El Portal Road, western entrance, Yosemite National Park, CA, 6/7/2011
After a spring of record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, the Merced River was flowing extra heavily from the subsequent snowmelt during the winter of 2011. Here is the upstream view in Merced Gorge by Elephant Rock near the western entrance to Yosemite National Park. The fury of the flow was strong enough to create steady visible mist as the water pounded its way around granite boulders in the riverbed. This end of the park tends to be more of a place where people drive by rather than a destination, however the views of the river here are often quite dramatic - especially in springtime - and this spring was exceptional. Merced Gorge extends southwest from this spot by Elephant Rock to about 1.8 miles east of the town of El Portal.
