In a previous post of mine, where I showed off my trip to Lassen Volcanic, I hinted at a future post to come. Well, the wait is over -- today I bring you a hike through Yosemite!
Yosemite is one of the most famous national parks in California. They are part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and are host to a variety of MASSIVE THINGS. The mountains are huge, the canyons and valleys are huge, the trees are huge, and even the waterfalls are huge. (When in america, amiright?) Today I'll show you some of the valley, and along the Mist Trail, arguably again the most famous trail within Yosemite.
For visitors, booking a campsite in the Valley itself is probably less than ideal. Yosemite is very popular (and for gooood reasons). But it turns out, you can book a campsite like 20 minutes away for half the cost and no wait time, even during the summer. And it seriously doesn't make much a difference in the day. I ended up at one in the El Portal area.
Today I also want to do something a bit different. I usually make captions for each of the photos I show, but I have lately been listening to a few instrumental, ambient style musicians, and their song titles always claw at my imagination. So when I was making this post, I realized a lot of the songs somewhat fit with the feelings I had while taking these pictures, in the awe of such a beautiful place. So, the titles for each of the photos are a song (also conviniently linked) by either the artist Emancipator or Solar Fields -- two favourites of mine.
So, I hope you check out some of the songs, and maybe you'll see why I chose them for each photo. Enjoy!
Leaving Home
This is the view from Glacier Point, the first stop I arrived at. In the background you can see Half Dome. You need a permit in advance (and there's like a lottery to get one) if you want to climb it, so I wasn't able to. Looks like I have to come back again, oh no.
Greenland
And of course, the famous Tunnel View. This one is awe inspiring, seriously. It begins to boggle the brain when you realize how freaking tall each of those trees are, when you see them up close, and the valley is just massive.
Safe In The Steep Cliffs
There were two nice cliff shots on the hike, I thought I would put them together. They are interesting features, having just a completely flat cliff.
Hill Sighed
In the valley, there are a ton of gorgeous features like this. The little lake and hills made for a pretty nice reflection picture!
The Road to Nothingness
This little path didn't really lead anywhere, so I think this song is rather fitting. Despite not having much to say about it, this is probably my favourite shot out of the set.
Jet Stream
This waterfall was MASSIVE. It's called Vernal Fall, and it's on the Mist Trail.
All Through The Night
Climbing up around the waterfall, I noticed this unique feature. It was cute to me, like the little rock is holding up the cliff face.
Summer
This is the view from the top of the Vernal Fall. This was actually taken with a Fish Eye adapter on my 16mm lens, and I think it turned out quite well.
The Stones Are Not Too Busy
At the top, around the corner of the waterfall, there were a bunch of stones like this one. It was rather interesting.
Sol
These two side-by-side shots were also taken with my Fish Eye adapter, as the view was incredibly wide and majestic. In retrospect I should have done a full photo-sphere here, it would have been fantastic.
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Until We Meet The Sky
And one more shot along the Mist Trail, climbing a bit higher before we go down. Once again you see the Merced River and Vernal Fall, but this time from much further above. And again with my Fish Eye adapter! I think I went a bit crazy with it. But it does nicely to give more perspective than 16mm does.
Afterglow
Back at the campsite, I figured it was worth trying to take some pictures of the stars, since there was no light pollution! Not as amazing as the beautiful pictures of the night sky that I usually see, but... well, this one is my picture. So I like it.
That's all for today! Pro-tip - Right Click, open in new tab, if you want to see the 1920px version. They are of course down-sampled from my original copies.
For those of you interested: Camera is Sony NEX-7, with a Zeiss 16-70mm zoom lens and a Sony 16mm prime lens (and optional Fish Eye adapter). As always, these are my original photos, and I maintain the copyright.
Don't forget to if you like my blog , I will keep posting picture stories! No promises on more accompanying music, though. :)