Lower Cathedral Lake Reflection, Yosemite NP

For anyone who is kind enough to routinely check in on my photos, I'm very regretful to have not posted anything in the last 2+ months. Between the holiday break, and moving into a new home, I just haven't been able to find the time to shoot or post anything new.

As I'm settling into 2010 I am hopeful that I'll be able to create more opportunities to photograph than I did in 2009. In addition to the Southwest landscapes of Utah and Arizona, and Mount Rainier just a couple hours away, I particularly hope to return to Yosemite National Park. On my last trip to the park in July 2008 - just before moving from California - my wife and I repeated our favorite hike from our first trip to the park, the hike to Lower Cathedral Lake.

On our first trip to the lake the previous autumn we reached the lake, but did not really explore it fully, so on this warm summer day we extended our stay to both take a dip in the warm waters, and to walk around the perimeter of the lake (about an additional mile). Towards the western edge of the lake the view was nicely reflected in the relatively still waters, and I took this photograph. Looking to the left you'd see Cathedral Peak, and just to the right is a small waterfall which runs down to Tanaya Lake below. The lake itself is about 9000ft in elevation, and the peak reflected in the lake climbs about another 1500ft above the water.

The Cathedral Lakes hike is still one of my (many) favorites, and a great summer hike to take in when the valley is so crowded. If all goes well I hope to make it back there again this summer and shoot it once again.

Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR | f/8 | 1/500s | ISO200 | Handheld

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