It all started in January. The endless nights scouring the internet for clues of locations from which to shoot the Yosemite “firefall” from. Countless hours spent triangulating viewpoints on Google earth. Many dinners eaten while evaluating elevation gains on ledges and snowbanks. Night after late night spent doing four-mile loops up steep hills in my neighborhood in preparation. Most of us landscape photographers do this. When we aren’t working or shooting, we’re planning and visualizing our shots and getting our physical body ready.

Luckily for me, my friend Rick reserved a spot inside the park for peak firefall time and he invited me to join him. We made this pilgrimage last year, only to find an El Capitan cliff face with no water spilling over the ledge. We had a good feeling this time would be much different. Several storms lined up and blanketed Yosemite Valley with snow right before our trip and the forecast for our stay included both days of sunshine and possible snow and rain. At the very least, we’d likely have some ideal landscape photography conditions.

As with any eight-hour drive that begins before dawn, we arrived relieved to be out of the car, but beat from working late into the night on final deadlines. This left us without the energy for any elevation hiking, so we opted to photograph the first night’s possible firefall from the north side of the valley with the rest of the crowds. A few years back, some irresponsible visitors cased damage to the Merced riverbank by overcrowding it. They damaged trees, left garbage and feces and trampled vegetation to get the best view. So now the park service has closed off the southern side of the valley, which in my opinion, is the best angle for this phenomenon. Even though Yosemite limited the number of reservations per car entering the park this year, most drivers grouped together with friends and many arrived early in the morning before the gate into the park is even occupied. This all lead to still massive crowds for firefall on the north side.

You can tell who’s done their research for this event, for they are the ones who stay all the way through the show. Most people are seen leaving before it even happens, tricked into the thinking the lit-up cliff wall is firefall. It isn’t. The real thing doesn’t occur until just before dark. Those who remain until the end are hopefully treated with one of nature’s rarest and finest light shows. Some years, like last year, it doesn’t happen at all. Other times the conditions are perfect, then a pesky cloud comes in at the last minute and blocks the light. This happened to us on night three of this trip.

Any visit to the wilderness is rewarding, in and of itself. From encounters with wildlife, to just getting away from the city for a bit of quiet time, us adults grow quite fond of getting out of a town for a bit of a recharge. I grew up in Oregon and when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to leave all this behind and move to a big city where all the action is! It’s funny how we always seem to long for what we don’t have in our current situation.

Once in Yosemite for the week, we soon learned that so many photographers we knew through social media were also here to catch this event. For some, it was a bit of a reunion from last year, but we also met some great new friends as well who all share the love of landscape photography. It’s fun to talk shop, exchange ideas and just hangout in one of nature’s most beautifully iconic views. From helpful support up and down ridges to celebratory drinks after an evening’s shoot, the company we meet on these excursions are always a big highlight for me.

My camera gear for this trip were two GoPro Hero9 Blacks, two GoPro MAX, and a Nikon Z7 mirrorless. My lenses consisted of the new Nikkor 14-30 f4 S, Nikon 24-70 f2.8 G, my old Nikon 70-200 f2.8 G, and a Nikon 200-500 f5.6 E. My tripod is the FLM CP30-S4 II. I used the GoPro Hero9 Blacks for both time lapse videos and for photos when the 14mm just wasn’t wide enough, which can be often amongst these towering granite cliffs. I’m using my Z7 shots for prints, but now that the GoPro Hero9 is 24mp, it can easily serve this purpose as well. Since there was a very real possibility of snow in the forecast and already snow on the ground, I brought crampons, snowshoes and NRS Boundary Socks, which I cannot recommend enough. Especially if there’s a possibility you may need to safely cross the Merced River for a shot. I did and didn’t even feel the icy water.

The decision always has to be made, unless you’re sticking to shooting on the valley floor, which lenses to carry. I learned quickly last year that climbing anywhere in Yosemite takes a lot out of you, or at least it takes a lot out of out of me! With that said, I tried to keep my pack as light as I could. Ridge scrambling with a heavy pack can be dangerous and exhausting. I think next year I’ll probably do this with just my Z7, 14-30mm, and GoPro cameras. Going up with the 14-30, 70-200 and 200-500 was just too much.

Wherever you end up shooting from in Yosemite, mind the rules, clean up after yourself, be kind to others and the animals, and leave it the way you found it. Don’t risk a $280 to get that riverbank shot in a closed area just to do it for the gram. (You know who you are) This is why we can’t have nice things in the first place, and if people keep breaking the rules, maybe they’ll close the entire south side of the valley.

I’d like to thank the team at GoPro for their support, my buddy Rick for inviting me, and all my friends, old and new, I was able to share this experience with. Maybe this will be an annual adventure. One that will include me scrambling with a lighter pack next time!