Yosemite | AL Hills | Valley Of Fire | Joshua Tree | Peralta Trail
My General Road Trip Route. Actual miles driven: 3,418
DAY 0, Tuesday 09 January
This was the first photography road trip of the calendar year 2024 for me. It started in Monument, CO. On the morning that I was due to leave, I'd not packed a thing. I looked around and quickly grabbed a few items hoping that I wasn’t forgetting anything.
Camera Equipment ☑️
Sleeping Bag ☑️
Wallet / Phone ☑️
Okay, I got the main things. Everything else is just gravy on top; you know, like clothes and food n stuff… ;-)
I left town pretty late at 1400. My ultimate goal was to get to Yosemite by Thursday’s sunset. It was the only day that I had concrete plans and was the only day predicted to have partially cloudy skies. If all went to plan, I’d shoot sunset with a buddy and then press on from there with locations still yet decided.
I drove through Ute, Wilkerson, and Monarch Passes without problems. Monarch had some snow and icy roads, but it was manageable. I hoped to shoot a nice overlook in the morning with the sun at my back.
DAY 1, Wednesday 10 January
Standing out on the edge of this cliff has a way of making one feel small. Prints Available
On my first morning out in 2024, it was very cold. I set up my camera to take pictures at intervals while I hiked into the scene. After hiking a long way, I got into position, stood for a moment hoping my camera was still working, and quickly went back to my equipment that was sitting alone on the canyon's edge. The image ended up being “just okay.” I’d have to return under better conditions.
I left the Canyonlands area and drove towards Valley of Fire (VOF) State Park in Nevada. I’d only be popping in and then popping out. I needed to keep driving to get to Yosemite by Thursday evening. First, I had to fill up at the pricey gas station just outside Moab, Utah.
Arriving at VOF, I was instantly impressed. The place was literally glowing red. I’m not kidding! This is a place that I'll have to return to and do a bit of exploring and a bit more photography.
BTS at Valley Of Fire State Park, NV
As for this evening, I only had time for my one preplanned image. I shot the below image after waiting for traffic to clear a bit and left the park with one eye on future composition possibilities.
The Long Road Through The Valley Of Fire
Zipping on over to the Alabama Hills (AH) proved adventurous. It involved traveling through Vegas, which can be quite the adventure in and of itself, waiting on a wrecked semi-trailer fire to be put out/moved in Death Valley, and then a road closure that Google just could not find a way around.
Road closure just outside Alabama Hills, CA
Luckily, I've got a bit of map-reading abilities, so I shut Google up, and drove on as if I were looking at paper maps. After reaching my intended destination, I parked for the evening anxious for the morning’s composition. Fingers crossed for tomorrow's weather conditions. The skies currently looked questionable at best.
DAY 2, Thursday 11 January
Good morning from the Alabama Hills, CA
Day two found me waking to very cold temps and strong winds. I'd hoped to shoot some blue/golden hour images followed by sunrise. I could've shot the sunrise okay, but the blue hour’s shots would've been tough as the winds would surely have vibrated my tripod during the longer exposures. It sounded like a miserable experiment, so I opted to sleep in. I was up at sunrise tho, so I was able to see it; I just didn't shoot it. I'm 2 for 2 for seeing sunrises on this trip. However, I've only shot one and will want to reshoot it as I didn't get the conditions I'd hoped for.
Bummed about not shooting sunrise, I left AH on my way to Yosemite. The drive was nice and the clouds looked spectacular over toward Yosemite! Once there, I planned to scout around and see where would be best to shoot the sunset based on the cloud cover. Yosemite had other plans.
Yosemite and Half Dome greeting me upon arrival
As I arrived at the park, the clouds cleared, and I got a great view of Half Dome. But then I had a frustrating time trying to make a camping reservation, using my phone, with one bar of service, because the park's computers were so slow. I ended up booking on my phone while standing at their booking counter.
Stoneman Bridge Limited (10) Edition Prints Available HERE
Once I got all of that squared away, I stopped at the first place I reached in the hopes that I'd still be able to catch the sunset. I didn’t have any spare time and the sun wasn’t waiting on me. To add insult to injury, I had to go back to my vehicle to change boots. Ugh. It's all in the video (coming soon) in addition to my b-roll camera running out of battery power. Cold zapped it, I guess. Lesson learned.
My sunset image, seen above, was definitely not taken from where I'd hoped. I think I'll take some time tomorrow to get a bit more familiar with the park. That'll help for next time.
Wading in the Ice Cold Merced in Yosemite National Park just after sunset
The morning's prediction called for snow and overcast skies. Not good for sunrise photography. Let's hope some light peeks through!
DAY 3, Friday 12 January
Day three started off on the wrong foot. There seems to be a trend here. I drove up to Tunnel View. I figured I'd get a good look at what the skies were looking like before the sun began to rise. On a more positive note, I am now 3 for 3 with witnessing sunrises on this trip and hoped to be 2 for 3 with actually photographing the day’s sunrise.
Tunnel View just before dawn
The skies ended up being pretty nice, so I set up there to shoot the day's sunrise. When I turned on my Nikon Z8, I couldn't get it to function properly. I tried a few different things and nothing seemed to work. I tried changing out the battery. I tried formatting the memory card. Nothing was working.
I went back to the Five-Billion-Star-Hotel and grabbed my spare camera body; a Nikon D750. When I turned it on, it seemed like it was also having problems. Now, it was cold, but it wasn't that cold! Turns out, its battery was indeed low. There wasn't anything wrong with the D750. I'd have to troubleshoot the Z8 later in the evening as I planned on scoping out some locations for future shoots during the late morning/early afternoon hours.
El Capitan and the Three Brothers alongside the Merced River in Yosemite National Park
The sunrise was indeed nice. Frustrated as I was, I tried to press on with the shoot and the video. Once finished, I made my way down the road to the edge of the Merced River. I'd been wanting to scope out places for reflections of the surrounding cliffs in the cold water. It wasn't long before I found a few reflections that I liked.
Scouting around Yosemite took me into the sunset. I found myself back along the Merced. I had planned to shoot elsewhere in the valley, but a quick look at the skies led me river-side. As is typical, my plan didn't survive first contact with the enemy; the clouds.
Middle Brother: Center Stage
I’ve got a love/hate relationship with the clouds. They are so vital to landscape photography. However, they are also so detrimental to landscape photography. Much to my surprise, some sun did manage to squeeze through the clouds and kiss both the horizon as well as the middle of the Three Brothers.
Spotlight On The Middle Brother
After wrapping up sunset shooting, I was trudging through the snow when I felt the area around me get warmer. By warmer, I mean in lighting, not temperature. I turned around and El Capitan was glowing! The Three Bros were just glowing. I never figured there'd be a second glow event. Only moments before, I had El Cap in my viewfinder along with its reflection and the Three Bros. I sure wish I still had that image composed!
One last kiss of the day’s last sunlight
I threw my gear down, grabbed my long lens and camera out of my bag, and began shooting. It was handheld in low light, but I knew it was my only chance at grabbing an image. I got two shots off and then the light and the color were both gone. I, once again, packed my gear away and ventured my way through the snow and to my vehicle.
I made my way to the cafeteria, grabbed a bit of grub, and began troubleshooting the Z8. I narrowed my problem down to the memory card. The evening prior, I’d reformatted the card via my laptop and then stuck it back in the camera. Well, I’d chosen the wrong format and didn’t yet know there was a problem until the following morning. I fiddled around with it and was finally able to reformat it via the camera's format feature. The Z8 was back in the game!
DAY 4, Saturday 13 January
I was supposed to have left the afternoon prior, yet stayed another night in Yosemite hoping to get snowed in. To see that place as a snow globe would have been spectacular. As luck would have it, the snow that was supposed to fall overnight never materialized. I decided to leave and head toward Southern California.
Looking back, the decision to stay an extra night was a good one as it led to the image that I captured of the Middle Brother: Center Stage and of the light on El Capitan. I was also able to witness another sunrise! It was doubtful that I’d shoot it as I was driving and couldn’t think of any roadside subjects that I wanted. However, I’d definitely be keeping my eye out!
Lunchtime and a Photo op under a beautiful sky and a Joshua Tree
It was a long drive from Yosemite to Joshua Tree National Park. After this summer’s medical fiasco, I now have to eat pretty much constantly to avoid losing weight. That says nothing about gaining weight. Anyhoo, I needed a sandwich, but I didn’t want to stop driving. Then, I saw a photo opportunity on the side of the road. This was just enough to convince myself to pull over and grab a bite. I merely combined the two events. Fun little pic.
BTS in Joshua Tree National Park at the Penguin Rock
Arriving at Joshua Tree National Park, my first thought was, “Geesh, there are a lot of people here!” At this point, I didn’t even know what day it was. Come to find out, it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend. That explained it.
I had a National Park Pass, so I was able to bypass the line and merely drive in. That alone was worth having one! I zipped around all of the cars that seemed to line the roads everywhere I looked. I was beginning to get worried that the area that my intended composition was in would be crowded. Even pulling up to the area, I still thought it might be crowded. It wasn’t until I walked up on the scene that I breathed a sigh of relief as there was nobody around.
BTS showing both my camera and video set-ups.
I parked along side the road like most everyone and hoofed it in to my shooting location. As can be seen above, I have both my photography and my videography gear with me.
I arrived early so I would have plenty of time to search for composition. I ended up finding it almost immediately. Having too much time isn’t a problem that I am usually faced with, but I liked it! I took the time to play around even stepping into a few images.
Everyone enjoying the day’s sunset
I had my fingers crossed that the high altitude clouds would hang around until sunset.
A Joshua Tree National Park Sunset
A very typical thing happened in that the clouds directly behind where I wanted to shoot were lighting up beautifully. Go figure!
The Juniper & The Stone: A Sunset Prints Available
In the end, I only needed the thinnest of clouds to be able to capture the pinks, purples, and blues that I was hoping for! It is rare that I come to a location and am happy with the images enough to check the location off of my List-O-Places-To-Shoot. I’m satisfied enough with these that it’ll be a while before I return; I think.
Having wrapped up shooting, I left Joshua Tree National Forest for the Phoenix area. I barely made it at one point limping into a gas station after getting down to only 1.5 gallons of diesel available in the tank. Ya don’t know your limits unless you test’em! ;-)
DAY 5, Sunday 14 January
I didn't make it in to the area where I camped until 0100 in the morning. I had to be up at 0500 and ready to start hiking at 0530. The hike in would be dark and, for me, difficult. Most anything above a level walk without gear is difficult these days but, given enough time, I usually make it to my intended destination. For this morning, I’d be hiking in the Peralta Trail area with a fellow photographer named Chirag Patel. (IG / FB) He was kind enough to meet me so early in the morning and shoot sunrise. Good guy and great photographer! Give him a follow!
Somehow, I managed to make it to our intended photo shoot location before the sun rose. Chirag, if you are reading this, sorry to have slowed you down and thanks for the water!
AZ Desert In The Blue Hour
As the “Blue Hour” approached, it began to become clear how the light was going to play off of the plant life and the surrounding rocks. I do not usually like items sticking up past my horizon line. I made an exception here.
Sunrise in 3, 2, 1….
I tried a few compositions. In the above composition, I am honing in on what I’d like to shoot come sunrise. I liked the Yucca, but wanted to add a bit of midground to the image.
The dawning of a new day in the AZ desert
I ended up with a combination of the two “Blue Hour” compositions opting to shoot the yucca in the foreground and add a bit of height to the midground before dropping down a bit to Weaver’s Needle in the background. All-in-all, it was a great morning spent. Good company. Good weather. Excellent views! If you are keeping up, I am 5 for 5 with witnessing and 3 for 5 photographing the day’s sunrise on this trip.
I’ll keep the medical boo-hooing down to a minimum, but the hike back down was torturous! I can see the day where I just say “I can’t” is coming soon because, to be honest, I shouldn’t. Noted and planning accordingly.
Chirag and I parted ways. Again, thanks, Chirag! I had a lunch date back across the valley with a good friend. Sounds close. It was almost an hour and a half drive. The lunch was great but just about as quick. I had to hit the road as the sun wasn’t waiting around for me.
My goal was a mini shoot with the Five-Billion-Star-Hotel in Winslow before sunset. I never made it as I got pinned in in Munds Park/Flagg area with those dang medical issues. This past summer is really haunting me. Oh, well. On to Plan-B.
DAY 6, Monday 15 January
Plan-B ended up not materializing as I’m a bit of a composition snob. The area that I wanted to shoot had patchy snow on the ground. It would have been fine had it been fully covered or fully uncovered, but patchy snow just wasn’t doing it for me. I drove on.
Regardless of the morning’s shoot not panning out, I witnessed a beautiful sunrise while driving east toward Albuquerque, NM to meet another good friend for breakfast/coffee; which was nice. We caught up and then I was quickly back out on the road and on the final home-stretch. Other than hitting a tough crosswind and snow squalls in both Trinidad and Pueblo, along with the -12 degree air, the ride home was uneventful; just like I like it!
- Faz
Tough winds through the Raton Pass
