Half Dome Alpenglow

Alpenglow Across Half Dome

Alpenglow across Half Dome is a wonderful vision.

A group of photographers were excited as we patiently waited for nature’s colors to change before us. As the light falls in the evening sky, ours hearts rise with love.

John Muir describes the qualities and feelings of alpenglow the best.

“Now came the solemn, silent evening. Long, blue, spike shadows crept out across the snowfields, while a rosy glow, at first scarce discernible, gradually deepened and suffused every mountain top, flushing the glaciers and the harsh crags above them.

This was the alpenglow, to me one of the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God. At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed and waiting like devout worshipers.

Just before the alpenglow began to fade, two crimson clouds came streaming across the summit like wings of flame, rendering the sublime scene yet more impressive; then came darkness and the stars,” wrote John Muir in The Mountains Of California.

Muir was describing the alpenglow on Mt. Ritter, which was once part of Yosemite National Park, until the boundaries where changed in 1906.

Alpenglow is defined as the rosy light of the setting or rising sun seen on high mountains. ORIGIN late 19th century: a partial translation of German Alpenglühen, literally ‘Alp glow.’

Alpenglow across Half Dome is a vision you should witness for yourself.

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Call our reservation desk at 1-888-YOSEMITE.