This picture is pretty old. I shot it on Fuji Velvia and then scanned the slide into the computer using a Nikon Supercool Scan machine. It would be nice if the machine worked with modern computers, but I don’t think it does. But haven’t really tried, so maybe it does and a pile of old work is sitting in boxes waiting to be shared.
I did the picture one winter when visiting the park for two straight weeks in December with the goal of using all my vacation time at the end of the year with the hope of a winter storm. My poor German Shepherd, Kate, was staying in a kennel - something I still feel guilty about. She could’ve easily come with me and just waited in the truck when I was hiking. Dogs are not at all welcome in National Parks, but wintertime in Yosemite would be pretty easy to have one. They have to either stay in the car or in a campground. Overheating wouldn’t be a problem when the temperature barely rose above freezing.
The interesting thing about being only in the Valley for two straight weeks was I did every single walk in and around the valley. There’s a couple walks a person might never think about that are wonderful. One is the semi-paved path going from Curry Village to Bridalveil Falls. You can loop around and go back on the El Capitan side. It’s a great hike with the only downside being the sound of traffic on the road. You get to see features on the granite walls missed if you only drive through.
One thing I also learned about being in the valley for two weeks is the need for a canvas tent without a floor. The tent floor and my sleeping pad were covered in mildew at the end of the trip and had to be tossed.
Now you might be asking yourself, “why not just stay in Curry Village?” A couple answers here. The first is Curry Village costs a ton of money per night to have the opportunity to sleep on a rock hard “bed” in a canvas tent. You can’t cook your own food in Curry Village either. So now you have to pay money for cafeteria food. Finally, you have to park way out in the parking lot, so getting to your car early in the morning takes awhile. So two weeks there would’ve been about $2,000. Way, WAY more money than I would ever want to spend on a road-trip. Plus, the beds are rock hard. You have to put a sleeping pad on them to make it feel like you’re not sleeping on a wooden floor.
So a canvas tent without a floor for starters. To stay off the dirt a cot comes in handy. A small table. A rubber floor mat next to the cot so you keep your feet off the dirt. A small table to cook and eat on in case the weather sucks.
One huge bonus I discovered is when you cook (with a flap partially open so you don’t suffocate) the heat generated by a small stove heats the tent up to sauna-like comfort. A small joy after being in the freezing temperatures all day.
I did a pile of nice photos in those two weeks of hiking about 130 miles and enjoying Yosemite. Learned a great deal of the Valley geography, what kinds of people go there in the winter, where to take showers, what kind of tent to use, and my personal favorite and not so favorite hikes.
The Four Mile Trail hike up to Glacier Point became a personal favorite. I did it a couple times up to the granite ledge just before reaching the top. The ledge was covered in a slightly sloping two inch layer of solid ice and there’s no way I would ever attempt going across something like that without ropes and crampons.
I hiked up the trail with my pack, a camera, a tripod, and some lenses, including the 14lb 400mm f2.8 lens I loved enough to name “John Holmes.” This picture is from standing in the bushes above Union Point and done with John Holmes. Last light lit the dome and its framing clouds nicely.
Just after doing this picture I hiked back down the trail, with ice patches, using my flashlight handheld to make shadows on the granite. It took awhile. But one nice feature of northern winters helping evening hikers is the early sunset means you get back early enough to enjoy dinner in Yosemite Lodge.