Thoughts on shooting in Yosemite

[dreed]

During the year this year, I've made numerous trips to Yosemite, trying to learn how it changes as a destination for photography during the year. Unfortunately I've got to call a close on it for 2010 - maybe I'll be back in 2011, maybe not. After having put together these notes, it seemed a waste to keep them to myself so I have put them into a web page and here it is...

http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~avalon/yosemite.html

... if you've got other experiences to share about where/when are good in Yosemite, please feel free to share or send and I'll include them.

[Scott O.]

Really excellent summary.  Only things I noticed as missing was Hidden Falls (upstream from Mirror Lake) and normal opening date of the Tioga Road.  I thought I knew everything about Yosemite photography, but you taught me a few things!

[dreed]

Having looked at the page below and having made note of the variation in open and close dates, I'm not sure that is possible to say there is a "normal" open date. Yes, you can calculate an "average" open date, but it would be wrong to conclude that this was "normal" and to further conclude that it was safe to make plans based on that.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

A more advanced look at this would be to make note of open times with respect to the El Nino/El Nina weather patterns in the past and how the open/closed dates move with them.  The El Nino/El Nina weather patterns  influence how "wet" the weather coming in from the Pacific Ocean is. Using that information, you could then try to guess when the roads will open in a given year based on what the currents are doing way out west in the Pacific Ocean (i.e is it El Nino or El Nina and how strong is it?)  during early to mid spring.

[langier]

One correction:

After spending all my life in California and with a background is natural science, I can tell you that anyone seeing a wolf in Yosemite or anywhere on the losse in California, short of a pet cross-bred or in a zoo or wildlife park, has gotta be smoking something weird. They are simply not part of our ecology here.

Coyote yes. Loose dog, yes. Wolf, no.

However in Yellowstone, you'll find them.

Otherwise, great report and good info!

[dreed]

Thanks, I'll remove the reference to wolf. My suspicion is coyote and that the person behind the camera wasn't sufficiently familiar with the wildlife to know the difference.

[scorpio516]

Couple other thoughts:

August:  very hot, very dry, very crowded

Bears: there has been only one time I've been there and not seen/hear/saw something a bear left behind, and that was just a day trip.

Coyotes: most often, they are quite vocal in the valley at night

Yosemite Falls: even in early may, when there is ice at the top of the falls, and snow to walk through, the falls trail is still quite busy - but half the people stop at Columbia Rock.

Wawona:  the meadow get quite a bit of sun all day long - it runs NW-SE.  When the sun sets, it's right down the meadow.  Bears, flowers, and fungi abound though.