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SEE ALL OF OUR YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK VIDEO STORIES

– Carl Bidleman

Take 60 seconds to see the beauty and listen to the sound of Yosemite Falls. I’m dedicating this one to my dear friend Eleanor Josaitis, Co-Founder of Focus: HOPE, and her husband Don, back home in Detroit. I have great memories of introducing them to Yosemite a few years back. Enjoy, my friends.

Watch a 3 minute 18 second video on the new trail leading to Yosemite falls.

Photo by Carl Bidleman

– Doug McConnell
Spring is bursting all around northern and central California. It hasn’t been the wettest of winters, but we’ve had more rain near the coast and more snow in Sierra Nevada this year than last, and that’s good. We still have time for more, and I hope we get it.

As the days grow gradually longer and warmer, the snow will begin to melt in the Sierra high country, and gravity will start pulling the water down through the canyons and off the sheer granite cliffs of Yosemite National Park. The fabled waterfalls of Yosemite will surge to life, and the most famous of them all is now more accessible to all of us than ever before.

Check out our tour of the new Yosemite Falls Trail. You’ll be inspired to go and, I hope, support the work of the Yosemite Fund. By the way, once you’ve looked at the story about the trail, take a moment to see some of our other pieces about Yosemite and the people who know it best, for example: Yosemite’s Half Dome Trek, Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite’s Ansel Adams. Then hit the road and soak up a little flying aquatic majesty.

– Carl Bidleman

Growing up in Detroit, mountains were not part of my everyday experience. Glaciers left southeast Michigan flat as Kansas and the western landscapes on television and in the movies fascinated me. So imagine my delight when I moved to Marin county in 1991 and discovered that I had acquired my own local mountain. Mt. Tamalpais rarely has the snow I captured in this photo but always has the landscapes, wildlife and reservoirs to provide a wonderful natural escape that begins just down the street. Our latest post includes a very nice Mt. Tamalpais video.  It’s called Mt. Tamalpais’ Land of Lakes and gives you a good look.

– Jim Wirth 

Mike Malandra is a professional landscape photographer.  Mike recently discovered the OpenRoad.TV group on Facebook and posted a few of his photos and video photo slideshows.  Mike spent a little time on the OpenRoad.TV website and loved what he saw, so he reached out to me through Facebook this week to say hello, and boy am I glad he did.  Being the curious person I am, I went out to Mike’s “Elements of Nature” photography website, and was very impressed with his work.  Mike’s online gallery showcases his landscape photos throughout a number of states in the American West, as well as New York, New Jersey, Florida and Hawaii.

One photo in particular, which Mike has titled “Rock Fins,” really jumped out at me, and Mike has graciously allowed me to share it here…

“Rock Fins” was photographed by Mike in March of 2007 at Utah’s Arches National Park in the Courthouse Towers area of the park.  Adequately named, Arches National Park boasts over 2,000 natural sandstone arches and many other unusual rock formations exposed over millions of years by the awesome forces of nature.  Thanks for sharing Mike, and keep up the great work!

And while we’ve got you thinking about the natural wonders of Utah, check out our Grand Southwestern Roadtrip and Zion National Park adventures.