#RSRSeesTheUSA Day 40: Yosemite National Park, CA
I listened to my inner voice and went back to Yosemite today.
I spent most of my time wandering through redwoods and sequoias in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. I don’t actually think it’s helpful to try and describe these trees that are so huge and fire-dependent (their cones with seeds explode out when fire cracks open the tree) and entire ecosystems unto themselves. Instead, I’ll say that if you’re ever able to spend time with sequoias, you should absolutely do it.
This photo of me not touching the sides of this sequoia despite my fully spread arms was taken using the phone’s panorama mode going sideways. That was the only way to fit the whole tree into one photo that could still show a person at the base.
There is something I always find satisfying and intriguing about self-contained places that don’t seem to have much to do with the world around them. This includes liminal spaces like airports (I love airports) and a-place-apart spots like the inside of Yosemite National Park. Not only is there Yosemite Village with a grocery store, garage, medical center, and assorted lodging options, but there are also other places for camping, for dining, where people live, where you can buy gas or go to the public library.
At Yosemite, this feeling is further encouraged by the fact that driving into the park requires you to wind through mountain passes and separate yourself physically from where you are outside the park. From leaving my Airbnb (in one of the towns nearest the park), it took me almost 2 hours to get to the start of a hike in Yosemite Valley, where many of the prime sights of the park are found.
All of this (plus the fact that wifi/cell service is iffy in many parts of the park) makes it feel like the world outside has receded, and instead you’ve entered this separate world that is all about the sublime. I love the sublime. The philosophical, literary kind of sublime. Where you feel insignificantly tiny in the face of natural forces immensely greater than yourself. Where you’re awed and overwhelmed and emotionally moved and maybe a little terrified, too.
Yosemite does all of that with its trees and rocks and waterfalls and generally spectacular landscape, but I can’t help thinking (like an experience designer) that it also does it by crafting this National Park world-apart feeling that takes you out of your everyday and makes you pay attention to the majestic natural world around you.
In case you couldn’t tell, I really like Yosemite, and driving out of the park in early evening made for some very excellent light and shadow drama, which was a lovely last impression.
FYI, tomorrow is the start of National Park Week, and to celebrate, entrance fees to National Parks are being waived tomorrow. If you’re near one and you can stomach the crowds, go to your park.
PS—I don’t know a ton about the history of the National Park system beyond the fact that a lot of it was Theodore Roosevelt’s doing, as encouraged by John Muir. I also know that Teddy was a man of many faces, some of which were awfully discriminatory. Also, acknowledging that most all of these parks (all of them?) are on land traditionally stewarded by various indigenous people, and now are part of a federal USA system… well, let’s just say that it seems pretty clear that there’s some ugly, complicated history in there. If anyone’s got recommended reading on the topic, I’d love to know. I like my parks, sure. I also like my contextual knowledge, thank you very much. History is interesting because it’s complicated.
Cloud of the day: tie between this Schiele Four Trees-esque sunset view from the patio of my Airbnb and this puff of white cotton that looks like it’s pouring straight down over Yosemite Falls
