After record snowfall had hit California, and Yosemite National Park along with the Valley seeing significant snowfall, I felt it was time to head up to the Park to capture some winter scenes.

While on the way to Yosemite on the 41 I noticed the snowline beginning in Coarsegold, a first for me since moving to California. To me this meant there were going to be spectacular scenes in Yosemite. As we approached Oakhurst I decided to check the Yosemite phone line as warnings of trees falling, as well as the 120 already being closed were red flags to me.

The phone call hit the news that Highway 41 (the normal way in for me) was closed after Wawona, and Highway 140 (the next closest entrance) was also closed. With the 140 being the lowest elevation entrance I decided to gamble and wait there for an eventual opening.

Luckily after waiting about an hour it happened and we were allowed in the Park. Unfortunately with heavy snowfall and quick accumulations, the 120 at Foresta, and Highway 41 at the gate just above Bridalveil Fall were both closed, leaving me to only explore the Valley. Normally this would be the worst news possible, but in Winter the Valley is much more spectacular to photograph.

There was however one issue, the snow, which was knee deep in many places. In some it was nearly waste deep, meaning looking for those extremely rare unique angles was going to be impossible with just my blue jeans on. I did however capture many winter scenes which you can see below.