Man: YOSEMITE IS A 24-HOUR PARK,
AND ITS WELL ILLUSTRATED BY THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE
WHO ARE GONNA GO OUT ALL NIGHT LONG
AND TAKE PICTURES OF MOONBOWS.
Second man: YOSEMITE IS WORLD-FAMOUS FOR ITS WATERFALLS.
A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO COME IN THE SUMMERTIME
ARE AWARE THAT WE HAVE ALL THESE RAINBOWS
AT THE BASE OF THESE FALLS.
A LOT OF PEOPLE DONT REALIZE THAT
WE EVEN GET RAINBOWS AT NIGHT IN YOSEMITE.
IF THERES A FULL MOON AND THE SKY IS CLEAR,
THE MOON, WHICH IS JUST REFLECTED SUNLIGHT,
IS ACTUALLY ENOUGH LIGHT TO GENERATE A RAINBOW
IN A PLACE LIKE YOSEMITE FALLS.
First man: WHAT IS SO OPTIMISTIC ABOUT A RAINBOW?
YOU EVER BEEN IN A THUNDERSHOWER
AND ITS SO OPPRESSIVE AND POUNDING ON YOU
AND THEN IT STOPS,
AND HAS PASSED ON FURTHER AWAY,
AND YOU LOOK UP AND THERE ARE ALL THESE BLACK CLOUDS?
[THUNDER]
AND THEN IN FRONT OF THE BLACK CLOUDS
IS THIS BRILLIANT ARC OF COLOR.
Second man: RAINBOWS ARE OFTEN SOMETHING THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH
THE ALL-CLEAR SIGNAL.
AFTER THE STORM PASSES, HERES THE RAINBOW.
WERE GONNA BE FINE. WERE GONNA MAKE IT.
YOU KNOW, WE SURVIVED THE STORM.
BUT TO GO TO PLACES LIKE BRIDALVEIL FALL
OR THE MIST TRAIL,
YOU GET THE RAINBOW WITHOUT THE STORM.
Roney: THERE ARE PLACES WHERE YOU CAN GO
AND THEYRE VERY PREDICTABLE.
BRIDALVEIL FALL. YOSEMITE FALL, LOWER AND UPPER.
VERNAL FALL. NEVADA FALL.
IVE BEEN TO SO MANY WATERFALLS.
THERE ARE RAINBOWS IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM,
AND ALL YOU NEED IS A LITTLE PHYSICS TO FIGURE OUT
WHEN TO BE THERE.
ITS JUST THE WAY LIGHT GOES INTO A DROPLET OF WATER,
BOUNCES A COUPLE OF TIMES, AND THEN COMES BACK OUT.
GOING IN, ITS REFRACTED A LITTLE,
COMING OUT, ITS REFRACTED A LITTLE,
AND THAT SPREADS WHITE LIGHT
TO ALL THE DIFFERENT COLORS IN THE RAINBOW.
Bumgardner: WHEN YOURE ON THE TRAILS IN YOSEMITE,
YOULL SEE FOLKS COMING AROUND THE CORNER ON THE MIST TRAIL
OR ON THE BRIDALVEIL FALL TRAIL,
AND THEYLL SEE THAT RAINBOW AND EVERYONES JUST SO EXCITED.
THEY ALL WANT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT.
ITS JUST LIKE, "OH, WOW, RAINBOW, RAINBOW,"
AND THERES SORT OF A MAGICAL PROPERTY TO THEM.
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING AND PHOTOGRAPHING
THE MOONBOWS AT YOSEMITE FALLS
FOR YEARS.
EVEN JOHN MUIR WROTE ABOUT THESE LUNAR RAINBOWS,
OR SPRAYBOWS, AS HE CALLED THEM, BACK IN THE 1800s.
Man as Muir: THEIR COLORS ARE AS DISTINCT AS THOSE OF THE SUN,
AND REGULARLY AND OBVIOUSLY BENDED, THOUGH LESS VIVID.
FINE SPECIMENS MAY BE FOUND ANY NIGHT
AT THE FOOT OF THE UPPER YOSEMITE FALL,
GLOWING GLORIOUSLY AMID THE GLOOMY SHADOWS
AND THUNDERING WATERS,
WHENEVER THERE IS PLENTY OF MOONLIGHT AND SPRAY.
Bumgardner: THE POPULARITY OF MOONBOWS HAS INCREASED
AS THE POPULARITY OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAS INCREASED.
MOONBOWS HAVE NOW BECOME A VERY POPULAR SUBJECT FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
AND ON THE FULL MOON OF MAY OR JUNE IN YOSEMITE,
YOU CAN LITERALLY FIND HUNDREDS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS
UP AT LOWER YOSEMITE FALL TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS
OF THIS LUNAR RAINBOW.
Roney: I TEND TO THINK OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE OUT THERE.
FOR THEM, THAT IS A WILD EXPERIENCE.
THE FEEL OF THE SPRAY, THE CHILL IN THE AIR,
AND THE ROAR OF THE WATER,
THOSE ARE THINGS THAT ALL ADD TO ACTUALLY BEING THERE,
AND ITS A BEAUTIFUL THING TO SEE A PHOTOGRAPH,
BUT THE PHOTOGRAPH, IT MAY AS WELL BE DAYLIGHT
AND SOMEBODY PAINTED A FEW STARS IN THE SKY UP THERE.
Bumgardner: I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE DONT REALIZE
THAT MOONBOWS OCCUR ON LOTS OF WATERFALLS HERE IN YOSEMITE.
YOU CAN FIND MOONBOWS ON CASCADES WATERFALL,
RIBBON FALL, WAPAMA FALL, OUT BY HETCH HETCHY,
AND EVEN BRIDALVEIL FALL GETS A MOONBOW
AT THE RIGHT TIME OF YEAR.
Roney: IT HAS ITS OWN ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL SENSE TO IT.
ITS ETHEREAL.
Bumgardner: FROM THE NIGHT SKIES AND THE MILKY WAY
TO THE FULL MOON RISING TO THESE LUNAR RAINBOWS,
THE BEAUTY HERE DOESNT END WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN.
YOU CAN HAVE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE 24 HOURS A DAY IN YOSEMITE.