Yosemite June 9-10, 2006 [Back to Photo Page]

Getting there ...

My friend Fred and I decided to have a short trip to Yosemite to get the "moonbow" over the Yosemite Falls, which can be best seen during the full moon nights of May and June. We took Hwy 120 since Hwy 140 was closed due to rock slides. However, we missed the junction of 120 and 108, and did not notice we were lost after about 25 miles on 108 instead of 120. The detour took us more than 40 minutes and we did not get to Yosemite Valley until 10:30PM.
The moonbow was not very visible to naked eyes. We were surprised to see the rainbow got recorded by camera when I first took my test shots. The exposures were ~ 3 min @ F8 @ ISO400. There were quite a few people taking a night walk, and we did attract a small crowd with our tripods and long-exposure shots.

The Second Day ...

• Yosemite Valley
  We skipped the sunrise because we did not go to bed until almost 1AM last night. We still got up early to drive around the Valley and had a nice reflection of Cathedral Rocks on Merced River.

• Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome
  After eating a few "Trail Mix" bars, we headed to Glacier Point and hiked the 1.5-mile trail (one-way) to Sentinel Dome. It was very pleasant to hike on this shady trail. The view on Setinel Dome is a spectacular 360 degree of Yosemite Valley and also parts of the high country (although the famous tree on the dome has already fallen). Although it was the flat day light time, I still took a few snap shots to capture these gandeur views.

Going Home ...

We left Yosemite Valley before noon, had a good lunch at KFC, and got back home before 5PM. Yosemite is always a fascinating place to visit, and we are so fortunate to live in California where it is feasible to make a 24-hour short trip to Yosemite anytime.

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