I had heard of Firefall several years ago. And was super impressed with this event. And I wanted to go see this thing in person. And also to see Yosemite National Park. So I did exactly that. Now Firefall only happens two weeks out of the year in February. So the window of opportunity to see this was very small. Knowing all this I had planned to be there for the tail end of Firefall season. I arrived at the park and it was being run a bit different than normal. Now that was due to the previous years during Firefall.
There were thousands of people coming in recent years to the park to see the Firefall, were just kinda destroying the park. Simply by overcrowding certain areas and destroying the environment. So this year they had blocked a lot of the parking right off the road close to El Capitan because of the previous years. So they had some bigger parking lots designated for Firefall, and also closed one lane for people to walk on instead of using the trails and making them worse. Also they had certain spots that you were allowed to stop and take your photos and watch the falls. I was learning all of this my first day there. I say day, but it was like a few hours. I went straight from the airport to the park. And had about two hours before sunset. There is one detail about Firefall that I forgot to mention. In order for this event to occur there needs to be water flowing from El Capitan, and also clear skies for it to light up the falls.
So after getting to an okay spot, looked up at the mountain and could not see any water flowing. That was a bit disappointing that I traveled across the country to not have any water flowing from the mountain. But what can you do. It was still a spectacular evening though. As you can see above, without the water there is less life in the photo. This was only my first few hours in the park, and I was looking forward to the next few days of exploring and photographing this place.
My second day in the park was spent doing some short little hikes around Yosemite Valley.
One of those hikes took me to Mirror lake, a little lake north east of the valley. Not a hard hike but a very pretty one. It was a little over 3 miles round trip. Something about this place that I could not get over was the sheer size of these mountains. They just seemed to tower over you wherever you were in the park. I loved that!
My last day at the park it was raining most of the day. Which might sound like a miserable time. But it made the park feel and look very different. Also rain is what I needed in order for there to be water flowing from the the top of El Capitan. So I was really excited that it was raining.
After hiking in the Yosemite Valley. I decided to head over and check out El Capitan to see if now there was any water flowing from the mountain. And since it was so rainy and cloudy El Capitan was completely engulfed in clouds. Still not enough rain to cause water to flow off the mountain. The previous day I had checked out tunnel view right before sunset. But by that point it was full of people already there waiting for sunset.
So I was determined to get to tunnel view before it was overrun. It was still really full when I got up there, but I was able to get a better spot this time. Am I so happy that I went up here for my last day here.
About an hour before sunset this amazing rainbow showed up and made for a spectacular scene! One of the best moments that happens this entire trip. It was so special to be there and see this in person.
After the amazing rainbow. The sunset was even better! Three days in Yosemite is no where near enough time for me. I could spend several weeks exploring this amazing park. If you have never been to this place, and like the outdoors. It needs to be on your list. Looking forward to exploring more places in the future.
