An expanded view of the previous picture.

This is getting into an area on Tioga Road (near Olmstead Point) that had some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. It's hard to mess up a picture when this is your subject.

Quaking Aspen Falls, along Tioga Road.

Snow! This is Siesta Lake along Tioga Road. I was going for the reflection in the water, which turned out ok.

This is Tamarack Creek Falls (again, I think), another one of the many falls along the drive to Tioga Road.

This is Cascade Falls (I think) which is right on one of the roads out of (or into) Yosemite Valley. We were on our way to Tioga Road which ended up being one of the most breath-taking parts of the Park, in my opinion.

The Fallen Monarch.

More sequoia trees from Mariposa Grove.

This is Grizzly Man, a sequoia tree with limbs that are larger than any other species of tree in this grove.

The sequoia grove in the Mariposa Forest.

This snowplant is from Mariposa Grove.

I believe this is North Dome.

Another waterfall visible from the trail to Vernal Falls. This one was not labeled however, so I don't know it's name.

Yes it's just a squirrel, but I rarely can get this close to even a squirrel anywhere else.

This is Illilouette Falls which is visible from the trail up to Vernal Falls.

On the trail up to Vernal Falls.

I didn't get a great picture of this, but I liked the dark and light stripes on the cliff here.

This is my last picture from the photo walk. A cool picture of Yosemite Falls falling through the frame of some trees. I chose this as one of the pictures I blew up to poster size to remind me of this trip. The large size is spectacular. If anyone is interested in finding a good place to a picture poster sized, I used www.elcocolor.com for a great price and amazing results.

The sunlight is finally starting to hit the falls, making for an interesting picture with just a small lit patch of water.

A beautiful view of both the upper and lower Yosemite Falls. This is also from the photo walk and also too early with most of the falls in shadow.

This is another picture from the photo walk. The framing of Yosemite Falls with the trees is really cool. The one thing I don't like is that the falls are in a shadow. The photo tour guide even made a point about getting the falls when it's highlighted by the sun, which made me wonder why they planned the walk when they did especially given that the falls were in full sunlight maybe a half hour after this shot was taken.

It's not a bear, but I am a biologist so I have to include any wildlife I captured while on vacation.

On our second day at Yosemite, I went on a morning photo walk sponsored by the Ansel Adams Museum. I'm glad I did it as it took us some places I wouldn't have found on my own. This shot features the back side of El Capitan with a hint of it's reflection in the wetland in the foreground. We were told a few weeks prior to this the water was a little higher and the grass lower so that the reflection was much more pronounced.

This is upper Yosemite Falls. This was during our first day in the park and we happened to be there just as the falls were beginning to be covered in shadow. It made for a good picture with the lower part of the falls in shadow and the rest still in sun.

A closeup of Bridal Veil Falls.

This is looking out from tunnel view at Yosemite National Park, the most photogenic place I have ever been. The bulk of my vacation pictures were taken here and there will be many pictures of waterfalls and rock faces over the coming weeks. All the major elements of Yosemite can be seen here, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and El Capitan. I loved my time in the park and hope to go back some day.

These are the foothills of the Sierra mountains. I really liked the the look with the golden grasslands populated by sparse green trees.

This western sagebrush lizard posed for me on a rock overlooking some of the high peaks in Kings Canyon National Park.

As we were driving out of Sequoia, we briefly passed through Kings Canyon National Park. This is a view of the mountains framed by some pine trees.

More big trees along the road out of Sequoia National Park.

More sequoia trees.