The best quote ever about Yosemite

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seilerbird

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Here is what Ken Burns, the film maker who just produced the National Park Documentary on PBS, had to say about Yosemite in the current issue of Newsweek:

Yosemite. [When I saw it,] I looked like I had been slapped in the face?like I'd lost my virginity. I looked like when my oldest daughter was born?like, "Oh, this is a brand-new world!"

I agree.
 
I agree, too ... especially that first view when you emerge from the tunnel and see the whole valley laid out before you.  :eek:  I wish I had a photo to post.

Margi
 
Tom and Margi said:
I agree, too ... especially that first view when you emerge from the tunnel and see the whole valley laid out before you.  :eek:  I wish I had a photo to post.

Margi

How about this one:
 

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That's the one ... I knew I could count on you!  :D 

We were parked in the parking lot, taking in the view, and happened to notice a car coming through the tunnel with "Just Married" on the window.  The driver (groom) was smiling broadly.  The bride was obviously seeing the sight for the very first time.  Her eyes were wide and round and her mouth formed a perfect "O".

Even a gifted photographer such as yourself can only capture a small part of the enormous display of grandeur in one photograph.  You just gotta be there!  :D

Margi

 
Tom and Margi said:
That's the one ... I knew I could count on you!  :D 

We were parked in the parking lot, taking in the view, and happened to notice a car coming through the tunnel with "Just Married" on the window.  The driver (groom) was smiling broadly.  The bride was obviously seeing the sight for the very first time.  Her eyes were wide and round and her mouth formed a perfect "O".

Even a gifted photographer such as yourself can only capture a small part of the enormous display of grandeur in one photograph.  You just gotta be there!  :D

Margi
That photo is 7 years old. I don't even bother to shoot scenics anymore. The Grand Canyon and Yosemite just laugh at my camera and say "I dare you to try and capture me." It is very humbling to try and duplicate Mother Nature's finest. Of course the biggest problem is you are trying to put a 3D scene that is bigger than life on a 2D piece of paper or a computer monitor that is 15" across and that can't possibly compare.
 
seilerbird said:
The biggest problem is you are trying to put a 3D scene that is bigger than life on a 2D piece of paper or a computer monitor that is 15" across and that can't possibly compare.

The saddest comment I ever heard at a national park was at Grand Canyon. We were standing at one of the overlooks when a women in high heels walked up, took one look and said "Well, it looks just like the pictures," turned around and left.
 
I thought that looked familiar, but I apparently was more to the left...
 

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They cut down a lot of trees at 'TunnelView' for a 'clearer'(less obstructed) view into the valley. :-\  I kinda liked the trees around the edges.  Seems kinda naked now. :'(
 
Tom's photo is 7 years old, and mine is 5 years old... Sure you weren't standing too far to the right?

If they really did cut down those trees, it's a real shame. I liked the way I was able to frame half-dome.

Joe
 
Wendy said:
The saddest comment I ever heard at a national park was at Grand Canyon. We were standing at one of the overlooks when a women in high heels walked up, took one look and said "Well, it looks just like the pictures," turned around and left.

I have heard that a lot.  The problem is that folks arrive at the viewpoint, Yaki or Yavapah Point, at about noon.  They look out at a twenty mile deep view in the flat, bluish light of noon and with no shadows to give a sense of depth and the red/yellow colors of the rocks muted by the bluish atmosphere.  Everything looks as flat and 2 dimensional as a cheap postcard.

If a person is to SEE the Grand Canyon, they should see it at sunrise and sunset.  Between 10am and 4pm go see a movie or tour the visitor center.  Get up for the sunrise, and watch the sunset -- then you have seen the Canyon.  One has traveled hundreds, maybe thousands of miles to see it -- give it 24 hours.
 
Carl L said:
I have heard that a lot.  The problem is that folks arrive at the viewpoint, Yaki or Yavapah Point, at about noon.  They look out at a twenty mile deep view in the flat, bluish light of noon and with no shadows to give a sense of depth and the red/yellow colors of the rocks muted by the bluish atmosphere.   Everything looks as flat and 2 dimensional as a cheap postcard.

If a person is to SEE the Grand Canyon, they should see it at sunrise and sunset.  Between 10am and 4pm go see a movie or tour the visitor center.   Get up for the sunrise, and watch the sunset -- then you have seen the Canyon.   One has traveled hundreds, maybe thousands of miles to see it -- give it 24 hours.
My own opinion is that you see almost nothing of the Grand Canyon from the rim. It looks like a cheap postcard to me. If you want to really see the Grand Canyon then you must hike into it. You don't have to go far, but the view improves with every step.

The saddest comment I heard about the Grand Canyon was the couple who were doing breakfast at Bryce Canyon, lunch in Zion and dinner at the Grand Canyon.
 
seilerbird said:
My own opinion is that you see almost nothing of the Grand Canyon from the rim. It looks like a cheap postcard to me. If you want to really see the Grand Canyon then you must hike into it. You don't have to go far, but the view improves with every step.

The saddest comment I heard about the Grand Canyon was the couple who were doing breakfast at Bryce Canyon, lunch in Zion and dinner at the Grand Canyon.

You need to see the canyon at different times of the year, at different times of day, from different places on the rim and down one or more of the trails. The average stay at Grand Canyon is 2 hours - TWO HOURS - about the time it takes to drive in the south entrance and out the east entrance (or vice versa). Now, that's sad....almost as sad as the polluted skies that are destroying the view.


 
Most of the pollution comes from forest fires that are a natural occurrence or man made. They used to put out the forest fires and that was disastrous for the ecology, so now they are paying the price and they have to have subscribed burns.
 
seilerbird said:
Most of the pollution comes from forest fires that are a natural occurrence or man made. They used to put out the forest fires and that was disastrous for the ecology, so now they are paying the price and they have to have subscribed burns.

Some of the pollution is from forest fires. But a large amount of the pollution comes from LA and Phoenix and the coal-burning power plants in the area. I've been at GC when there hasn't been a single forest fire burning anywhere and there was haze just like you'd find in a big city. Mesa Verde and the 4 Corners area also no longer have crystal clear blue skies and it's pollution from coal power plants and far off cities that are causing it.

Wendy
 
Wendy said:
Some of the pollution is from forest fires. But a large amount of the pollution comes from LA and Phoenix and the coal-burning power plants in the area. I've been at GC when there hasn't been a single forest fire burning anywhere and there was haze just like you'd find in a big city. Mesa Verde and the 4 Corners area also no longer have crystal clear blue skies and it's pollution from coal power plants and far off cities that are causing it.

Wendy

The people I have talked to that work there all say the same thing, most of the pollution is from forest fires, very little from LA. It is well over 250 air miles from LA to the canyon and the wind has to be blowing in a northeast direction. The wind in LA almost always blows east or west.
 
Fires can only contribute to pollution when they're burning. What about the pollution at Grand Canyon when there's no fire burning? NPS estimates that about a third of the pollution at Grand Canyon comes from LA, about 14% comes from Phoenix. A lot of it comes from the EIGHTEEN coal-fired power plants in the area. As for LA being 250 miles from Grand Canyon (it's probably closer to 350), it's even farther from LA to Mesa Verde and pollution from LA is affecting the views at Mesa Verde. And almost anytime there's a big fire in southern California, we get smoke here and we're over 600 miles from LA.
 
seilerbird said:
My own opinion is that you see almost nothing of the Grand Canyon from the rim. It looks like a cheap postcard to me. If you want to really see the Grand Canyon then you must hike into it. You don't have to go far, but the view improves with every step.

To some extent, I disagree.  I have done four extended backpacks into the Canyon using the Kaibab, Grandview, and Bright Angel Trails moving between them on the Tonto Trail.  That is an entirely different experience than viewing from the Rim -- that is its own thing.  The views from the Rim are well worth the trip, are incomparable, and need not suffer by any experience.  However, you must give it a full day dawn to dusk.  If you are fortunate to be there when the moon is full, you can add the evening to that.  A stunning sight is in the winter after a snow storm goes thru and clears the air and dusts the upper reaches with snow.

Photographically, take your long zooms and a polarizing filter.
 
I love the view after coming through the tunnel at Yosemite.  We have stopped there several times and just never get tired of seeing it.  Here is one that I took from there.
 

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Wendy said:
The saddest comment I ever heard at a national park was at Grand Canyon. We were standing at one of the overlooks when a women in high heels walked up, took one look and said "Well, it looks just like the pictures," turned around and left.

I will give you a sadder one. :(

To me, it looked like New York City, because of all the people! :(

-Don- Surrey, BC​
 
That is an interesting remark. The canyon is 277 miles long so it has about 1000 miles of rim. Someone comes to the one mile of rim that is crowded and judges the entire canyon.

Lorna - looks like we were at almost exactly the same spot.
 
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