For the interactive 360° VR experience, go to: https://www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour/#node288 Over the past several weeks, Virtual Yosemite has been able to significantly expand their coverage of eastern Sierra gateway locations to Yosemite, during spectacular fall color displays. These locations include Lundy Canyon, Lee Vining Canyon, the June Lake Loop, and other parts of the Mono Basin and Inyo National Forest. Efforts ...

By Sal Maccarone Artists have been rendering their surroundings ever since they began to walk the earth. For instance, primitive cave paintings and pre-historic petroglyphs bear witness to the way things were. Landscape paintings are the only record that we have about where, and how these ancient groups lived. Bodies of water, forests, mountains, valleys, animals and people are just ...

For the interactive 360° VR experience, go to: https://www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour/#node276 One of the hiking gems in Yosemite’s high country is the Lyell Canyon Trail, which extends for almost eight miles from the Yosemite Valley Lodge to the base of Donohue Pass at the southeast border of the park.  The most amazing aspect to this unique wilderness trail is that it’s almost ...

For the interactive 360° VR experience, go to: www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour/#node220. Yosemite today announced that the park will reopen again this coming Friday morning at 9 a.m. The smoky conditions and unhealthy air from the nearby Creek Fire have diminished somewhat – at least temporarily. Note that day-use and/or overnight reservations are still required for entry to the park from the www.recreation.gov ...

Every so often the Fresno Art Museum likes to look back at some of their great exhibitions. Do you remember the Council of 100’s “Distinguished Woman Artist for 2016” exhibition titled “Hung Liu: Scales of History?” For over 30 years, the Fresno Art Museum’s Council of 100 has remained a unique organization devoted to recognizing outstanding women in the arts. ...

YOSEMITE – Fires are inundating not only California, but most of the western United States, leaving both unprecedented smoky skies as well as widespread damage in their wake. Fire is an important part of the wilderness ecosystem, however. The National Park Service will let fires, such as this one just below the Tioga Road in Yosemite, burn naturally, allowing them ...

By Sal Maccarone The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was the idea of Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957), head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM.) Mr. Mayer felt that the organization would lend respectability and status to the movie industry, the reputation of which had been tarnished during the Roaring Twenties. So on May 4, 1927, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts ...

Charles Gaines is a pivotal figure in the field of Conceptual Art. Gaines’ works are often on paper and acrylic glass. His photographs, drawings, musical compositions, and video installations investigate how rule-based procedures influence representation and construct meaning. Visitors to the Fresno Art Museum will find the image below on permanent display near the entrance to the Bonner Auditorium. Charles ...

For the interactive 360° virtual reality experience, go to: https://www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour/#node254 The hike to Lukens Lake is a relatively easy one by Yosemite standards, in spite of the 8,200′ elevation.  The trail extends about 0.8 miles from Tioga Road, and only climbs about 200 feet. This is a good trail for young kids (not too long and not too steep.) As ...

For the interactive 360° VR experience, go to: https://www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour/#node263. Here at 12,400′ elevation on the Mt. Dana trail, you’re only 600 feet below the summit. There is very little plant life, as you are well-above the timber line in the alpine zone. Weather here can deteriorate rapidly. On this day, the sky was completely cloudless and temperatures were in the ...