I'm not sure why I thought we'd have to be in line at camp 4 at 6 am to land a campsite. We'd arrived the evening before in full winter white-out conditions. My impression of Yosemite in May was one of perpetual blue skies and spring blossoms, not snowplows and tire chains. Cars were fleeing the park as if someone had pulled a valley-wide fire alarm. Despite this, I believed that one had to arrive at camp 4 before sunrise to land a campsite. Perhaps this is true on a busy weekend, but apparently it's not the case when a spring storm blankets the valley in snow.

We arrived at the kiosk obscenely early to find that there were about 140 available sites in camp 4. No one else was around. I felt sheepish for jumping the gun. However, my zeal gave us the opportunity to experience some magical morning light. We hopped in the car and headed west towards El Cap meadow.

We pulled over just east of the meadow and found a reflecting pond near the Cathedrals.





El Cap was lightly frosted.




It was cold. Brrrrr....


The back lighting near Lower Cathedral was awesome.



Leaning Tower and Bridal Veil Falls



Our last stop before heading back to get in line.




Things certainly were looking up.


When we returned to camp 4 we were no longer the first ones in line. We landed our site, grabbed some breakfast, and read books in the sun while the snow quickly melted around us. By mid-afternoon things had dried out enough to take a run on Nutcracker.