The Stoneman Bridge on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, USA

Season of solitude in Yosemite. Winter in Yosemite National Park

Situated in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Central California, Yosemite gets a heavy dose of snow every winter. This makes for lovely, perhaps unexpected scenery like our image today, with icy branches framing the Stoneman Bridge, one of the eight Yosemite Valley Bridges. The US National Park Service keeps parts of Yosemite open to the public during the winter. One change you may not notice is that the rangers also take tracking collars off the bear population in the park. Why? To prevent disturbing the bears while they hibernate. Even bears like a little privacy when they sleep.