{"id":1073,"date":"2016-07-20T22:12:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T22:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2016-07-20T22:12:29","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T22:12:29","slug":"yosemite-where-you-receive-abundant-natural-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/?p=1073","title":{"rendered":"Yosemite – where you receive abundant natural blessings."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Yosemite

Yosemite Falls from Valley floor.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few weeks ago I wanted to get out of the office and do some camping, but all my favorite coastal sites were full.\u00c2\u00a0 So, for the fun of it, I looked online at campgrounds in other locations to see what might be available.\u00c2\u00a0 I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it when, on a Friday, I checked Yosemite and, lo and behold, the valley’s Upper Pines Campground had a vacancy for the next Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Knowing that summer brings crowds, that the temperatures were predicted to be near 90, and that we were still in the grip of our California drought, I imagined that the waterfalls were likely to be barely trickling.\u00c2\u00a0 Nonetheless, I booked the site.\u00c2\u00a0 At best, I hoped a few wildflowers might be lingering in the higher elevations and perhaps, in the valley, I could spot a mule deer or two nibbling through the early morning grasses.<\/p>\n

\"Pond

Pond near Tuolumne Meadows reflects tree-lined shore.<\/p><\/div>\n

I discovered from the little research I was able to do that even the casual visitor could experience some of the solitude of Yosemite without getting outfitted for a backpack expedition.\u00c2\u00a0 On the negative side, I read that Yosemite<\/strong> Falls<\/strong> usually stops flowing in August and that last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drought left the falls dry all summer. The cascade that makes up the waterfall is fed solely by snow-melt, so, in normal years, the peak flow is in late May when the sun warms the winter’s white blanket high in the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 But, thanks to a storm in the high Sierras the night before my arrival, the waterfalls were gushing when I arrived.<\/p>\n

\"Snow

Snow plant bloom under pine trees.<\/p><\/div>\n

It is said that Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places on the planet\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This national park is roughly the size of Rhode Island and is a United Nations World Heritage Site.\u00c2\u00a0 Although the valley proper is a little less than 200 miles from my front door I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spent any time there with my camera.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps this is because it is such an iconic location and one would find it a real challenge to capture stunning images that would even come close to those I had already admired in magazines.<\/p>\n

Winter is the ideal season for photographers.\u00c2\u00a0 You probably have seen some of the images of the golden afternoon light on Half-Dome as it is reflected in the calm, mirror-like center of the Merced River.\u00c2\u00a0 Other photos emblazoned on my mind — the first light on El Capitan framed from the valley by snow-laden branches, or the snow-laden pines and great sequoias viewed from the tunnel vista.<\/p>\n

\"Half-Dome

Half-Dome bathed in last light.<\/p><\/div>\n

Towering more than 350 stories above Yosemite Valley, El Capitan<\/strong> is the largest exposed granite monolith in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 “No temple made with human hands can compare with Yosemite,” wrote John Muir, whose crusading led to the creation of the park.\u00c2\u00a0 Captivated by his words and the exquisite photographs of Ansel Adams and others like him, any summer’s day can find about 14,000 people in Yosemite Village, the hub of the valley.<\/p>\n

\"Bridalveil

Bridalveil Falls<\/p><\/div>\n

What I had forgotten is that even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pedestrian\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photos of Yosemite are phenomenal.<\/p>\n

Indeed, though I did not experience snow and ice, flaming sunsets or long journeys into the wilderness, I felt I came home with a few nice images.<\/p>\n

Since this is the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the National Park System perhaps it is time to visit more of them, and to do it with gratitude for those who had the foresight to set aside public lands for us all to honor, enjoy and receive abundant natural blessings.<\/p>\n

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than one seeks.”\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 – John Muir<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I wanted to get out of the office and do some camping, but all my favorite coastal sites were full.\u00c2\u00a0 So, for the fun of it, I looked online at campgrounds in other locations to see … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[456,399,457,63,458,454,455],"class_list":["post-1073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-2","tag-bridalviel-falls","tag-national-parks","tag-snow-plant","tag-stacy-boorn","tag-tree-reflections","tag-yosemite","tag-yosemite-falls"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hkEw-hj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stacy.awegallery.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}