Back From the Wilds

I have found paradise. Others may search high and low looking for perfection, but I believe that they have probably never been to Yosemite.

Yosemite Falls. We took an afternoon dip here on our last day.

Arriving in Yosemite National Park after a drive through the golden plains and dusty mustard velvet hills of the Sierra Nevada was like entering a primeval den of emerald trees, alabaster mountains and blue, blue sky. I have never seen anything that compares to Yosemite, this place is magical. Once you drive through the front gate and begin the winding climb up into the mountains you leave everything you have known, all your worries in the present and concerns for the future behind.

Half dome. Ben and I are planning on tackling this next time...

If you let the forest, mountains and icy water come to you and their timeless quiet sink into you, there are unexpected gifts to be found in this still wild frontier.

Ben and I covered in Yosemite forest debris and loving it!

We camped in a beautifully deserted spot. Nested in the forest sheltered by large rock formations and neighbours with a musical stream. At night we would leave behind the friendly glow of our campfire for a litte while and venture into the forest, winding among the shadows of the trees, watching the stars whose glow was uninterrupted by any light. Those celestial bodies were more than I have ever seen before. There were stars beyond stars. They seemed closer somehow, here among the glades where the pines reach up to try and brush the sky. Standing by the stream at night was surreal; feeling and hearing the rushing of so much life without seeing anything at all.

Our home for the past two days.

We were so fortunate that forest also came to us. We spotted so many beautiful deer, bluejays, squirrels and chipmonks, and as Ben was negotiating the four wheel drive track in a very un-four wheel drive vehicle, this beauty and her cub appeared before us.

We were both astounded by the size of this lovely creature, and so grateful we got to see her
and her cub (who disappeared before the camera came out)

Our second day in Yosemite was just as wonderful, we took some long walks in the summer sunshine and found a beautiful river to have a dip in to cool off and welcome the afternoon.

Cool water from the snow melt was welcome in the heat of the day.

Happy by the river.

The scent of Yosemite shifts throughout the day, just as the light moves gently across the peaks and valleys. The morning air is sharp with pine and smoked with leftover campfire; the middle of the day is perfumed and dense but so clean that you can't get enough of it's exquisite ambrosia; the afternoon brings wafts of the heat of the day radiating off the rocks as the evening settles in bringing with it newly lit fires and the moist dew of the midnight hours.

L.D. and Jazmin, the best camping and country dogs ever!

And so our three days in the wild passed and we are now back at home. But I know that I will carry the peace and quiet of Yosemite inside me waiting until we next return.