BCJ’s Yosemite trips all begin and end in the city of Fresno, California. Here, we convene for the first time and set out for the national park that is a couple hours drive to the north. Perched high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Yosemite’s landscape spans an enormous 750,000 acres (equal in size to the state of Rhode Island) and elevations as high as 13,114 feet. But, for our standard version of our Yosemite in Spring trip, much of our photographic destinations would be in and around Yosemite Valley, the landscape immortalized by Ansel Adams in A Clearing Winter Storm, and the numerous writings of John Muir. Here, in Yosemite Valley, the staggering granite monoliths that rise from the valley floor are adorned with such iconic names as El Capitan, Half Dome, and Cathedral Rock. Towering over 3,000 feet above the valley floor where the Merced River flows lackadaisically, these rock formations help create a landscape so dramatic that it is not uncommon for those who first see it to find their jaws hanging open for at least a few moments.