We were out in the hustings anyway and decided to wander over to Yosemite to see if my new camera could capture anything interesting. I figured I could get to the high country by dusk and catch the light on the granite faces of the peaks along the Tioga Highway. The plan worked out pretty well; any failures in the photography were not fault of the camera.

Ideally, what you’ do is stake out one mountain, wait till the light was just right and shoot it eighteen ways to Sunday and hope an image or two are keepers. Well, I never was much for waiting for fish to bite and I guess I’m not much for waiting on the sunset, either. I’d rather have a bunch of OK-by-me pix to help tell my stories here. But anyway: the pictures:

We actually started out in the valley, which was so mobbed with tourists (funny how that happens on sunny Saturdays) that we made one lap through and bolted for the higher elevations, but not before I nabbed this shot of Yosemite Falls, which dries up in the summer. The new cam’s combination of 6x zoom and image stabilization came in handy here. I don’t think I’d have gotten the shot with my old cam.

I saw this excellent thunderhead in the distance and hoped I could get close enough for a good shot, but the fates didn’t cooperate. This is at Tuolumne Meadows.

Lots o’ snow on the peaks at Tioga Pass. That puff of white in the background is all I could see of the thunderhead. Anybody camping on the other side would’ve had an awesome view (but also: a bone-chilling night in the tent).

The sun was lighting this peak up nicely.

Snowmelt from its headwaters in those peaks in the distance.

More water running near the road on the way back to Tuolumne Meadows.

A stretch of Tioga Highway is so close to these peaks that you can stop along the road, stick your camera out the window and click. The evening light really brings out the details of the craggy granite surface.

The same peak, reflected in the Hiker Hauler’s windows.

Tenaya Lake is gorgeous, as always.

Half Dome from Olmstead Point. Another one helped immensely by the cam’s zoom. Half Dome is nature’s Mona Lisa, beguiling and charismatic. It’s like it has its own gravity that pulls on the eyes.

A waterfall like this would draw throngs of hikers to a Bay Area park. At Yosemite, it’s more of a nuisance, evidenced by the “Water on Road” sign in the bottom right corner.

The south fork of the Tuolumne River tumbles down this hillside near Highway 120. Just a hint of yellowish alpenglow happening here.

One last pic before sunset and I had to put the camera way for the night. This was taken at the same place as the previous shot, along highway 120, but facing in the opposite direction.