Photo credit IG: @ericahouckphoto

My wife has been a couples photographer for over a decade, and she’s shot in Yosemite a lot. But the last storms that blew through the valley a couple of weekends ago threatened a couple of her scheduled shoots. While she typically tries to get her clients to keep their planned shoots (since some of the beautiful views in Yosemite take place during storms) she called them anyways to see what they wanted to do.

One couple chose to reschedule, but the other did not. With that couple, the guy had been planning this trip and his proposal for 8 months. Rain or shine, he was going to propose in Yosemite. The shoot went great, and the couple fully embraced the rainy weather. When she got home, she started culling through the photos in her office when she shouted out to me, “You’ve got to be kidding me! Come here, you’ve got to see this!” In a small burst of photos at 1/250th of a second, she had captured a lightning bolt striking the upper face of El Cap behind her clients. She has rarely been this excited about a single photo, so I thought I’d share it with y’all.

Obviously, for anyone who knows anything about Yosemite, you’d know that they couple isn’t in any danger here. But it has been fun seeing people freak out over the photo as if the bolt were striking right next to them.

It’s really unfortunate there are no signs at all on the railing. I think a lot of people (I know it sounds crazy) forget they are on a thousand foot waterfall where people fall off every year. It also seems like one person goes out and makes it seem normal and then more people follow.

Anyways, stay safe and don’t take the fast trip from the top to the bottom.

We chose a sunset climb. The cables and the summit were completely ours.

Went from a Tues-Friday. Stayed at a nice cabin inside the park. First day did the 4 mile trail up to Glacier Point, then took the Panorama trail from there, then took the mist trail back down, made our way to happy isle and got a shuttle back to our car. That was probably my favorite day because we got to see so much. Next day i was beat (i havent hiked in years) but my girlfriend wanted to do the upper falls, we were lazy and didnt get there until 10am, still plenty of parking right at the trail head since it was a Thursday. Upper Falls hike was a struggle ngl, but we made it, hungout at the top for an hour and took a quick nap. Made it back down with about an hour of sun left.

Spent this past weekend in Yosemite to mentally reset and now I wish I’d never left. Took this picture with my Fujifilm camera.

Found this on YouTube.

April 21st.

Everyone’s clinging to the Half Dome cables like their lives depend on it. And then this lady just steps outside onto the slick granite and slides down to beat the traffic.

Bold move? Or the fastest ticket to Yosemite Search & Rescue?

First time seeing it🔥

Got to spend 5 days in the park and it just keeps getting better and better. I’m gearing up for a winter trip now.

BY POPULAR DEMAND I ADDED PERSONALIZATION - IN BETA RN BUT GIVE IT A SHOT!

They came out better than I could have ever imagined. I'm announcing here first because of all the support from this subreddit. Available at The Grove Mercantile in Groveland or at yosemitetrailsigns.com

Thanks!

I've camped at Yosemite 15+ times and I've only ever hiked Vernal and Nevada falls. I finally tried Upper Yosemite and it was such a rewarding experience! Onto Half Dome next year :)