Click on the Clouds on Fire Above the Sierra image to enlarge

Clouds on Fire Above the Sierra

Clouds on Fire Above the Sierra was taken on a late Spring day in the summer, 3 days before the Summer Solstice.

This time of year is always an excellent time to explore the Tuolumne Meadows area. The Tioga Road has normally just opened. It can be very quiet at sunset and sunrise this time of year. The campground at Tuolumne Meadows is not open yet so visitors only have the Yosemite Valley or the Lee Vining area for some sort of accommodations. Most visitors don’t seem to stick around for the sunset or rise in enough time to get to the area for sunrise.

If it is hot in the Central Valley it is not unusual to have storm clouds such as thunderheads form over the mountains in the afternoon. With the right conditions the sun setting and the light hitting the thunderheads, it can make for some excellent photography.

One particular place that is a good photography spot in the area is a dome called Pothole Dome. Although it doesn’t stand out as a great scene from the bottom of it, the view from the top of the dome provides excellent views of Cathedral Peak, Tuolumne Meadows and all the High Sierra mountains. The summit of the dome is easily accessible from a parking lot along the Tioga Road at the western edge of Tuolumne Meadows. It is a 2.5 mile hike round trip with an elevation gain of 250 feet.

This picture is taken of the view north from the dome. On a day when the thunderclouds had built up just at sunset the light of the sun lit up the clouds in magnificent colors. The sky looked as though it was on fire as the sun set to the west and the warm light of the magic hour colored the clouds. A split neutral density filter was used to hold back the highlights of the brightly lit clouds against the Sierra peaks bathed in shadow.

Clouds on Fire Above the Sierra was a unique and special moment on a late Spring day in the Sierra.