Mammoth Lakes

Mammoth Lakes, CA is located off of Hwy 395 in the South East direction from Yosemite National Park.

From Yosemite National Park, continuing on Hwy 120 East, we stopped at Olmsted Point to catch this view.
Half Dome from Olmsted Point

After 120 East, to go towards Mammoth Lakes we take Hwy 395 South. Lake Mono is on the Eastern side of this highway.
Lake Mono and Hwy 395

Lake Mary at Mammoth Lakes

Lake George and other surrounding lakes as seen from the end of Crystal Lake trail

Devil's Postpile - 60-ft formation is made of basalt lava, some 100,000 yrs old.

Crystal Lake is after hiking up and down for almost 2 miles at the end of Crystal Lake Trail.

The only mammoth I saw at Mammoth Lakes! :-)

Visited: July 2003

Click here for more photos of Mammoth Lakes.

Yosemite National Park

Visiting Yosemite National Park in the heart of California has always been fun filled adventure for me. This time it was a short trip but it was as exciting as previous times. This time Northern California has had very little rain so most of the water falls had practically no water. Even Merced river was dry and lakes in the park with no water at all, but the trees were lush and green and mountains standing tall as saints in the Sierra Nevada forest. Here's a glimpse to mother nature's beauty.


Park entrance.


Park entrance from the other side.


Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. El Capitan on the left side, Half Dome in the center and Cathedral Rocks on the right side where the Bridalveil Falls flow when snow melts from mountain tops.



Road inside the park.


Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls (not flowing right now but they flow where the black area on the mountains is seen) from Valley View. Merced river is seen in the front.


More of my photos taken at Yosemite National Park, CA.

For the 4th: How to Photograph Fireworks

* Use a tripod and a remote shutter release, if you can.
* Carefully frame the shot so that the horizon is straight and you don't get a bunch of heads in the picture.
* Set aperture between f/8 and f/16 and use ISO 100.
* Keep the shutter open for a couple of seconds, starting before the explosion. (Manual mode is your friend.)
* Turn off the flash.
* Experiment and have fun!

Source: For the 4th: How to Photograph Fireworks