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Help me plan a 4 day trip to Yosemite in June!

Help me plan a 4 day trip to Yosemite in June!

Old Jun 11th, 2012, 07:42 AM
  #21  
 
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Re your question about your Sonora to YNP day. I wouldn't leave at the crack of dawn. Have a leisurely breakfast, maybe stop for an hour or so in Groveland and then head into the park. It is about a 2 hour drive from Sonora so you can easily be in the Valley by early afternoon. Your room at the Lodge might be available early.
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Old Jun 11th, 2012, 07:49 AM
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We were there in mid-June, 2004. Agree with others that for some places the usual sunrise/sunset golden hours don't apply. But there are still places where it does.

One of those is Sentinel Dome just prior to, at, and just after sunset. The old tree made famous by Ansel Adams fell years ago, but the remains were still there in 2004 and we got some wonderful photos with it in the the foreground with Half Dome behind it, lit pink and gold by the setting sun. A tripod is an absolute necessity here.

Some amazing shots to be had at Taft Point and Glacier Point. Also, we stopped at Valley View and got some beautiful panoramic shots with El Capitan on one side and the Cathedral Rocks and Bridal Veil Falls on the other, with the Merced River in the foreground.

The drive along the Tioga Road is beautiful and you'll be going that way if you head to Tuolumne Meadows. If you do, stop at Olmsted Point and go beyond the parking area down the trail out onto the point. This isn't very far, not at all strenuous, and yet few people do it. From the point you see Half Dome in one direction, Tioga Lake in the other and straight down is scary yet amazing. Much more open shots from there than up above at the parking area.

If you're up to it, both physically and time-wise, the Panorama Trail hike is well worth the time and effort. It's 8.5 miles and takes about 6 hours according to the Park info. It took us closer to 8 because of all the stops to take photos and, for this flatlander to find some oxygen. This was our first trip to any place with some elevation and while my legs were fine, my lungs felt like I had a bag over my head. In the years since, we've done a lot more hiking at elevations and I've found a way to train at home that has made it easier for me to adapt to the altitude difference.

Also, while it says the elevation loss is 3,200 feet, it isn't a constant downhill trail. You go mostly down, then you switchback up a bit less. This is repeated several times before you get to the fairly constant downhill trek. As I recall, it's quite steep if you take the Mist Trail (which we did) at Nevada Falls instead of going down the John Muir.

If you hike it, take plenty of water. Unless things have changed, there was only one place along the trail to get drinking water until you reach the valley floor. Also recommend you take the earliest shuttle up there to maximize your trail time and minimize the number of people who will be on it with you.

We do hike with poles. I like them for the added stability on slippery, uneven, or sloping ground. I also find that by having my hands on the poles, my hands don't swell like they used to do when hanging down/swinging by my sides. I've also used them as an impromptu tripod. Not as good as the real thing but sure beats trying to handhold the camera steady.

We had a map - Map and Guide to Yosemite Valley - which was excellent. It only covers the valley area, but it had hikes and trails, vista points (with a brief description) and a great map which had a little icon at each vista, pointing in the direction you should be looking to see what they described for that location. That was also the direction to be pointing your camera. I don't remember where I got it, but it was published by Rufus Graphics in San Francisco and the ISBN # is 0-939666-17-0.

We want to get back out to Yosemite one day. Would love to see it in the winter. Have a fun, safe trip.
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Old Jun 22nd, 2012, 11:54 AM
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allyboy,
I hope you and your photographer wife report back on how it went for you.

Most of the sites are best 30 minutes to 2 hours before sunset and that includes seeing Half Dome in regal mode over the Merced River as seen from Sentinel Bridge (it gets orange pink in those hours too).

Tunnel View, a photographer's dream is also best a couple of hours before sunset and during it, of course. I was lucky enough to catch a clearing storm up there on May 25 and drove, to my shock, in snow that day a little further up, trees suddenly white in late May.

Let us know if she has photos from your trip that we could see.

Some of mine, especially of the storm clearing effects that one day are at http://bit.ly/clearingstorms

spirobulldog,
Loved your photos of rainbows galore! They were beautiful! As were the Vernal waterfalls especially, up close like that. You two were all over that park.

Floridafan,
What a great idea to have a hiking pole do service as a makeshift monopod! While I did bring a tripod, an important part fell off before I put it in the car, so it was unuseable.

richmond706,
I 2nd you on the Michael Frye book, which was always with me in my purse (I was lucky to get one as they're out of stock until the new version comes out in August). He tells you when to go slowly in order not to miss important pullouts with gorgeous views and gives time for best light and has good advice on taking pictures even though it was film-based when it was written. It's a beautiful, super useful little book for Yosemite. I've ordered the August revision too.
There's an app for iPhone which he says can be even more useful and is working on one for Android (I hope).

One tip he gave, echo'd and demo'd by our Ansel Adams Gallery guide, Phillip Nicholas, was to use a (4-stop) graduated neutral density filter that you can put in front of your lens to balance, say, the light between brightly lit mountain tops and shadowed lower foreground trees or river. That was a boon that helped with balancing contrasting areas on that snow storm day.
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