In the summer of 1988 I hiked the John Muir Trail, which travels 221 miles from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney. I took photographs along the trail and over the next year and a half did a suite of 17 etchings of this Sierra Nevada backpack.

We started our backpack from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley in late June. The trail climbs into the high counrty beside the Merced River. In just over a mile we were below one of the grand water falls of this valley. The early summer run-off burst from the granite cliffs.

Vernal Fall is the color version. A winter view of this fall is Vernal Falls.

#1 Vernal Fall