WESTERN ROAD TRIP 2013 | Day 7 - Moro Rock
**Click the links below to visit all of my galleries from my Western Trip or to purchase a Seth Berry Photography print:
Yosemite National Park | Death Valley National Park | Sequoia National Park | Kings Canyon National Park
Mono Lake, CA | Bodie, CA | Nevada Deserts | California | San Francisco
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>> Click Here to view the other half of Day 7 photos <<
Friday, August 16 (Day 7)
As you read in my first blog post of Day 7, Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park was probably my favorite place we visited the entire trip. Its really hard to say that since everything I saw out west could very well be my favorite too. I think the main reason why Moro Rock stood out the most for me was since I had done all of my research on Yosemite and the first places we had visited, I didn't spend much time looking at pictures of Moro Rock. So when I went there, I was totally amazed and left in awe.
Sequoia National Park, of course, is known for its forest of largest sequoia trees in the world. However, in the center of the park sits the huge granite dome 6,725 feet in elevation. From the summit of Moro Rock, you get spectacular views of the western half of the Great Western Divide, the Sequoia Forests, the Central Valley, and on clear days the coastal mountains. But the most dramatic views are of the shear, sawtooth sentinels of the Sierra Nevadas. The neatest thing though was somewhere along the huge peaks was the western side of Mount Whitney - the same mountain we saw in Lone Pine, California. So, just over the impressive mountain range was Lone Pine, California - a shorter distance the way the bird flies than the route we had to take to get here.
To get to the top of Moro Rock, a normal visitor (not rock climber) must ascend 300 feet and 1/3 mile up a giant rock staircase...one that wouldn't go well for those who fear heights. For me I love heights, so it was an amazing experience trekking up the incredibly built staircase through the rock.
Enjoy the views as I take you up to the summit of Moro Rock!
Views from Moro Rock's summit!
Its hard to look at those magnificent views and not believe there is a God who created all of it! Isn't God amazing?
Stay tuned for my last blog post from our trip - Day 8 - San Francisco! If you haven't already, check out my other blog post of Day 7 of Kings Canyon Grant Grove and Sequoia National Park!
>> Click Here to view the other half of Day 7 photos <<
WESTERN ROAD TRIP 2013 | Day 7 - Sequoia NP & Pacific Coast
**Click the links below to visit all of my galleries from my Western Trip or to purchase a Seth Berry Photography print:
Yosemite National Park | Death Valley National Park | Sequoia National Park | Kings Canyon National Park
Mono Lake, CA | Bodie, CA | Nevada Deserts | California | San Francisco
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For this blog post, I've split the day up into two blog entries. When we were in Sequoia National Park, not only did we witness the most beautiful forest of sequoia trees in the world, but we hiked up to my favorite vista point we had seen the entire trip - Moro Rock! Since I captured some of my favorite pictures of the whole trip at this one location, I've created a separate blog post just for it. To view the incredible scenes from Moro Rock, click on the link below. But first, scroll through this blog post to see the mystical trees of Grant Grove, Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park, and our final drive to the Pacific Coast!
>> Click Here to view my Moro Rock photos <<
Friday, August 16 (Day 7)
It was hard to believe our week long monumental trip we had planned for a year was finally on its last stretch. While we were each beyond exhausted, I was kind of sad this day was my last day I would spend in the most amazing National Parks I had ever visited - that is until I make my next trip across the US. But only did I not know, these last two days I would see some of my most memorable spots of the whole trip!
After sleeping three nights in Camp Curry under the massive granite cliffs of Yosemite Valley amongst hundreds of other campers, our silent night in our dainty cabin in Grant Grove, Kings Canyon National Park was rather pleasant. For three nights, Camp Curry mainly served as our place to crash after our long days of adventuring Yosemite. With it being a small tent packed between a village of white tents and rather noisy people all around us, we could hear almost everything throughout the night including a screaming child each night around 3:00am. But our cabin in Grant Grove was nicely secluded under a forest of huge trees with not near as many people around us. The cabin from the outside wasn't too special (although to me, I really liked it), but in the inside it had the same feel as a vacation log cabin in the mountains. I would have loved to spend more time there.
After sleeping a little later than normal and a refreshing $1 hot water shower, we took our time as we packed up for the last time all of our junk we accumulated throughout our road trip. Our first destination was the Kings Canyon Grant Grove trail, which was a nice cool morning hike through a path of legendary sequoia trees. Only about 5 minutes from our cabin, this forest of sequoia trees was home of the 2nd largest sequoia tree in the world, "General Grant". Named in honor or Ulysses S. Grant in 1867, the huge tree was coined the "Nation's Christmas Tree" by President Calvin Coolidge.
The following pictures take you along the Grant Grove trail to see the General Grant amongst other huge sequoia trees and even through the center of a fallen sequoia tree.
Grant Grove, Kings Canyon National Park
Below: Walking through the inside of the Fallen Moncarch (a fallen sequoia tree):
Below: The 2nd largest tree in the world - the General Grant sequoia tree
Sequoia National Park
After hiking in Grant Grove, we continued on the scenic Generals Highway out of Kings Canyon National Park and into Sequoia National Park, where we would see the most condensed forest of sequoia trees the entire trip! Up until then, Yosemite's Mariposa Grove and Kings Canyon's Grant Grove were only a patch compared to the dense forest of Sequoia National Park.
The drive through the park was as if you were in a fantasy land, as every turn you pass through some of the biggest trees in the world. We had our sunroof open during this drive so we could see the shear beauty of the sequoia canopy we were driving under. Our first major attraction on the drive was driving underneath the famous Tunnel Log - a fallen sequoia tree large enough to drive through! Then we made our way to the parking area to hike to the largest tree in the world - General Sherman. Its hard to capture the magnificent grandness of these beautiful trees in photographs, but I've include pictures of people and us in them to show you the scale of how large they are. To fully grasp how huge they are, you need to experience them in person if you ever have the privilege!
Also in Sequoia National Park, we drove to Moro Rock where we would see the most amazing vista point we had seen the whole trip. Remember to click on the link above to see those pictures!
Below: The famous Tunnel Log tree, large enough for our car to drive through!
Below: The next 4 pictures are of the largest tree in the world - General Sherman
Pacific Coast Highway - Route 1
After spending half our day in the largest sequoia forests in the world, it was time for us to make our last long drive of our trip. We decided to turn our trip to San Francisco into a five hour scenic drive straight westward to hit the Pacific Ocean and follow the Pacific Coast Highway north to our final destination. Our off the route path consisted of us driving through the beautiful farmlands of the Central Valley of California, through Los Banos, up the golden hills and coastal mountains, through the town of Hollister and reaching the Pacific Coast at Santa Cruz.
There are many places I would love to revisit in the future (Lone Pine, Kings Canyon, etc) but the Pacific Coast is definitely at the top of all of them. Being my first time I had ever seen the Pacific Ocean, I was amazed at the vast beauty surrounded by ocean, mountains, and giant rock cliffs. To top it off, we reached the coast right as the sun was going down so it certainly made a dramatic effect!
In the beautiful beach town of Santa Cruz, we drove to the Natural Bridge State Park where we saw the amazing rock formation of a bridge out in the ocean - something you have probably seen in a lot of magazines. Then we drove up the coast and found a nice pull off for beach access along the Pacific Coast Highway. To say the least, it was simply breathtaking - the pictures will tell. I did take the advantage to get into the cold water up to my knees to say that I'd been in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, we continued driving north as a dense fog began to engulf us. The Pacific Ocean is well known for its foggy weather, especially around the San Francisco area. While we were driving in the dark fog, we could see a flashing light in the distance. As we got closer we could tell it was from a beautiful lighthouse - the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This was a paradise for lighthouse lovers. We only had a couple minutes to get out and see the beautiful place since it was getting dark. I would love to go back there again. We finally made it to our last destination, our hotel in San Francisco, tired and worn out...knowing tomorrow would be our last full day of vacation.
Thanks for reading my post about Day 7! It really was an awesome day, and I'm grateful we were able to fit everything we wanted to do in our entire trip. I'm sure a lot of you are amazed at how much we did on our "vacation", but for us we wanted to see as much as we could in 8 days! I mean how often do you get to go across the United States?
Stay tuned one more time, because the next day would be our last full day of vacation. Spending the whole day in San Francisco was what was on the docket before we boarded our plane that evening at 11pm to come home. You're in for a treat, because like I said in my last blog post...one of the best scenes of the entire trip is yet to come!
By the way, don't forget to check out my favorite scene from the whole trip that we saw in Sequoia National Park. I created a blog post just for it!
>> Click Here to view my Moro Rock photos <<
WESTERN ROAD TRIP 2013 | Day 6 - Mariposa & Kings Canyon
**Click the links below to visit all of my galleries from my Western Trip or to purchase a Seth Berry Photography print:
Yosemite National Park | Death Valley National Park | Sequoia National Park | Kings Canyon National Park
Mono Lake, CA | Bodie, CA | Nevada Deserts | California | San Francisco
For this edition of my Western Road Trip blog post, my roommate Robbie will be my guest blogger so he can give his perspective on our awesome adventure and what we did on day 6. I hope you enjoy!
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Thursday, August 15 (Day 6)
It was hard to believe that the last day of our time in Yosemite was already upon us. For the last three days Yosemite was our backyard to explore and connect with all of God’s beauty. After a year of planning and researching, our time in Yosemite was coming to an end; but as you can guess, we still had an action packed morning exploring Yosemite before continuing our journey to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.
Even though it was the middle of August, the mornings in Yosemite Valley had a fall like feel to them and this morning was no exception! Upon leaving our Curry Village tent for the last time, we were greeted with cloudless blue skies set above the majestic granite cliffs of the valley floor. This was the perfect backdrop for our last views of Yosemite Valley.
With Chris’s mandatory and much needed coffee in his hands, we started our journey to Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove. We didn’t make it too far though until we decided to stop at Cathedral Beach for a few pictures and that one last stop at Tunnel View for our final farewell view of the Valley.
The Mariposa Grove
After about an hour drive out of Yosemite Valley we arrived at the southernmost section of the park where Yosemite’s largest grove of giant sequoias are located. No matter how many pictures we had seen of giant sequoias prior to our trip, nothing prepared us for the wow factor of seeing these enormous trees for the first time.
Although we would be spending time at Sequoia National Park, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see some of the famous Mariposa Grove residents including the Grizzly Giant (the Largest Sequoia in Yosemite), The California Tunnel Tree (A standing sequoia with a tunnel carved into the trunk) and the fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree (the first tree ever to have a tunnel carved through its trunk).
The first few pictures are the main pictures from Mariposa, but view the slideshow to see them all.
Below: The Fallen Monarch
Below: The Grizzly Giant is the 5th largest sequoia tree in the world. Check out how huge this tree is below, but keep in mind that the next day in Sequoia National Park we would see the 1st and 2nd largest trees in the world!
Below: The California Tunnel Tree
Below: The Clothespin Tree...looks sort of like a clothespin doesn't it?
View Slideshow of all photos from Mariposa
Most people would have called it a day after our action packed morning, but we were just getting started. After leaving Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove, we started our 3 hour journey to Kings Canyon National park with a quick stop in Fresno for lunch at In-N-Out Burger. It’s amazing to know that these beautiful National Parks with their granite cliffs and green meadows and trees lie within such a desert climate. There was no doubt that we were in desert country as it was evident as soon as we left the Yosemite gates and along our journey through Fresno and into Kings Canyon.
Kings Canyon National Park
Arriving in Kings Canyon around 4 PM, we stopped by the Visitor Center quickly to grab our Grant Grove Cabin keys and started making our descent down the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway into the canyon floor to visit the Zumwalt Meadow, Roaring River Falls and Grizzly Falls. We knew we were short on daylight so bypassed the cabin itself in hopes to see as much as possible. I wish we would have had another full day to explore this majestic park as the drive along the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway was one of the most amazing roads I’ve ever been on. We did make a few stops at some of the scenic overlooks, but knew that we had to keep trekking on if we were going to see the main sites on the canyon floor that we had planned. Every turn though afforded views of soaring mountain peaks and deep canyons.
Below: Notice the road that we would drive on in the foreground! This was an amazing drive weaving around the mountains to get to the canyon!
Zumwalt Meadows Hike
We managed to make it to Zumwalt Meadow right before sunset and quickly started the 1.5 mile loop around the meadow. Almost immediately into the hike we came across a suspension like bridge over the Kings River and could see similarities between Kings Canyon and Yosemite. We found it very interesting that there would be so many cliffs and peaks with same and similar names between the two parks such as North Dome and Grand Sentinel.
After quickly making our way through Zumwalt Meadow, we made our way over to Roaring River Falls. We arrived at the 40 foot falls right before nightfall and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the moon rising above the canyon walls and waterfall. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to spend here as we wanted to see Grizzly Falls and daylight had all but expired. We continued up the road to Grizzly Falls but were a little too late as the sun had completely set beyond the canyon walls. This didn’t stop us though from grabbing our headlamps and making the short hike to the base of Grizzly falls. Though you could barely see the water coming over the edge, you could hear the roar of the falls. From what we could see, it is definitely a waterfall worthy of going back to explore again.
As the case for the previous nights in Yosemite and Lone Pine, nighttime in Kings Canyon brought along God’s light show. As we made our hour ascent out of the canyon, you could see the thousands of stars come to life and provide an endless view of the galaxy that we live in. At one point, we pulled over and turned all the lights off to gaze above the canyon walls as we soaked in our last night in the National Parks.
One Night in Grant Grove
As we closed out our evening exploring the area around our Grant Grove Cabin, Seth and I experienced one of the things I love most about traveling which is meeting the people that call these beautiful locations home. This evening was even more exceptional as we were searching for something to eat, we realized that there were absolutely no restaurants or shops open inside Kings Canyon. We ran into a park employee near the visitor center who was leaving for the evening. We stopped to ask her if she knew of anywhere nearby to grab a bite to eat. She said everything was closed but to follow her and she would open up the market just for us. She gave us free reign inside the little market and conversed with us about our journey and places she had visited herself. Because of her generosity we were able to enjoy a wonderful meal on the porch of our cabin consisting of Pop Tarts, Fritos and an Ice Cream Sandwich!
Thanks to everyone for reading about our Day 6 Adventure and to Seth for allowing me the opportunity to write the special guest blog. Stay tuned for Day 7 as we explore the largest trees in the world in Sequoia National Park and make our way to our final trip destinations of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco! ~ Robbie
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As Robbie said, stay tuned for the last 2 days of our awesome Western Road Trip! You're not going to want to miss these next two days because I've got some of my most favorite pictures from the trip coming up!! Thanks again for reading, and thank you Robbie for sharing your experience by writing this day's blog post!
WESTERN ROAD TRIP 2013 | Day 5 - Panorama Trail
**Click the links below to visit all of my galleries from my Western Trip or to purchase a Seth Berry Photography print:
Yosemite National Park | Death Valley National Park | Sequoia National Park | Kings Canyon National Park
Mono Lake, CA | Bodie, CA | Nevada Deserts | California | San Francisco
Wednesday, August 14 (Day 5)
All of the small hikes we had done so far on our trip only lead up and warmed us up for our grandest hike of the trip. Wednesday marked the day we would hike 9 miles on the spectacular Panorama Trail for our last full day in Yosemite! A website we read when researching this hike said "one day you'll look back on your life and split it into its "before Panorama" and "after Panorama" periods". While that may sound a little over dramatic, simply put, there's no better way to fully experience the views and get an up-close look of 3 magnificent waterfalls around Yosemite Valley than trekking on the less beaten path of this amazing trail!
To begin our day of hiking, we got up before 7:00 AM to grab some breakfast for us to bring on the shuttle taking us up to Glacier Point. On the shuttle ride, we had a rather passionate tour guide/driver who told us about EVERYTHING we passed. It was definitely entertaining to say the least, but nearly made us ready to go back to bed that early in the morning. But seriously, it was interesting listening to her tell us about Yosemite and it's many wonders. We finally made it to Glacier Point, put on our backpacks, and hit the trail around 9:00 AM to begin our 9 mile journey back down to Yosemite Valley for a total descent of around 3,200 feet!
The Panorama Trail is properly named because on the whole hike you're rewarded with spectacular views on both sides...not to mention the huge drop offs. I hope you enjoy the views from my pictures as we began our hike!
Below: Notice Nevada Falls far in the distance (small white vertical line) directly to the left of the big green tree in the foreground of this picture. We would ultimately make it to the bottom of this waterfall later in the hike.
Illilouette Falls
Illilouette Falls was the first of three waterfalls we hiked upon, about 2.5 miles into the hike. Since it was considered the dry season in Yosemite, the waterfalls weren't flowing near as full as they normally do...but they were still beautiful!
Below: Illilouette Creek - such beautiful crystal clear water!
Below: Giant pine cones I found along the trail.
Nevada Falls
On top of Nevada Falls, which is a 600 ft waterfall. The huge rock dome in the background is Liberty Cap.
Below: The bridge that crosses over the top of Nevada Falls, which is a 600 ft waterfall.
Below: Just beyond that man is a 600 ft waterfall.
Taking The Mist Trail down to the Valley
After making it to the top of Nevada Falls you run into a junction of trails. You can either take the John Muir Trail down to the bottom of the Valley or you can take the Mist Trail. The John Muir Trail is longer but less steep and doesn't pass Vernal Falls. The Mist Trail is STEEP and passes Vernal Falls (oh and did I say it is steep??). We had already planned to go via The Mist Trail and so we did.
This amazing part of the trail is made of rock stairs cut into the cliffside which creates a very hard workout on your knees as you descend about 1000 feet to get to the bottom of Nevada and Vernal Falls. This is one of the most popular hikes in all of Yosemite with two gorgeous waterfalls pouring over the cliffside right beside you the entire way. During the seasons that the waterfalls are flowing the fullest, you can feel the mist from the falls - which gives the meaning to the Mist Trail. However, since our trip was during the dry season, we weren't rewarded with amazingly full waterfalls, but as you'll see they're still beautiful!
The Panorama Trail leading up to the Mist Trail was okay in strenuousness as you gradually descended with some heavy climbing in some places. But The Mist Trail is when it really got strenuous, particularly for me since I had tweaked my knee on my hike on part of the Appalachian Trail a couple weeks ago. I was fine until the continuous wear on my knees on the rock steps and switchbacks all the way down. It took us some time and sweat getting down, but it was well worth the trip! Once we got to the bottom of the falls and were hiking to the valley, we found a nice secluded spot and got in the river. Boy did it feel good and rewarding after the long hot day of hiking! We finally got back to Curry Village around 6:00 PM.
Enjoy the rest of my pictures as we descend down the Mist Trail. Notice of how steep it is! Also, check out the amazing rainbow that Vernal Falls creates during this time of day!!
Vernal Falls
The last of the three waterfalls we hiked to on the Panorama Trail. During this time of day, the waterfall creates a beautiful rainbow at the base of the falls!
We finally made it to our campsite in Curry Village around 6:00 PM...exhausted! It was an awesome and memorable way to experience Yosemite to say the least!
Thanks again for viewing my blog. Stay tuned for Day 6 as we make our way out of Yosemite National Park through Mariposa Grove (a forest of giant sequoia trees!) and travel to Kings Canyon National Park! I might even have a special guest write the blog for that day!
WESTERN ROAD TRIP 2013 | Day 4 - Yosemite Valley
**Click the links below to visit all of my galleries from my Western Trip or to purchase a Seth Berry Photography print:
Yosemite National Park | Death Valley National Park | Sequoia National Park | Kings Canyon National Park
Mono Lake, CA | Bodie, CA | Nevada Deserts | California | San Francisco
Tuesday, August 13 (Day 4)
Yosemite National Park is often called America's Treasure. Its no wonder why millions of people from all around the world make it a point to visit this special place each year. The shear size and strength of the huge granite cliffs surrounding Yosemite Valley makes you feel miniscule and the enormous beauty around the whole park makes its hard for someone not to feel connected to the Creator.
I had the wonderful privilege to stay in Yosemite Valley for three nights during our Western Road Trip, giving us much time to explore during the days. After driving in through the high parts of Yosemite via Tioga Pass the day before, we spent the entire day Tuesday exploring everything we could in the Valley. While we were still amazed at everything we saw for the first time, we were a little disappointed the iconic Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls were not active during our stay since they flow mainly through snow melt. That just means that I'm going to have to plan another trip back, which I very well intend to do!
As you know from my last blog post, we slept in little white tents/cabins in Yosemite Valley - which was called Camp Curry Village. Here's the view from our camp first thing in the morning when I woke up, with the forest and granite cliffs towering over us.
Gates of the Valley
One of the iconic Ansel Adams views of Yosemite is often missed. On the one way road that loops through the Valley, the last pull off stop before you exit the valley is worth the stop! Named "Gates of the Valley", this valley view has El Capitan (the world's largest granite monolith) and Bridalveil Falls (this waterfall wasn't flowing while we were there) towering over the Merced River.
I wanted to make sure I saw all of the iconic views that I could, so this was the first on my list for our day in the Valley. Robbie and I drove out to this location right before the sun came up. Check out some of the amazing views along the river at Gates of the Valley.
Below: Robbie took this picture of me with his phone as I was photographing Gates of the Valley!
Yosemite Chapel
After Gates of the Valley, we drove around the Valley loop and stopped by the Yosemite Chapel. This was another location I was looking forward to photographing during my visit to Yosemite. It was a perfect time too because the crowds weren't up yet since it was right after sunrise.
This was a very peaceful scene with the beautiful small chapel nestled beside the meadow and below the towering granite cliffs. No one was around so it was a nice morning to soak in the seen and really have some quite alone time with God as I took pictures of the gorgeous chapel. As I was taking pictures of the chapel, I walked further out into the meadow to get a good shot. The pictures of the pond reflections is the scene directly behind me as I was taking pictures of the chapel. Just goes to show that you're constantly surrounded by beauty in Yosemite Valley!
Below: Morning pictures from El Capitan Bridge
Hiking to Mirror Lake (or no lake)
After a good morning of checking out these beautiful locations for sunrise, we had a good breakfast in one of the cafeterias in Curry Village before we hit the trail. When we were planning our trip, we pretty much knew we wouldn't see Yosemite Falls or Bridalveil Falls since everything is dried up this time of year. However, I was still hoping we would be able to see Mirror Lake in Yosemite Valley.
So we set off on our 2 mile round trip hike outside of our Curry Village campground to hike to Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake sits right below the famous Half Dome and is named for its awesome reflections the water makes of the granite cliffs surrounding it. But, we soon found out that Mirror Lake too was...all dried up. There was still a small creek and some water left that I used to get some decent reflections. All in all, with or without the water, these places are still gorgeous and amazing to see in person!
More Scenes Along the Valley Floor
Taft Point
We spent most of the day exploring everything we could in Yosemite Valley. We even visited Ansel Adams' Gallery and the Yosemite National Park Visitor Center in the valley. Inside the Visitor Center we watched an inspiring video called "The Spirit of the Valley" which told of Yosemite's history. I could easily go back to Yosemite just to learn more about all of its history, stories and spend time in the stores. But since we had only little amount of time with so much to do, we made sure we packed as much sightseeing in as we could!
Our itinerary for our full day in Yosemite Valley ended with us driving up to Glacier Point (which is an overlook point more than 3,000 feet above our campsite). Glacier Point is one of the most famous views in Yosemite National Park, which overlooks the valley, as you see all of the major granite mountains such as Half Dome and El Capitan. Its from this location you can really tell how a glacier once carved out the valley a long, long time ago!
We had one stop/hike to do first, before we made our way up to Glacier Point - one of the most scariest drop off/overlooks I have ever seen! Taft Point is definitely not for those who are afraid of heights. The hike to Taft Point was a 2 mile round trip which takes you to the very edge of the granite cliff that overlooks the valley. You'll have to check out the coyote we saw while driving up to the trail head and also the warning signs posted for Mountain Lions on the trail! After seeing the coyote and this sign, we were on HIGH alert...not to mention we were hiking to a point that has a 3,000 foot shear drop off.
There is one part of Taft Point that has a guard rail that most people only walk to. But along the whole side of the cliff are vertical gashes and drop offs in the rock called fissure. Check out two of my pictures of the "fissures" with the rocks wedged between the rock cliffs. Keep in mind, these are HUGE drop offs and HUGE rock formations in the fissures. Its one of those things you have to see in person to really believe!
Below: The Fissures - huge vertical gashes in the rock cliff:
Below: Check out the rocks wedged between this fissure. To give you perspective of how BIG this gash is, you can see Robbie on the rock to the left...but check out Chris in the distance to the left of the tree!
WARNING: Taft Point - not for the squeamish of heights!
Below: This next one is a picture of me! No worries, notice I'm beside the guard railing.
Glacier Point
To finish out our awesome day exploring Yosemite Valley, we spent the rest of the evening on top of Glacier Point watching the sunset and star gazing at night! As I mentioned earlier, Yosemite has the great power to make you feel so small compared to the enormous mountains and trees surrounding you. But this Tuesday night was definitely an experience I'll always remember as I stood on top of Glacier Point with about 6 or 7 other photographers as we photographed a sunset in one of the most amazing locations of Yosemite. There had to be at least 50 people behind me on the main observation area of the overlook, but only the real photographers with tripods (or who looked like they knew what they were doing) were down on the rock cliffs trying to capture the moment. I had some really great conversations with the photographers I was surrounded by. It really was as if all of us, including the people behind us, were watching God's show and we were there to photograph it.
The sunlight gradually lifted from the valley making shadows along the granite cliffs. Then Half Dome was as if it was being filled with red paint as the sunlight lifted up on the huge rock face. Once Half Dome was in the shadows, most of the observers left...but only a few stayed behind to really watch the show begin! Some wonderful low evening light was making the features in the valley pop while the purple sky above just added to the touch. THEN the stars came out, the main attraction. I did my best to capture the amazing view of the Milky Way with Yosemite Valley beneath, but it was just one of those things you had to be there to see for yourself to really capture the grandeur. We stayed on top of Glacier Point until about 10 PM. It was hard to leave that amazing moment.
I want to leave you with a popular song that I'm sure you might have heard many of times before. But it truly sums up how indescribable and awesome God is. Enjoy this song as you view the last pictures from our second day in Yosemite.
Thanks for reading Day 4 of my Western Road Trip adventure. Check out the first days of my trip if you haven't already. Stay tuned for my next blog post as I take you on our amazing 9 mile hike from Glacier Point all the way down to the valley!
Be blessed,