there, but I could only recognize them as abstract shapes.

This is a picture taken with the Canon SX50 HS super zoom camera from basically the same place as the picture above.

A hiker standing on top of Sentinel Dome stops to take a picture

A hiker standing on top of Sentinel Dome stops to take a picture

I was gratified when reviewing this picture that it captured as much of the detail as I had hoped. We were very far away and only the zoom lens made this a possibility. Thank goodness for image stabilized cameras!

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 160 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 159 (Sentinel Dome Trail – A View of the Goal)

Jeff

A view of the top of the dome from the trail

A view of the top of the dome from the trail

As we worked our way up the trail, we arrived at a point where the tree line thinned and because of the altitude the trees that remained were not quite as tall in many places. As we rounded part of the trail, the top of Sentinel Dome came into view. While Yosemite has many domes, Sentinel Dome had a very round shape while others, like Lembert Dome, were only round-ish.

That rounded mound of Sentinel Dome looks relatively close in this photo, but was a fair distance off and of course hikers need to stay on the designated trail which wasn’t a straight line forward, but circuitous. Tomorrow’s post will proffer some indication of just how far away we were when I took this photograph.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 159 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 11:26:24 AM
Capture date: June 9, 2016
Exposure: 1/80 sec @ f/18
Focal Length: 18mm
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Nikon D3300

 

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 158 (Sentinel Dome Trail – Onward & Upward)

Jeff

Sentinel Dome Trail - Near the Start

The Sentinel Dome Trail was a popular upward trek

The picture above provides some indication of the general aspect of the Sentinel Dome Trail. When climbing to an elevated view, one should expect that the trail would lead upward and it certainly did. There were times when the trail would taper off a bit, but it is basically uphill all the way. I wouldn’t say it was strenuous, but as this shot shows, there is some rock scrambling along the way.

As yesterday’s post indicated, there were wildflowers along the trail and they would provide a good excuse to pause and catch our breath as we examined the floral beauties. Although this is a bit of a traipse at times, the vistas and wonders to be seen are well worth the effort if you are fit for uphill hiking.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 158 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 157 (A Carpet of Wildflowers – Phlox)

Jeff

Spreading Phlox was abundant at Yosemite

Along many of the trails and paths we hiked, we came across purple or pink phlox

This somewhat dainty plant was abundant during our late Spring, 2016 visit to Yosemite. It is most likely Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa). The color of the phlox ranged from light purple or pink to very pale renditions of both bordering on near white.

We would often come across pockets of phlox clusters separated by only a few feet which sometimes looked as though someone had strewn beautiful bouquets along our path. I hope all the hikers took time to appreciate the beautiful display.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 157 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Nikon D3300

 

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 156 (Colorful Sun on Tunnel View)

Jeff

Sun setting on Tunnel View

The Scene from Tunnel View – Early Evening

We had been past Tunnel View a prior to this and stopped a couple of times, but this particular stop came closest to having the best lighting. Earlier stops were near midday or when light was harsh. This scene has a bit of a fall look because of the orange/brown trees, but those are trees that are dead or dying. Much like other areas of the United States, drought and insects have taken their toll on the trees in our national parks.

Tunnel view is a major stop on the way to or from Glacier Point. It is almost always crowded. Buses, campers, cars, hikers, nearly everyone stops at Tunnel View to take photographs. My advice is if you do stop, move around. Don’t stand in just one place. There are so many wonderful views to capture.

El Capitan (left) and Half Dome (middle) are obvious to most visitors, but the jutting series of rocks the right, just in from the edge, is Cathedral Rocks.

I missed getting Bridalveil Falls in the shot. It was there, but I failed to take the picture from an angle that would have included it. I forgot that it was just off to the right. Also…if you have a wide angle lens, that would be a great tool for this vantage point.

NOTE – I do have a couple of previous pictures from Tunnel View with the falls in them, but the light was not as good in those shots.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 156 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 155 (Four Mile Trail 5/5 – Half Dome Close and Large)

Jeff

Half Dome close up along Four Mile Trail

A close up view of Half Dome from a vantage point along the Four Mile Trail

Much like my Grand Canyon experience, there were times when hiking the trails at Yosemite, it was difficult to put the camera down and walk. There was a tendency to step to the side every twenty to thirty feet to take another picture. Luckily digital photography is not expensive, but there are often time constraints.

I took several shots of Half Dome from the Four Mile Trail and for this photo I used my Canon bridge camera to get closer to the dome to show as much of the color and texture as could capture.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 155 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 154 (Four Mile Trail 4/5 – Half Dome Peek-A-Boo)

Jeff

Half Dome as seen along the Four Mile Trail

After Hiking along the Four Mile Trail for a while, Half Dome became visible

Imagine this scenario…We were hiking along the Four Mile Trail for more than twenty minutes. At the beginning, the woods were deep and we were in the shade with little visibility beyond the trees. Soon we moved to the outside of the mountain and started to descend the switchbacks.

From time-to-time, there would be a break in the tree line and we could peer over the edge of the mountain to get our bearings and see the vistas before us. After each look, we returned to the hiking and resumed our downward path. This was repeated many, many times because we didn’t want to “miss anything!”

Then, without any inkling of what we were about to see next, we looked out from between the trees and saw Half Dome (see photo above) in all its glory. I had no idea it would be that visible or that clear of impediments.

Half Dome was bathed in the sun, the valley spread out beneath it and the surrounding cliffs provided the frame. Isn’t that a magnificent site?

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 154 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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