I’m back from my trip to Mammoth and Yosemite. I stayed an extra day up there because it was too beautiful to leave. The weather on Saturday around the East park entrance was about 67 degrees Fahrenheit while it was 93 degrees Fahrenheit in Yosemite Valley. You can guess I spent most of the time up near the East entrance because of the cooler weather. It’s also about 6,000 feet higher in elevation on the East side, so there were lots of snow covered peaks to look at.

I had a great time taking photos of the park at sunrise and sunset. I also had the chance to take photos of the stars at night in the high country. Since there were multiple thunderstorms and cloudy weather during most of the week, the best night to take photos of the stars was on Sunday night (early Monday morning) from 12:30am to 3:30am. The moon had set that night at 11:15pm, so there was no light pollution to get in the way. I left Mammoth at 12:30am and arrived at Tioga Lake at 1:30am. It was really cold and the lake still had sheets of ice on it. It definitely paid off to show up and take photos though. I’ve posted one of the photos from that night below.

The other photo that I’ve posted below is of Tenaya Lake, on a late afternoon, close to sunset. So many people were out in the area and having family barbeques, but I was able to find a nice slope of granite to stand my tripod on and take photos for the evening. Taking pictures that evening was a great way to end an incredible day of hiking.

As always, I’ll post more photos from the trip on my website over the next few weeks and blog more about what went on during the trip. Until then, everyone have a great week!