“Yosemite,” no other landscape in North America can generate as powerful an image of soaring granite monoliths and spectacular glacially carved valleys than Yosemite National Park in California. More than any other landscape, Yosemite is the setting that defines the Sierra Nevada and stands as a geographical icon for the American West.

Within the park, the legendary names of prominent features like El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls cognitively trigger the legendary essence of John Muir Galen Rowell, and Ansel Adams, but also embody the quintessential symbols of the American wilderness when Abraham Lincoln set aside the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, first time in history lands had been preserved purely for their scenic and recreational value.

Yosemite Valley is the heart of this landscape aficionado aficionado’s nirvana resplendent with the deepest of canyons, towering domes, and spires and accented with towering waterfalls cascading down from most corners of the compass. Through the valley bottom winds, the picturesque Merced River that is lined with cottonwoods and conifers but accented with many expansive lush alpine meadows. This river I am reasonably sure was placed here for a foreground element, and reflecting pool for the copious amount of photographers drawn here like a magnet.

A springtime trip to Yosemite is all about water, waterfalls are everywhere and they are roaring during the spring. Spring also brings the blooming of the dogwood and redbud blossoms another beautiful accent to Yosemite’s embarrassment of riches. As winters snows melt, water pulses through countless steep canyons of the high country then spill over the 4,000-foot cliffs of the canyon walls a spectacle never forgotten.

Bridalveil Fall and Yosemite Falls are legendary and flow year around but springtime’s abundant snowmelt cascades make a seasonal appearance including Horsetail Falls, Staircase Falls, and Ribbon Falls Yosemite’s tallest waterfall.

Tioga Pass and Glacier Point Roads often remain closed due to snow, often until late May but if by chance they open we can point our cameras to these stunning corners of the Park also.

Yosemite is on the bucket list of every photographer I have ever come across. After many cross it off their bucket list it soon reappears because there isn’t a visual arts type person that isn’t effected to the core of the soul after spending any time here in the valley that captured the heart of John Muir Galen Rowell, and Ansel Adams.