Gary and I spent most of our time in Yosemite Valley walking the easy trails to Lower Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls, Mirror Lake Trail and at Tunnel View (just up a few hundred yards on the trailhead for a better view). But we did one major hike to Vernal Falls. This is a hike Carol & I did in 2022 and it’s pretty steep, rated hard on Alltrails. I think it’s moderate if you stop at the Falls and hard if you continue to the top. We wanted a challenging hike after such an easy time so far. Plus Gary said the top of the falls were worth the effort although he wasn’t feeling up to it today. So I continued up the trail and he headed back down. The trail above the falls is narrow, steep, and wet this time of year. Vernal Falls were flowing full force so there was a lot of mist. I used my iPhone and GoPro and kept my camera bag under my rain jacket. I felt quite the accomplishment making it the top. It has an amazing view of the valley.
Yosemite National Park is a ‘dark skies’ area, which means there is little light pollution from nearby city lights. This makes it a great location for star gazing and astrophotography. Since we’ve been having clear skies during the past week, I checked PhotoPills for the Milky Way position and its rise time. I wanted it rising over Half Dome and found I could setup on the pedestrian road (red X), near our campground at 1am. I e-biked over to the pedestrian meadow road which, when facing east, has a clear view of Half Dome. Setting up in the middle of the road was easy and level.
Gear used: Nikon Z8, Leofoto tripod w/ Benro geared head, Move Shoot Move star tracker, 14-30mm f4 & 20mm f1.8 Nikon Z lenses. The Benro geared head is great for fine tuning the star tracker position. Pointing the star tracker laser at Polaris is accurate enough for wide angle astrophotography. The Z8 has a ‘starry sky live view’ setting so I could make out Half Dome and compose my foreground easily in the dark. There were very few people out and I was spooked by the occasional noise in the nearby brush. We had seen a bear earlier in the day in Yosemite Valley although miles away. But using my headlamp, I did pan around from time to time. I used the 14-16mm at f4 and tried ISO settings from 1600-12,800. With the excellent noise reduction software available these days, I wasn’t too worried about high ISO noise. But most of my favorite photos were taken with the 20mm between f1.8-2.2 from 10-60secs, varying the ISO. I did not take flats, blacks, or biases which I regret when processing with Siril and Sequator. Next time, I’ll be sure to take some exposures with the lens cap on (blacks, biases) and with a white screen on my iPhone (flats).
I spent about two hours, doing a variety of ISO, shutter speed, and focal range combinations. In hindsight, I think I should pick one focal range, composing for Half Dome. Take several long exposures for the foreground without star tracking. Then readjust the composition to mostly sky, use the 20mm and one ISO setting. I can vary the exposure by changing the shutter speed from 60-120secs using the star tracker for multiple exposures to stack. After processing the foreground and stacked Milky Way images separately, I’d composite them into a final image. Overall, I had a great time and I am happy with the photos, but they can definitely be better.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I saw a post about the 2023 Perseid Meteor Shower on Instagram. One of the best places to see this event in California is Joshua Tree National Park, a dark-sky area. But Joshua Tree is 105°F during the day in August. Regardless, all available campsites at Joshua Tree National Park were booked. Our last trip to Joshua Tree was the same way, so we stayed at TwentyNine Palms RV Resort. It’s located 3mi from the north entrance and usually has available sites with full hookups. Until we install or buy a RV with 12v A/C, we prefer to stay at a place with electrical hookups when it’s that hot. We do not want to run a gas/propane generator for hours to stay cool. Since we arrived before sunset on Friday Aug 11th, we drove into Joshua Tree to find a location to photograph the Milky Way. The Perseid Meteor Shower was already happening but peak viewing was Saturday, the next night. I wanted to photograph the Milky Way with Joshua Trees. So we stopped at Cap Rock and I found a Joshua tree foreground for my Milky Way photo along the southern trail. On our way out, we stopped at Skull Rock to watch shooting stars for an hour before heading to the RV. Since Saturday night was forecast to be peak viewing of the meteor shower. I focused on getting a Milky Way+Joshua Tree photo Friday night. Saturday, I’d spend photographing shooting stars with a star tracker.
As we were leaving Joshua Tree NP Friday night, we noticed many people had chairs & recliners that made star gazing more comfortable. So Saturday, our mission was to find two zero gravity recliners in Yucca Valley. We found the last two on clearance at Home Depot. Tip: definitely invest in zero gravity recliners if you plan on spending any serious time star gazing. Saturday, I wanted to do a hike before we setup for the meteor shower viewing. The temperature that evening was cool enough to hike the Heart Rock and Arch Rock Trail before it got dark. Turns out the area around the Arch Rock Trail parking lot would work for meteor shower viewing. Especially since we were lucky enough to grab one of the last parking spots. The lot was full and people were already setting up for meteor viewing when we arrived before sunset. Little did we know how CRAZY crowded Joshua Tree National Park would be tonight.
We saw an amazing display of shooting stars but not the hundred per hour predicted. I set up my Move Shoot Move star tracker and shot 2 minute exposures of the northeast sky and straight-up. After 3 hours of exposures from 2200-0100, ~90 frames, I was disappointed that the many shooting stars we saw were not in frame. This was my first try at star-tracked astrophotography and I was successful at polar alignment & tracking the stars. But successful astrophotography images are the result of practice & patience and I definitely need more of both. I didn’t want to interrupt the interval to check for successful capturing of what we were seeing. I thought the 14mm focal length was wide enough to catch the meteor trails. We packed it in a little after 0100, after 3 hours of star-gazing. Our RV park is still in the dark area so if the meteor shower improved at 0200. We could still watch from outside our RV. As we left the park, the line of cars to get in stretched the 3mi to the main road. Crazy that hundreds of people were just arriving at 0100. Regardless, we had a great time and were glad we got there early – the zero gravity recliners were a wonderful, comfortable way to star gaze. We’ll definitely make it a point to visit Joshua Tree at night often.
We packed up and departed 29Palms at 11am. Unfortunately, all the other thousands of people who came to Joshua Tree for the meteor shower were also heading West at that time. It took a few extra hours to get home because of the traffic.
The weather continued to be cool and rainy but great for hiking and photography. Saguaro National Park East appears to have more hiking trails than the west. There’s also a popular scenic drive loop through the park that has many pull-outs and trailheads. I thought the terrain was more interesting than the valley of the national park west. Along the trails, there were more wildflowers and changes in elevation. We enjoyed the scenic drive while it rain, stopping at a few scenic spots.
When we had stopped at the Visitor Center for a trail map. We overheard the park ranger recommend the Garwood Trail to another group of hikers wanting an uncrowded hike. This trail is part of several trails on the northern edge of the park which includes Douglas Spring, Converse, Wildhorse Loop. On one of the bends of the Garwood Trail, 1.5mi from the trailhead, is a rare crested saguaro cactus. It became somewhat of a scavenger hunt for us since the crude map from the visitors center, where he drew an X, was not to scale. Trail markers were also confusing since many different trails criss-cross the Garwood Trail. So we wondered if we had missed it but we continued along the trail and finally found this beautiful, unusual cactus – definitely worth the hike.
The rain has pretty much stopped so hike conditions were pretty good – cool but not muddy. The rain added to the photography by saturating the colors and adding water droplets. We did a lot of closeup photos.
Along the main road, we spotted another crested saguaro. It wasn’t nearly as intricately detailed as the Garwood Trail cactus. Perhaps in ~20 more years it will develop the flowery lobes. It was on someone’s property so not part of Saguro National Park East.
We read that Saguaro National Park West is more popular than the East so we visited here first. With winter rains generating large patches of wildflowers in California and Arizona. Our first stop was just over the ridge dropping into Saguaro National Park West valley on W.Picture Rock Road. The Cam-Boh/Ringtail trailhead was covered in Mexican Poppies and a colorful start to the trail. Further along, the wildflowers densities faltered, mainly concentrated in the shadow of Mt. Picture Rocks. So we cut our hike short after taking some wildflower photos. We had just started and wanted to head further into the valley.
Oddly, as you continue west on W.Picture Rock Road, you exit the park. Entering from the east on W Gates Pass Road or the south on S Kinney Road are probably better ways to enter the park. W Gates Pass Road take you past the scenic overlook and both roads take you by Old Tucson. W Picture Rock Road skirts the northern edge before you head south to the Saguaro National Park West (aka Red Hills) Visitor Center. There isn’t a lot of infrastructure in this national park. There are restrooms at the Visitor Center and Sonora Desert Museum, which also has a cafe. Fortunately, we stopped at a Speedway gas station w/ Subway sandwich shop & grabbed a sandwich before our hike. Most of Saguaro National Park West is in the valley west of Tucson. There are hills surrounding the park carpeted with Saguaro and other cacti. Apparently, the density of Saguaro is a lot lower than when the park was founded but they are still abundant. We picked the short Valley View Overlook Trail to see the panoramic view of Saguro National Park West. It was an easy hike with only ~50ft elevation gain.
With unpredictable weather north of Phoenix, we decided to head south to Tucson. Our bucket-list of visiting all the national parks did not have a check mark next to Saguaro National Park. Plus the weather and driving conditions were noticeably better heading south. We book three nights at the Tucson/Lazydays KOA primarily for its location. Saguaro National Park is split into east & west sections about 30mi apart, separated by Tucson. The KOA was about midway so we planned to visit the west park Tuesday then hike the east park Wednesday. The easy, scenic drive from northern Phoenix to southern Tucson was a ~2.5hrs. We passed Picacho Peak State Park, surrounded by wildflowers, and added it to our list of places to visit next time. It’s midway between Phoenix and Tucson and it’s distinctive peak has some challenging trails. Plus it’s in a ‘dark-sky’ area so would be great for astrophotography. March is a great time to visit Tucson and Saguaro NP but it was overcast with scattered showers two of the days we were there. The Tucson/Lazydays KOA is huge with a variety of RV sites ranging from covered pull-thrus ($110+/ni) to small back-in sites. There’s actually a BBQ restaurant-bar on-site so after we pulled-in and setup. We stopped there for BBQ & beer.
We had time to catch an Arizona sunset so an hour before, we headed to Gates Pass Scenic Outlook towards west Saguaro National Park. This is supposed to be the best place around town to catch the sunset. Being popular, it was recommended we get there early so we could find a parking space in the overlook’s small lot. With the overcast skies, we were not predicting a spectacular sunset. But the clouds were clear at the horizon so I hoped the sun might break through before disappearing behind the mountains. Not spectacular, but the sun did shine through for a short time just above the horizon.
