Figure 1. Black Oak Trees near Curry Village.
Black oak trees are common in Yosemite Valley. You can see them at places like Cook's Meadow, Swinging Bridge, Lower Yosemite Falls....... While most people are interested in waterfalls and rock formation in Yosemite, plants are equally attractive when the time is right.
For black oak trees, autumn is the prime time to enjoy their color of leaves. Their golden or yellow colors are similar to those of aspen trees, though the bark is not white. The autumn foliage is at their peak in about late October and early November.
A friend from Taiwan traveled to Bay Area in early December. The return was planned on Friday night, but the ticket was sold out. His return trip has to be re-scheduled one day later and he got one day for a local tour! We made our trip to Yosemite on that day, though his colleagues enjoyed theirs in San Francisco. He likes to photograph and brought his Canon 5D Mark II. We arrived the park at about 6:30am so that no sunlight was wasted. I knew there wouldn't be much snow left and didn't expect too much on winter scenery. When we made our stop near Curry Village, the steam made the meadow and trees look so good and we spent much time there. Figure 1 is one of those shots.
Overall, that day is productive and beyond my expectation. Most important, my friend had a good time there!
