This web site was started because of a long saga that began back in 1997. The first time that I visited the Yosemite national Park web site that is managed by the National Park Service I noticed that there were not any pictures of the beautiful scenery in the park. Since people go to Yosemite to look at the spectacular waterfalls, soaring spires, granite domes and all of the other spectacular scenery in the park it seemed natural that the web site should have hundreds of pictures of all the major features in the park.
I contacted the webmaster at Yosemite and he referred me to the office of the National Park Service in Oakland, California which handles administrative matters. I asked if they would either put a link to my web site so that people can see pictures of the park or if I could provide pictures to the National Park Service web site on Yosemite and they would give me photographers credit.
I was not looking for compensation of any kind, my mission was simply to get as many pictures as possible of Yosemite onto the Internet in a place where more people would see them than anywhere else. It seemed natural that the National Park Service would want to work with me on this. I went all the way up the food chain to the chief supervisor in Washington, DC and was told that unless I wanted to pay an exorbitant sum of money to the National Park Service for the right to put my photos on their web site that they would not do any kind of the deal with me.
So, as a public service and because the only way to truly understand Yosemite is through pictures not words, I decided to build this web site with photographs that I shot over the past 20 years. As I return to the park each year I take new pictures and put them on to this site. I love to go backpacking and hiking so I'm always finding new material from each trip that I can share with the rest of the world.
The creator of this site is Don Kanare, an avid backpacker and wilderness adventurer. Don has built web sites and worked as a consultant on many web projects.
Don travels to Yosemite throughout the year to enjoy the scenery and photograph the natural wonders of the park. During the past 27 years he has hiked vast areas of Yosemite and camped in every climate zone during each of the four seasons. Considering that most visitors to the park do not have the time to see all the different faces of Yosemite, this web site has been developed to give everyone a chance to appreciate its incredible beauty.
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Don Kanare on the summit of Mt. Dana
In Memory of Spumoni
May 10, 2006 - Spumoni my wonderful, loyal and loving companion of 14 years passed away today. May he rest in peace.