Photography by Yuri Yuryev

This site contains stock images of many outdoor activities, travel, and business images related primarily to Silicon Valley. All images available on the site are up for sale. We are also available for assignment work anywhere in the world. If you would like to purchase an image or hire East Of Pacific for a shoot, please contact Yuri Yuryev at yuri{at}eastofpacific{dot}com.

Yosemite Valley is the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park, attracting visitors from all parts of the globe. The Native Americans lived there for more than 8,000 years and called the Valley "Ah-wah-nee", and themselves the "Ah-wah-nee-chee." It is believed that members of Mariposa Battalion misheard the pronunciation, and mistakenly called the Valley "Yo-sem-i-ty." Many photographs made in Yosemite Valley became the world famous images of American West. Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell are only two from a long list of names known for their photographs of Yosemite. This year I've had a couple of chances to visit the Valley in winter and spring, which I don't get to do very often. The last time I was there, on March 17th 2009, there were very few people in the Valley, the weather was gorgeous, and the waterfalls were absolutely amazing due to the snow melt. If you have never experienced Yosemite Valley, and have some free time this spring -- go, by all means!

In August 2008 I spent one week in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park, which occupies a very special place in the American pop culture because of its history, beauty, and grandeur. Everyone has heard of John Muir and seen the iconic images of El Capitan and Half Dome by Ansel Adams. But because most of those grandeur Landmarks are located specifically in Yosemite Valley, most of the other places usually get overlooked by most of the tourists visiting the park. They prefer to stay in the Valley, travel around on the available, and don't venture much to other places of the park. Not many people know that the best place to be especially during the hot summer months is in the cooler temperatures of Tuolumne Meadows, situated north of the Valley and on higher elevation. Tuolumne (pronounced TWA-loo-mni) is a real Alpine Meadows country with vast areas of open space above timber line and grand views of snow covered peaks. Hiking, backpacking and rock climbing are the favorite summer sports, with Backcountry skiing being the only way to access the area in winter.

Peter Grubb Hut sits in a snow-covered meadow right below Castle Peak. During summertime, it probably bathes in the meadows of green, but I dodn't really know because I never saw it in summer. For now, I'm happy with all the nearby accessible peaks I can reach from the hut for an outstanding backcountry skiing weekend.