Lifestyle
'Prepare to be enthralled': How to see Yosemite's enchanting rainbows that form at night
We met Brian Hawkins, a Redondo Beach mechanical engineer-turned-videographer, in the near-empty lobby of the Yosemite Valley Lodge. It was just after 9 on a Tuesday night in late April. Our hunt was about to begin, but the weather augured poorly.
“It’s cloudy, clearing later,” he said. “I would not expect to see anything yet.”
This was no chance meeting. A couple of years before I had discovered Hawkins’ website, where he posts photos, videos and very precise predictions of the phenomenon that had lured us to this place, at exactly this time: moonbows.
Naturalist John Muir called them lunar rainbows, or spraybows, revealed by a full moon’s light. Roaring spring and early summer waterfalls in Yosemite National Park make the central California destination one of the few spots on Earth to see them. The next viewing opportunity is May 21 to 25.
Moonbows haven’t realized the popularity of the park’s firefall each February, but visitors are gaining awareness. As we navigated the paved trail in darkness to Lower Yosemite Fall , we passed clumps of walkers going in the other direction, evidently discouraged by persistent clouds. At the base, some 25 were gathered in small groups, many behind a bend sheltering onlookers from the falls’ jet-loud spray.
Muir described the Yosemite Falls’ roar as “fine, savage music,” and Hawkins spoke movingly of how the falls, especially in the upper stretch, maintained a voice, even a presence. Having seen spectacular photos by him and others, my wife, Mica, and I impatiently waited for the moon to reflect the sun’s light on the falls. As did others.
Brian Hawkins, left, ran into Richard and Sally Brewer and Anne Johnston-Fera of Buffalo, N.Y., looking for moonbows in April at Yosemite’s Cook’s Meadow.
(Alex Pulaski)
One photographer showed me a quarter-moonbow image he had captured 20 minutes before during a cloud break. Another, Eric Krapil, 28, from Laurel, Md., shared a full-arc moonbow photo from the night before, captured on his cellular phone.
“We got lucky,” he said. “Some guy walking past us at the lodge said, ‘Do you want to see a moonbow?’”
We certainly did on this night. And a few minutes later, as the yellowish moon briefly shouldered through the haze, Hawkins pointed to a rock. There, he said, a corner of the moonbow begins.
And I saw it: A quarter arc at best, ghostly white in the moon’s faint light. Not everything I had hoped for, but as we walked back later I thanked Hawkins for helping us see that glimmer — a hint of what might come the following nights.
Yeah, he said. A thoughtful pause ensued.
“That was,” he continued, “the most pathetic moonbow I’ve ever seen.”
Before 2007, nobody was precisely sure when and where moonbows would appear at Yosemite. But a team of researchers from Texas State University harnessed computers to meld topography, geometry and astronomy to accurately predict the moonbows’ appearance and published their findings.
Hawkins first visited the park that same year and became mesmerized by its beauty — particularly after seeing a moonbow in 2011. He started doing his own modeling, and his website debuted in 2018. It’s a labor of love — there are no ads, and he doesn’t do tours or hawk T-shirts.
What he does do is help other seekers. Anna Smits, who lives and works in the Yosemite Valley, saw her first moonbow during the pandemic. The park was closed to visitors, but Hawkins still shared his calculations. Now, Smits — both an avid photographer and outdoorswoman — occasionally pushes the envelope to find more elusive moonbow shots.
What does that entail? One night, that involved setting an anchor and rappelling about 15 feet to a ledge near Upper Yosemite Fall. Another time, she set her alarm for 1:30 a.m. for a hike in bright moonlight to Vernal Fall. It was so cold that the condensed spray solidly froze her tripod.
“It’s such a rewarding experience,” she said. “It really lights me up just thinking about sitting in the spray and watching this moonbow cross in front of you.”
That visual reward eluded us on the subsequent two nights of our visit last month. Daytime blue skies surrendered to clouds at night. Hawkins had warned me that first night that nothing was guaranteed.
“Prepare to be enthralled by the scene before you but also frustrated by how difficult it is to shoot,” he said. “A lot of things are working against you — it’s cold, it’s wet, the lens has to be dried off, you can’t use auto focus. You just have to be patient and work through solving all the problems.”
And when the moon is hidden by a curtain of clouds, you comfort yourself with the memory of the falls’ voice and a glimmer of the show waiting when you return.
What is a moonbow?
Simply put, it’s a rainbow seen at night, produced by the light of a full moon reflecting off droplets of water suspended in the air. But humans struggle to detect color at night, so — as with the northern lights — they usually appear white to the naked eye. Photographs, especially with timed exposures to allow more light, render them in full color, just like a rainbow.
Is Yosemite the only place to see moonbows?
No, but there are very few waterfall sites where they can consistently be seen. They include Cumberland Falls in Kentucky and Africa’s Victoria Falls, at the Zambia-Zimbabwe border.
When are the best dates, times and locations to see Yosemite moonbows?
They are best observed on the five nights around the full moon. Hawkins has calculated peak 2024 viewing dates and specific hours by location (Upper and Lower Yosemite falls and Glacier Point) for the next viewing window of May 21 to 25 at his website. Best dates for the following full moon, with his time calculations to follow later, are June 19 to 23.
Is any special gear needed?
Useful items include comfortable walking shoes, a rain poncho if viewing near a fall’s base, cloths to dry lenses and cameras, a tripod for longer camera or smartphone exposures and a headlamp or flashlight (red-light settings are preferable for not disrupting night vision). Weather apps such as Clear Outside predict hourly cloud cover. For the super-advanced, apps such as Photo Ephemeris and Planit Pro will help precisely calculate moon positions (and much more).
Are Yosemite National Park reservations required?
Sometimes. Until June 30, daytime (5 a.m. to 4 p.m.) park entry reservations are required on weekends and holidays. From July 1 to Aug. 16, they are required daily for the same time periods. Those with in-park camping or lodging reservations will be granted park entry. Full rules and a reservation link can be found at the National Park Service’s website.
Is it risky looking for Yosemite moonbows at night?
We didn’t find it daunting. Lower Yosemite Fall is just a 10-minute walk from Yosemite Valley Lodge, where we stayed. Cook’s Meadow, with its broad view of Yosemite Falls, is also nearby, but we decided to drive, largely because dense cloud cover obscured the moonlight. Both Hawkins and Smits counseled using common sense in seeking more remote locations. It’s worth noting that the intrepid Muir, who never shrank from a challenge, almost died one night while chasing moonbows behind Yosemite Falls near Fern Ledge; he escaped drenched and numb from a “wild bath in moonlit spray.”
Delroy Lindo is nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Sinners.
Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP
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Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP
Over the course of his decades-long career on stage and in Hollywood, Sinners actor Delroy Lindo has experienced firsthand what he calls the “disappointments, the vicissitudes of the industry.”
On Feb. 22, at the BAFTA awards in London, Lindo and Sinners co-star Michael B. Jordan were the first presenters of the evening when a man with Tourette syndrome shouted a racial slur.
Initially, Lindo says, he questioned if he had heard correctly. Then, he says, he adjusted his glasses and read the teleprompter: “I processed in the way that I process, in a nanosecond. Mike did similarly, and we went on and did our jobs.”
Lindo describes the BAFTA incident as “something that started out negatively becoming a positive.” A week after the BAFTAs, he appeared with Sinners director Ryan Coogler at the NAACP awards.
“The fact that I could stand there in a room predominantly of our people … and feel safe, feel loved, feel supported,” he says. “I just wanted to officially, formally say thank you to our people and to all of the people who have supported us as a result of that event, that incident.”
Sinners is a haunting vampire thriller about twins (both played by Jordan) who open a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi. The film has been nominated for a record 16 Academy Awards, including best actor for Jordan and best supporting actor for Lindo, who plays a blues musician named Delta Slim.
This is Lindo’s first Oscar nomination; five years ago, many felt his performance in the Spike Lee film Da 5 Bloods deserved recognition from the Academy. When that didn’t happen, Lindo admits he was disappointed, but he had no choice but to move on.
“I have never taken my marbles and gone home,” he says. “And I want to claim that I will not do that now. I will continue working.”
Interview highlights
On his preparation to play Delta Slim
Various people have mentioned … [that] my presence reminds them of an uncle or their grandfather, somebody that they knew from their families, and that is a huge compliment, but more importantly than being a compliment, it’s an affirmation for the work. My preparation for this started with Ryan sending me two books, Blues People, by Amiri Baraka — who was [known as] LeRoi Jones when he wrote the book — and Deep Blues, by Robert Palmer.
Lindo, shown above in his role as Delta Slim, says director Ryan Coogler “created a sacred space for all of us” on the Sinners set.
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In reading those books and then referencing those books, continuing to reference those throughout production, I was given an entrée into the worlds, the lifestyles of these musicians. There’s a certain kind of itinerant quality that they moved around a lot. The constant for them is their music, so that there is this deep-seated connection to the music.
On being Oscar-nominated for the first time — and thinking about other Black actors, including Halle Berry and Lou Gossett Jr., who had trouble getting work after their wins
I will not view it as a curse, because I am claiming the victory in this process, no matter what happens. … In terms of this moment, I absolutely am claiming, as much as I can, the joy of this moment. I’m not saying I don’t have trepidation, I do. It’s the reason I was not listening to the broadcast this year when the nominations were announced. I did not want to set myself up. But I’m … attempting as much as I can to fortify myself and know in my heart that I will continue working as an actor. I absolutely will.
On being “othered” as a child because of his race
Because my mom was studying to be a nurse they would not allow her to have an infant child with her on campus, so as a result of that, I was sent to live with a white family in a white working class area of London. … I was loved, I was cared for, but as a result of living with this family in this all-white neighborhood, I went to an all-white elementary or primary school. And I was literally the only Black child in an all-white school.
So one afternoon, after school had ended, I was playing with one of my playmates … And at a certain point in our game, a car pulls up, and this kid that I was playing with goes over to the car and has a very short conversation with whomever was in the car, which I now know was his parent, his father. He comes back and he … says, “I can’t play with you.” And that was the end of the game.
On the experience of writing his forthcoming memoir
It’s been healing, actually. I’m not denying that it has opened me up. I’ve been compelled to scrutinize myself. I’m using that word very advisedly, “scrutinized.” It’s a scrutiny, it’s an examination of oneself. But in my case, because a very, very, very significant part of what I’m writing has to do with re-examining my relationship with my mom. And so my mom is a protagonist in my memoir. I’m told by my editor and by my publisher that one of the attractions to what I’m writing is that it is not a classic “celebrity memoir.” I am examining history. I’m examining culture. I’m looking at certain passages of history through the lens of the “Windrush” experience [of Caribbean immigrants who came to the UK after World War II].
On getting a masters degree to help him write his mother’s story
My mom deserved it. My mom is deserving. And not only is my mom deserving, by extension, all the people of the Windrush generation are deserving. Stories about Windrush are not part of the global cultural lexicon commensurate with its impact. The people of Windrush changed the definition of what it means to be British. There are all these Black and brown people, theretofore members of what used to be called the British Commonwealth. And they were invited by the British government to come to England, the United Kingdom, to help rebuild the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the destruction of World War II. My mom was part of that movement. They helped rebuild construction, construction industry, transportation industry, critically, the health industry, the NHS, the National Health Service. My mom is a nurse.
The reason that I went into NYU was because my original intention was to write a screenplay about my mom. I wanted to write a screenplay about my mom because I looked around and I thought: Where are the feature films that have as protagonist a Caribbean female, a Black female, where are they? … I wanted to address that, I wanted to correct that, what I see as being an imbalance.
Ann Marie Baldonado and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Britney Spears
Open to Treatment Plan After DUI Arrest, Source Says
Published
Britney Spears‘ team is hoping the judge mandates treatment for the pop star over jail time following her Wednesday DUI arrest … and Britney isn’t fighting them on that, TMZ has learned.
Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Britney is willing to comply with a treatment and support plan.
We’re told her team is in the early stages of developing a plan and they’re exploring multiple options, including mental health services, detox, and dual-diagnosis programs.
It’s unclear whether she would do inpatient or outpatient treatment, and it’s also unclear whether she would enter treatment before her May 4 court date.
Broadcastify.com
We broke the story … Britney was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers around 9:30 PM Wednesday in Westlake Village, CA, not far from her home. She was later taken to a hospital — not for any injuries, because we’re told she didn’t sustain any — but to draw her blood to determine her blood alcohol content.
According to CHP, she was arrested for “driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol.”
Sources familiar with the investigation told us an unknown substance was found in Britney’s car, which was sent to be tested.
Britney’s manager, Cade Hudson, previously told TMZ … “This was an unfortunate and inexcusable incident. Britney will take the right steps, comply with the law, and we hope this marks the start of long-overdue change in her life. She needs help and support during this difficult time. Her boys will be spending time with her, and her loved ones are putting a plan in place to set her up for success and well-being.”
Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack in Sinners.
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Ryan Coogler’s supernatural horror stars Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers who open a 1930s juke joint in Mississippi. Opening night does not go as planned when vampires appear outside. “In a straightforward metaphor for all the ways Black culture has been co-opted by whiteness, the raucous pleasures and sonic beauty of the juke joint attract the interest of a trio of demons … they wish to literally leech off of the talents and energy of Black folks,” writes critic Aisha Harris. The film made history with a record 16 Academy Award nominations.
We asked our NPR audience: What movie would you recommend to someone who loved Sinners? Here’s what you told us:
Near Dark (1987)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow; starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen
If you want another cool vampire movie with Western kind of vibes, check out Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark — super underseen and kind of hard to find, but really gritty and sexy and another very different take on what you might think is a genre that had been wrung dry. – Maggie Grossman, Chicago, Ill.
30 Days of Night (2007)
Directed by David Slade; starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston
It follows a group of people in a small Alaskan town as they struggle to survive an invasion of vampires who have taken advantage of the month-long absence of the sun. Both this and Sinners revolve around a vampire takeover and the people’s fight to outlast the “night.” – Nathan Strzelewicz, DeWitt, Mich.
The Wailing (2016)
Directed by Na Hong-jin; starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura
In this South Korean supernatural horror film, a mysterious illness causes people in a quiet rural village to become violent and murderous. A local police officer investigates while trying to save his daughter, who begins showing the same disturbing symptoms. The film blends folk horror, religion, and psychological dread, exploring themes of faith, evil, and moral weakness. Like Sinners, it centers on a supernatural force corrupting a close-knit community, builds slow-burning tension, and examines spiritual conflict and human frailty. – Amy Merke, Bronx, N.Y.
Fréwaka (2024)
Directed by Aislinn Clarke; starring Bríd Ní Neachtain, Clare Monnelly, Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya
In this Irish folk horror film, a home care worker, Shoo, is assigned to stay with an elderly woman who’s convinced she’s under siege by malevolent fairies. Like Sinners, Fréwaka blends folk traditions and social commentary with horror. The social failures Shoo copes with (untreated mental health issues, religious abuse) are just as frightening as the supernatural forces. – Kerrin Smith, Baltimore, Md.
And a bonus pick from our critic:
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Directed by George C. Wolfe; starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman
This is an adaptation of August Wilson’s play about a legendary blues singer (Viola Davis) muscling through a recording session with white producers who want to control her music. Chadwick Boseman’s blistering in his final role. – Bob Mondello, NPR movie critic
Carly Rubin and Ivy Buck contributed to this project. It was edited by Clare Lombardo.
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