Yosemite High Country

along the Trail

To get to these places, you've got to walk. Most walking in Yosemite involves alot of "up" at first, then "down" later on.

Hart Lake

This is Hart Lake, about two miles from Ostrander Lake. The chilly water is nice on warm days, but there are only a few of those per year up at 9000 feet. Later in the season, the level drops a few feet and the lake is rimmed with the silvery remains of the year's mosquito larva. This lake offers some extremely remote and pristine camping. A bear canister is essential equipment here!

Flies frequently land in the foot or so of very shallow water at the edge of the lake. This is a frog that was sitting on the shore of Hart Lake, waiting for some flies to land close by. He was a very persistant frog; each time I scared him away by getting too close with my camera, he would quickly come back to the beach a few feet away. This is an example of the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens paired with a 2x teleconverter. That's the only way I could get a picture like this and yet remain far enough away not to scare the frog.

Yosemite Valley, from Yosemite Falls

The hike from Yosemite Valley up to the top of Yosemite Falls is an seemingly endless staircase. There are some people who train by jogging up and down trails in Yosemite...this is a good one for that as long as you don't blow out a knee cap. I took this picture with my old light Rebel Camera with a cheap 35-80mm zoom lens.

Tioga Pass

At the top of Tioga Pass Road, there is a small parking lot just inside the park boundary. The trail that heads north and up from this lot leads to some beautiful and easily accessible high sierra country. This is one of many small pools of water left over from the melting snow.

Once you climb about 700 vertical feet from the parking lot, you get a view of Dana Meadows. The trail tops out not far from here and descends to Gaylor Lake before climbing again to Tioga Hill and the Great Sierra Mine.

All photos Copyright © by Adam Lane. All rights reserved.