Back to Yosemite in February, 2012. Thankfully, David is very good at feeding my Yosemite addiction, and Bruce and Donna are ALWAYS up for a road trip, no matter how wacky my plans are.
This was a long shot...... there is a phenomenon in Yosemite National Park called the "Firefalls", and I wanted the shot. If the conditions are right, "lava" flows down the face of the cliffs at Horsetail Falls. Of course it only happens in mid to late February with no guarantees. The sun has to be at the perfect angle in the canyon, there has to be water flow on the face of Horse Tail falls, and there must be good sun right at sunset. If it's cloudy, forget it. If there is no snow runoff, forget it. If you aren't there on the exact day the sun hits the canyon wall behind the water, forget it.......
So, there we were. Crowded in with all of the other hopefuls. Donna and I had cameras ready, clicking away not quite sure what we were looking for. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in sight. The angle of the sun was perfect, moving along the canyon wall. But there was no water fall, just a little trickle down the face and some wet rocks. All agreed that with no water, it was a dud.
BUT WE GOT IT! It wasn't obvious until we viewed the shots later. Everywhere the rocks were wet looked like lava flowing down the face. We were lucky. Not the spectacular shot with the gushing falls that you see on the internet from prior years, but a success!
I must have taken 100 shots, and there is only one that captured the effect. I'm going to frame it and hang it on the wall!
Thanks David, Donna and Bruce for a great weekend!
