Snowy Yosemite Reflections

Once in a Lifetime

When we landed in San Francisco it was a balmy 70 degrees and sunny and in fact, it was sunny when we got to Yosemite the night before. Low rain clouds came in shortly before sunset and a light drizzle accompanied us when we went to bed. A quick check of the forecast for the morning and we saw snow... It seemed impossible since the the temp was hovering around 50 degrees, there's no way it could drop enough to snow.

Waking up in the morning I immediately noticed how much colder it was outside and instead of rain drops on the tent, it sounded distinctly like fat snow flakes. I turned on my headlamp and opened the tent door to find nothing but white reflections in the milky blackness of the early morning. It's safe to say I freaked out and woke up as fast as I could, yelling at my two friends to wake up as well. Everything was packed away in a couple minutes and we set off into the darkness to find the entire valley covered in a fresh dusting.

It was one of those moments that you can't plan for at all, you just have to stumble upon it. The park was empty and as the sky began to lighten, it began to snow even harder. We all looked at each other and couldn't believe what we were seeing, snow in Yosemite in late April!! We took photos until nearly noon with it snowing off and on.

FUN FACT, the first reflection was taken on the main Yosemite Valley road using a puddle maybe half an inch deep. Sometimes you have to get creative and this is one of my favorite photos from our entire 10 day trip.

Enjoy and happy weekend everyone!!