Yosemite Hikes masthead (Pothole Dome)

El Capitan

This is the El Capitan viewpoint along Southside Drive, just past the Bridalveil Fall turnoff. In the summer drivers need to watch for mesmerized pedestrians standing dumbstruck in the middle of the road, and there's traffic here in the winter as well, as evidenced by the footprints in the foreground and the tiny snowman photobombing the bottom left corner. The wide-angle lens used for this shot distorts things a bit; in real life the trees and El Capitan are more upright and El Capitan towers much higher and nearer - it's common to see drivers bending over their dashboards and craning their necks so they can see the top of El Cap through their windshields.

