During a recent visit to Central California, I had an opportunity to spend a day up at Yosemite National Park.

The day began with the alarm wakeup at 3:20 am, and a departure from Clovis, CA at 3:45 am. The official sunrise on this day was 6:05 am, and I wanted to be sure to arrive at least 20 minutes in advance of that to get photos during the pre sunrise moments.

As I made my way through the famous tunnel, I noticed that there were already several cars parked at the lot for Tunnel View. I decided to drive past this, down into the valley, and around to the Valley View lot along The Merced River. I was surprised to see no other cars in the lot, and I ended up having the next 30 minutes all to myself.

From Valley View, I drove back up the road to the Tunnel View lot, which was already becoming busy. I set up for a few shots there, and then headed out to see what else I could find down in the valley.

Bridal Veil Falls as seen from Tunnel View

My next stop was at Bridal Veil Falls. There were three other cars in this lot, and again I had a couple of locations along the stream and at the base of the falls to myself. I had been to this location many years ago, later in the summer when flows were unimpressive. Seeing this waterfall with high spring flows was amazing, although it was challenging to keep the camera lens clear with all of the mist coming through.

I then proceeded to make my way down along the valley floor, and stopped at a couple of spots for photos of El Capitan reflecting on a smooth section of The Merced River, and then further down to a few locations that provided great views of the majestic Yosemite Falls. I made short hike up to the Lower Yosemite Falls, and will save the Upper Yosemite Falls hike for another time.

El Capitan Reflecting on The Merced River

Later in the afternoon, I made the 4.5 mile round trip hike to Mirror Lake, which provides great views of half dome, and reflections of the surrounding peaks.

Late in the day, I drove back in the direction of Valley View, and stopped to take a few photos of flowering dogwood trees and other foliage with Bridal Veil Falls and The Merced River in the background.

I was able to catch the evening light from Valley View, at the same location where I had began the day.

As I was leaving, there was still a bit of light catching the top of El Capitan and Half Dome, and I was lucky to find a parking spot in the lot that allowed me just enough time to get in a few final photos.

Yosemite National Park has so many amazing views, and one day was not enough to do everything I wanted to do. Hopefully I will have a chance to get back and hike into some of the more remote locations.

Yosemite Valley