Yosemite shows me my life is small and that time moves along without much care for our victories and travails.
Yosemite seems almost uniquely made to create a sense of comfortable humility. It readily offers us the knowledge that our lives are so brief in comparison to the acts of granite making and glacier moving and big tree growing. With every distinct cliff face and treasured high-country ridgeline, Yosemite purveys perspective, encouraging the long view. There is comfort in knowing that under Half Dome’s gorgeous eternal gaze, human lives will ebb and flow. No matter how it turns out, a million more ruby sunsets will be catching that rock face long after we are gone. All this beauty will outlast us. There is infinite wisdom in that rocky place.
Adonia Ripple has lived and worked in Yosemite for more than twenty years. She came in on the floodwaters of 1997, when all her possessions still fit in a sedan and she could survive on seasonal work and sunsets. Forging her Sierra love affair as a mountain guide, Adonia has also worked as a naturalist, educator, and nonprofit director. She currently serves as the director of operations for Yosemite Conservancy, helping visitors from around the world connect with Yosemite.
STORM OVER HALF DOME
CATHEDRAL SPIRES
Winter is a special time in Yosemite Valley. The majority of visitors have gone, leaving a quiet solitude to explore, and when a storm blankets the terrain in snow, it creates the most magical wonderland.
Cathedral Spires, jutting up beside the south rim of the Valley, can be easily overlooked during most seasons, blending in as they do with the surrounding granite. But when outlined by snow, they seem to jump out of the landscape and make their presence known. During the last glacial period (the Tioga), the river of ice extended only partway up the Valley walls. These spires sat above the ice level and were thus spared the glacial scouring that shaped the granite below.
Winter is also cold in Yosemite Valley, but the opportunity to capture sublime moments makes numb fingers and toes worthwhile.
CATHEDRAL SPIRES REFLECTION
CLEARING WINTER STORM, THE MERCED RIVER AND CATHEDRAL SPIRES
FLOODED EL CAPITAN MEADOW
YOSEMITE VALLEY, SPRING FLOOD
In the spring, as the high-country snowpack melts and sends its water roaring down into Yosemite Valley, vast standing pools appear in meadows and other low-lying areas, overflow from the Merced River and its tributary creeks. This flush of water, a critical part of the Valley’s ecosystem, recharges the water table and deposits the nutrients and minerals upon which so many other organisms depend. The pools don’t last long, though; like giant sponges, meadows absorb the water and move it along on its hydrologic journey. So when they appear, I can often be found sitting nearby, watching waterfowl explore their expanded habitat and marveling at the way a horizon-to-horizon reflection makes an already majestic landscape even more grand.
UPPER YOSEMITE FALL AND THE MERCED RIVER AT FLOOD STAGE
MERCED RIVER, SUNSET
LIGHT
Light—it’s all about light. Because it can be difficult to predict where the best light will appear, especially when clouds are involved, I’m partial to photographing in locations that offer opportunities to shoot in different directions. I try to identify a variety of interesting scenes, prioritize them based on what I consider to have the best potential for a compelling image, then work through the list as the light changes.
Late on a November day on the Merced River, I start out facing away from this view, but the light in that direction remains relatively flat. Then I turn around: the sun is just starting to kiss the Valley walls, and the glowing clouds are bouncing illumination downward into the bottom of the Valley. I run to my predetermined option facing upriver, compose the frame, and take a deep breath, soaking in the view.
HETCH HETCHY
Scrambling around on the rocks and surveying the vast expanse of granite above the reservoir, I can’t help but wonder what this valley looks like under all that water.
Another magnificent and similarly formed landscape can be found less than 20 miles (32 km) to the north of Yosemite Valley. Originally a typical V-shaped canyon, carved by the Tuolumne River, Hetch Hetchy Valley was deepened, widened, and straightened into its current shape by successive glaciations. However, in contrast to Yosemite Valley, recent glacial periods filled Hetch Hetchy with ice to the brim and scoured its walls smooth, which is why it lacks the dramatic spires of its famous neighbor.
Prior to and, especially, following the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, the city of San Francisco petitioned the federal government for rights to build a dam and develop the Tuolumne River for water security. Thus began a contentious national conservation battle (one that continues today). The city ultimately triumphed, and O’Shaughnessy Dam was completed in 1924, filling the valley with water for the Bay Area.
GRAY PINE (Pinus sabiniana) OVERLOOKING HETCH HETCHY
LEAF TRAILS
Rambling along the Merced River under a cloudy sky, I come across a colorful combination of rocks, moving water, and fallen leaves. I study the scene and formulate a concept for an image using a polarizing filter and long exposure times. Composing the frame, I partially rotate the filter to take in the reflection of the trees and cliffs as well as the rocks in the riverbed. Then I wait.
As leaves blown into the current from upriver trees float slowly toward me, I take a thirty-second exposure, which creates streaks. I repeat this process, one frame per gust of wind, for a few hours. When I’m done, I have eighteen images. In this shot, the position, direction, and flow of lines come together in a way far superior to the other frames. The Valley’s abundance of impressive icons can make these intimate scenes difficult to focus on, and as a result, I find them extremely rewarding challenges.
MERCED RIVER, AUTUMN
BRIDALVEIL FALL, WINTER
BRIDALVEIL FALL
Leaping over the edge of the south rim and plunging 620 feet (189 m) before eventually flowing into the Merced River, Bridalveil Creek feeds the first of several spectacular waterfalls visitors are likely to encounter when entering Yosemite Valley. Bridalveil Fall—a testament to the slow and magnificent forces of nature—typically flows year-round, thanks to a watershed filled with lakes, marshes, and groundwater-retaining meadows, as well as to its north-facing aspect, which means reduced evaporation.
Imagine the scene two million years ago: the floor of Yosemite Valley was near the top of the modern-day waterfall, and the creek was a simple tributary draining into a larger