Month: April 2024

30 April 2024: Yosemite & Bridalveil Falls

by JamesCalifornia / Central California / Hikes / National Parks / Yosemite

Tuesday we drove to the Ahwahnee Lodge and had a wonderful breakfast in their historic dining room. Afterwards, we hiked to Yosemite Falls. It was busy, being one of the most accessible and beautiful falls in Yosemite Valley. Plus it was flowing full volume so picturesque. Again, we had beautiful blue skies and warm weather, great for hiking but not for photography. When you have such conditions, you have to be a little more creative with your camera. Long lens photography is a good option to isolate the wonderful detail in the falls and granite cliff walls.
Gary also wanted to visit the Ansel Adams Photo Gallery. It was inspirational and is a must-visit location when visiting.
Hiking both Yosemite Falls and especially Bridalveil Falls was a wet experience. Since we went straight from breakfast, I did not have my rain jacket. Also, I preferred not to test my Nikon gear weatherseals even though they are supposed to be great. So much of the waterfall photos were iPhone and GoPro shots & video.

Near Lower Pines Campground is the west-east traffic-free pedestrian road facing Half Dome. Gary and I had spotted some wonderful reflections of Half Dome next to the road. We figured the late afternoon light and sunset hitting Half Dome would make for some excellent photos. We were right, although again, the clear blue skies did not add to the compositions. Gary said the wispy clouds were plane contrails but at least they added some texture and color.

29 April 2024: Mirror Lake & Yosemite Evening

by JamesCalifornia / Central California / E-Biking / Hikes / National Parks / Yosemite

Gary and I broke out the bikes – his aluminum 28lb German folding conventional bike and my new Maui 40lb folding e-bike – and headed to Mirror Lake. It was a clear, warm, virtually cloud-less day so we were thankful we had some clouds the day before. Gary likes the workout of biking uphill; me, I enjoyed using the e-bike assistance on the steeper part of the road to Mirror Lake. Blue skies and bright sun are not the best conditions for photography but it’s great for biking and hiking.
When Carol & I visited Mirror Lake in July 2022, the water level was really low. It was hard to find a reflection in the water during that visit as we cooled off in the shallow lake under Half Dome. This trip, all the waterfalls were flowing full volume and the lakes, rivers, and creeks were cold & clear. There were waterfalls on every cliff wall with snow melt flowing in every crevice.

We took a lunch & beer break at the campsite after a leisurely bike/hike to Mirror Lake. Then we drove up to Tunnel View in hopes of an epic sunset. Tunnel View was busy but we found parking and setup an hour before sunset. Unfortunately, the evening before, the beautiful clouds covered Half Dome. Tonight, Half Dome was visible but the sky was not very interesting. Still, with the great flow of all the Yosemite Falls this visit, we took photos till the sun set.

28 April 2024: Yosemite Valley

by JamesCalifornia / Central California / National Parks / Sightseeing / Yosemite

Since we got into the park around noon and setup camp quickly. We took advantage of the great afternoon light and drove through Yosemite Valley. Because it was the last day of the free National Park entry week, Yosemite Valley had a lot of visitors.
Gary and I were anxious to get out and scout Yosemite Valley. The light was good and so were the clouds – the sun ducked behind large clouds frequently so the exposure changed quickly. Light on the valley walls changed every few minutes so if the light wasn’t good, I just waited several minutes for it to change. With this mottled, late afternoon light and limited color range, I found processing these late afternoon images as black&white to work particularly well. Black&white Yosemite photos are always a homage to Ansel Adams to me. He set the standard and his images are some of my favorite landscape photographs.

28 Apr – 02 May 2024: Yosemite National Park

by JamesCalifornia / Campgrounds / Camping / Central California / National Parks / Trips / Yosemite

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Yosemite National Park by Gary Wellwood, a friend from the UCSD Photography Interest Group. He had a reservation for Lower Pines Campground for 4 nights and he was looking for another photographer to join him. Other than a couple nights in Anza-Borrego earlier this month, I have never taken our travel trailer on a solo adventure.
Yosemite in late April is a perfect time to visit. The weather is ideal and the place isn’t as crowded as during the summer. It did take an extra long time to get into the park because April 28th was the last “free National Park entry day”. Many people in the queue were turned back because they had not made an entry reservation. Although entry into the park for the past week was free, the weekends still required an entry time reservation. I had made one just in case I didn’t meet Gary before entering and his documentation didn’t get me in.

Lower Pines Campground is a great location in the shadow of Half Dome by the Merced River. Campsite 1 is at the entrance and has room for two vehicles. As it turned out, with the travel trailer, we took every foot of the small parking area. We managed to squeeze in without issue since Gary was car camping in a tent. I had Howie, our 20ft travel trailer.
This is dry-camping without hookups so I had to fill the fresh tank with ~10gals of fresh water. Electrical power was provided by a 1200w Anker battery pack I brought. I also brought a 500w Jackary power bank which Gary used to keep his camera charged. My Anker bank powered the Starlink, my coffee machine, and all my electronics and camera gear with no problem for the 5 days. Since our site was shaded, the solar panels did not keep the batteries topped off. But they were able to keep the fridge running and the beer cold.

06-08 Apr 2024: Anza-Borrego

by JamesAnza-Borrego State Park / California / Campgrounds / State Parks / Trips

We’ve dry-camped in Anza-Borrego State Park a few times and had a great experience. But we’ve always been interested in finding a site in the full-hookup section of the park. Mainly to be able to run the AC during the hotter part of the season.
In late 2023, I was searching Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego for a site for my grandson’s birthday in February. In February all sites in Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego were fully booked. Not a big deal as it turns out as my grandson was going to be out of town on his birthday. But during that search, I got lucky and found three nights in the full-hookup area of Anza-Borrego Palm Canyon Campground for early April.


I thought with our rainy winter, there might be a good wildflower bloom this year. But by the first week of April it was already two or three weeks too late. March had a decent display of wildflowers according to the Anza-Borrego wildflowers web page. But by April, there were mainly later blooming Ocotillo and Cholla cacti. I did find some isolated blooms along Coyote Canyon but nothing in the usual areas.

In addition to photographing wildflowers, I wanted to practice dry-camping in preparation for my solo Yosemite RV trip at the end of April. We’ve dry-camped before but it had been awhile so I wanted to flush the freshwater tank, exercise the water pump, and check the health of the batteries. It’s good maintenance to use your water pump occasionally to keep it healthy and flushed. I need to remember that.
I also wanted to practice hooking up and towing on my own. I’ve always had my co-pilot Carol to help me, double-check everything, and navigate. Since I would be towing to Yosemite on my own for the 1st time, it was good to practice traveling solo.
I used the fresh water hookup to fill the fresh water tank and used the water pump for water. I also kept the electricity off for my solo stay but when Carol joined me Saturday night. I turned on the electricity for her visit so we’d wouldn’t have to worry about conserving.

On Sunday, we took a drive through Fish Creek Wash and Sandstone Canyon in our sister & brother-in-law’s Jeep. It was a fun adventure that they’ve done before so we got to join them this time.

Coincidentally, Monday April 8th was the date of the total solar eclipse. Since I couldn’t make it to an area of totality. I thought I’d be fun to at least photograph the 50%. I bought solar eclipse viewing glasses and a filter for my camera. Here is a composite of the eclipse from an Anza-Borrego location – great clear skies.