GAZING INTO THE GLACIAL VALLEY

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

28 - 29 May 2018

{ diary entry: glacier point : sunset }

We waited for sunset, eating big bowls of pasta, and stringing together stories of a woodland bear that would come and cherrypick our honey from the van while we were out frolicking.

I looked up at the clouds, and you said “it is time,” and we scrambled up the rocky hillside, breathing deep breaths of pine pitch and alpine winds.

I stopped. Breathless.
Weightless.

Spread out below: a scene of such wonder, it caught in the back of my throat; unable to swallow the sound, I yipped and howled, then danced down the hillside, arms open to capture the fleeting moment in my bare hands, to swoop it up and fill every part of me with this…
this world,
this fantastic, incredible, splendiferous landscape!

We watched the sun sink beyond the distant mountains, holding hands, climbing all over the place, leading each other to each little viewpoint, like chipmunks chasing a runaway pine nut.

And slowly, slowly the moon rose and the stars came out, and still we sat and watched the waters pouring into the great valley below us.

I SPY:

spires

domes

walls

peaks

glacial “exfoliation” marks

stellar’s jays

& western scrub jays

dragonflies

an acorn woodpecker

a deer’s hoof-print

incense cedar

pink mountain pride flowers

sugar pine

manzanita

live oak

chapparral

purple lupine

wild iris