YOSEMITE IN AUTUMN
Yosemite is the showpiece of the Sierra Nevada, and in the fall, when aspens and maples turn, the trails quiet and the Merced River slows to a trickle, it can feel as if you are living in a painting — or an Ansel Adams photograph — when you visit.
There’s more to the spectacular colors than the leaves turning, of course. The sun’s lower angle as it crosses the sky, and the higher chance of alto cirrus and other high-elevation clouds in late October and November, create the conditions for spectacular refracted oranges and reds at sunset. There is often no better time to photograph dusk’s alpenglow on Half Dome, best seen from Stonebridge in Yosemite Valley.
My favorite route to Yosemite is on Highway 140 out of Mariposa, where I stop for last-minute supplies, and then take in the beautiful ride along the Merced River and to the spectacular entrance to Yosemite Valley. Whether you simply drive, tour and photograph, or embark on ambitious treks, here are autumn’s best bets.