The first time I stood at Tunnel View, Yosemite brought me to tears. Again, on the valley floor, I cried in gratitude, craning my neck to look at the wild and dramatic waterfalls and the immortal, towering El Capitan. Never have I felt so small and insignificant and fleeting and been so joyful to feel so. What Yosemite does defies description though many have tried. Ansel Adams, the famous photographer, tried to capture it and made iconic art in the process. John Muir, the famous naturalist (and my kind of kooky nature nut), tried to write about it and successfully lobbied the protection for the area. But no matter how talented the messengers were, they could not – and certainly I cannot – truly begin to relay its majesty or explain how it thrums the very fibers of your soul so that you are vibrating with the wild and ancient world around you. The waterfalls, the granite walls, the clearly defined path of glaciers. The river. The meadows. The millions of years evident before you. The thousands of years present in some of the trees. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen.

With only a day and a half to explore, we made the best of it. Saturday we spent exploring the valley floor stretching our necks at the glory all around and up. We hiked to the lower falls. We scored an excellent parking space that afforded us glorious views while eating lunch. After we had a full day in the valley we drove up – way up – to glacier point, where there was still a fair amount of snow in the shady pockets and the tall trees were furry with bright green lichen on their northern sides. From the vantage at Glacier point we could clearly see the Half Dome, El Capitan, the many waterfalls, and the distinct path that the glaciers took so many eons ago. It was magical and marvelous and so very old.

Sunday we came back to the park, this time heading to Mariposa Grove which has over 500 Giant Sequoia trees. Again. There can be no words or pictures that can give a true sense of walking among these ancient trees. We ended up hiking seven miles through and around some impressive trees up to yet an overview look out area, offering a different view of the surroundings and the valleys below. Simply staggering. While I know the pictures don’t do it justice, please examine them closely and see if you can see people near the trees to give you some idea of scale.