PEACE IN THE VALLEY

I can remember it almost perfectly. The scenery changing, the anticipation mounting. The growing sky calling me. Ready to embrace the view and soak up every second of it. Yes, the ocean looked and felt and smelled exactly how I recalled leaving it. Perfect.

My recent return to Yosemite was similar to my beach visit as a young girl. I couldn’t wait to get through the tunnel and find what I knew would be waiting— THIS.

(How is it possible that so many of the WORLD’S greatest monoliths and waterfalls are found in a seven square mile area?)

Yosemite truly is a place of wonder, a place manifesting the divine.

It is there where you can stand looking upward toward a never ending rock face and realize you really are “less than the dust of the earth”. It is there where you can scale a mountain and feel like you are absolutely your best self. You look out and see you are among some of God’s finest handiwork. You catch a reflection in Mirror Lake and you see, you.

My first trip to the valley was for work, not play. After training for weeks to take on the strenuous Half Dome, the anticipation was there, but so was the anxiety. Physically I was prepared; mentally I was weak-- unsure of the path that lie ahead. But as we glided along the switchbacks under a starry sky with a big full moon guide, I felt calm. And sure enough after the night turned into day, putting one foot in front of another, we did what we intended to do.

At the top, I admit, I first just sat there and cried. I’ll blame part of this on body—altitude, fatigue and a little dehydration can do that to you. The other part I’ll blame on brain—the thought that you might watch your husband tumble down to his death will do that to you too. But there we were. We had done more than meet our goal, our destination. We had made it in a new place all by ourselves, with our new friends beside us. We were on our own California Adventure and the conquering had begun.

I suppose that is why Yosemite means so much to me, because of what it represents. A place of trial and triumph. A place of belonging and bonding. A place to try something new and encourage someone along the way. A place to see that you are something, yet nothing at all.

What joy it was to spend a few days in a place I love with those I love most.

“Within National Parks is room—glorious room—room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.”

Enos Mills

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom."

Greek Proverb

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”

John Muir

"One day’s exposure to mountains is better than a cartload of books."

John Muir

"The Wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask."
Nancy Newhall

“All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things, of this world—not with money and titles, horses and carriages, but with bright and happy thoughts, contentment and peace of mind.”

John Lubbock