Sierra Nevada National Parks

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park. It was a lot of fun for the most part. I really enjoyed Sequoia, particularly Generals Highway, a winding, climbing road that takes you from a hot Mediterranean like hills to cool, fern covered forest higher in elevation, to dryer forests dominated by Sequoias. Sequoia is also a park with a huge back country and relatively small front country, so there's plenty of exploring to be done.

Yosemite is awe-inspiring but I must say that it is just impossibly busy in the summertime: I did some rough mental math and the density of the Yosemite Valley on a summer weekend is roughly the same as that of a mid-sized city. It was difficult to get shots without people in them and I didn't even stop anywhere in the actual Yosemite Valley outside of Bridal Veil Falls because it was so busy, although I stopped more frequently over Tioga Pass.

Photography wise, at both Sequoia and Yosemite, the conditions were less than ideal because of a slight haze: some of it from forest fires, and some of it, like most of California, I'm sure was from smog. And lots of tourists.

It's been a while, and I took a lot of shots, so I'm a bit light on the technical side this post.

Anyway....some shots:

Pano From Washburn Point

This is a decent shot through the haze and the obvious photo seam on the right side, but that just goes to show how spectacular the scenery in Yosemite is.

Pano From Glacier Point

This shot is a bit better, but notice the haze still surrounding Half Dome and the deeper pockets of air.

Tioga Pass Panos

I like these two panoramas taken over Tioga Pass (unfortunately I don't know what specific geographic features/mountains they are) and in them I'm kind of channeling Ansel Adams. The Sierra Nevada lend themselves well to black and white, although you lose the contrast between the green trees and the gray rock when you go to black and white.

General Sherman Pano

Increasingly I'm getting the hang of using panos to get full pictures of tall objects, and General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth, was perfect for this. It's impossible to fully appreciate the size from this picture, but it's better than just a one click looking up photo.

Moro Rock Through The Trees

Instantly this made me think of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Moro Rock dominates the view from Generals Highway as you enter Sequoia, and when you get to it, it's an easy climb: kind of a poor mans Half Dome. At this point the forest is still hot, full of bugs (mosquitoes unlike anywhere I've ever been....and that's including Alaska) and mostly made of scrub oak.

Tumbling Water

In this photo I tried to show the clear green water above, the bands of color in the rock, and then eventual tumbling whitewater.

Visiting Goblin Valley and Canyonlands soon.....will do better to post soon after the trip.