Nature Pics

[Primula Baggins]

Yes, electrolyte solutions do conduct electricity rather well. . . .

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I've been thinking of climbing North Dome. What kind of hike is it, compared to other hikes around there, like Vernal Falls or 4-mile to Glacier Point?

It's not bad. It's about 9 miles round trip from Tioga Road, unless you do the side trip to Indian Rock (the only arch formation in Yosemite, and definitely worth seeing). There is a considerable amount of up and down, some of it somewhat steep, but not too bad; the total elevation change is less than 1500 feet. There is one section where you have to scramble on fairly slippery gravel-covered granite with the danger of falls of up to 25 feet. Once you are on the dome itself, of course, you don't want to get too close to the edge, which could lead to falls of a lot longer than that! But the view are sublime. Probably the most challenging part for us was that a thunderstorm was beginning as we were hiking out. We virtually ran the last mile and a half despite the fact that it was all uphill, after a lightning bolt struck just seconds after a thunder clap. However, it didn't actually start raining until just as we were reaching the trailhead.

Had we done our backpack trip we would have crossed Cloud's Rest, which has equally amazing views, but has a narrow ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides. We were not looking forward to that.

Frelga, only the first pic was of Mono Lake. All the rest are in the high country of Yosemite.

[Frelga]

V, I know. I've seen Yosemite, but have never made it to Mono Lake.

[SirDennis]

Clouds Rest and Half Dome, from North Dome:

Ansel Adams eat your heart out, from beyond the grave even.

[yovargas]

yov, hopefully it will entice you to come back. If I remember correctly, you had considered taken a train trip to Yosemite when you were out here, but didn't make it. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct. The whole time I was out there I kept thinking that it's kinda unfair how beautiful everything is around there. California 1 FTW!!

[samaranth]

Voronwë - I've never been to Yosemite, and if I'm honest it's unlikely I ever will. But these pictures make me feel as if I've stood and looked at those peaks with my own eyes. Beautiful!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thank you, Sam. Who knows, you might find yourself out this way some day (and there is another picture winding its way across the Pacific).

Sir D, that is very kind, although I don't think I would go that far. Some of the hiking that we did on this trip was in the Ansel Adams Wilderness (after crossing over from the John Muir Wilderness).

[Lalaith]

I love the pics, Voronwë.

So I have all kinds of nature pics of our trip so far. Some are quite lovely, which isn't hard when you're such a beautiful place.

Here, however, is my current favorite:







This is an epic photobomb! I'm not sure if Craig photobombed the snapping turtle or vice versa. We were at Eagle Lake (Pond?) at Acadia, and as I was getting ready to hop back onto land from the rock we were laying on, there were turtles! This one (possibly blind?) was very curious and didn't duck back underwater. So I took his pic. Craig was already on land and was leaning over to look at him, too.



Anyway, I'll pick and choose some nice "real" nature pics to post here later, but the link for the whole album (so far) is here if anyone is bored:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 1cb61fbfd9

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Beautiful pics, Lali!

California Falls:

[yovargas]

That pic is awesome, Lali!

[SirDennis]

Sir D, that is very kind, although I don't think I would go that far. Some of the hiking that we did on this trip was in the Ansel Adams Wilderness (after crossing over from the John Muir Wilderness).

As you probably know, Ansel Adams built his career on making landscape photographs with large format cameras in Yosimite.

You captured one of his favourite subjects, Half Dome, with a telephone... yet your's is no less remarkable, especially because of the perspective. Usually Half Dome is shown in isolation, or perhaps with the land that closely attends it. As such the place looms larger in our minds than it actually appears in its native context. Therefore your's seems, for lack of a better term, a truer image to me. Certainly it is an angle and a view I've never seen before...

ETA: Lali, that is one of the most interesting photographs I've ever seen. It was an accident you say? Brilliant.

[Lalaith]

Cross my heart--it was totally accidental.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks, Dennis! You are right that most pictures of Half Dome focus exclusively or almost exclusively on it. But North Dome really gives a unique perspective, and one thing that my phone does have is a panorama feature. That pictures has a quality that somehow combines fairly sharp focus with a painterly like quality. I must admit I am quite enamored with it.

But the pictures that Ansel Adams was able to take with what today seems like very primitive equipment are truly spectacular!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Sunset from Tiogo Road Mile 4:

[narya]

Sir Dennis, here's another Half Dome photo for you, taken from half way up Upper Yosemite Falls:

[Elentári]

Those are both gorgeous!

What a breath-taking sunset, V....and I love you way you've caught the movement of the water, Narya

Lali, that is one crazy, but remarkable photograph!

[SirDennis]

Whoa. Yet another uncommon view, very nice Sir V.

[Inanna]

Awesome pics!

[Primula Baggins]

Beautiful pictures, Voronwë and narya!

I have a couple of nice ones from the coast, but I have to wrangle them off my daughter's computer first.

[samaranth]

Waterfalls!

And what an awesome (in the real sense) sunset.