Saket Vora

5:00am

I had heard of the crowds and the difficulties of staying at Yosemite National Park without a reservation. This is a place that gets booked up six months in advance, even the tent campsites. It is about a four hour drive from San Jose, so we hit the road at 4am. The others are fast asleep while I man the helm. I’m making good time, taking advantage of the empty streets.

7:45am

We arrived at the park half an hour ago. No one is at the front entrance booths; it is too early. We decide to go to the Bridalveil Creek campsite, which is a surprisingly long journey (in time, not distance) from the entrance. When we finally arrive, my fears of the Yosemite crowds evaporate – in this 90-site campground, only a handful of sites are occupied. The girls setup the tent and bring the food into the bear box, and I head in to take a nap, still feeling really tired.

1:00pm

I’m not awoken till close to 11:30am. It is very warm now with the sun shining. There are more mosquitos than anticipated. We decide to head into the valley and eat at Yosemite Lodge before checking out the numerous sites around the park.

Yosemite was always of my highlights for this roadtrip. I had heard much about it from my friend Peyton, who has spent months at the park and has climbed the famous El Capitan with his brother four or five times. He speaks of it with unmistakable reverence in his voice. Yosemite represents the first time a national government has ever set aside land for preservation (back with Abraham Lincoln) , and along with the Grand Canyon was one of the first national parks. The motivation behind the conservationists’ attention to Yosemite is immediately understood as one enters the valley after bursting through a long tunnel cut into the granite. Glistening granite cliff faces, both sheer and rugged, arise along the sides of a lush valley full with green meadows and forests. On the left, El Capitan rises from the valley floor with a commanding presence over the valley, its brow furrowed. Bookending the valley at the far end, the incomparable Half Dome looms over its domain. As one continues the drive into the valley, more elements reveal themselves. A river tumbles over rocks and flows over shallow pebble riverbeds, its waters alternating in white and crystal clear. Waterfalls burst out of the cliff faces on both sides of the valley from impossibly high elevations, their contents crashing on the rocks below before flowing forward and tumbling down yet again. Nearly all the water falls have an upper section and a lower section. Yosemite defies the senses with its sheer magnitude and scope. You tilt your head up at the gray glacier-worn granite faces and marvel at the patterns in the stone, but a whispering voice in your head reminds you that it is still over a mile in the distance….

7:00pmAfter seeing Yosemite Falls up close and other lookout points, we drive back to our campsite. There is a large open meadow with a calm stream that is visible through the trees at the back of our site, so we take half an hour to explore it. We spot animal tracks and secretly hope to see a bear. It is a nice, peaceful view. We light the stove and quickly finish a light dinner. Later we’ll start a fire and have some s’mores.

Thirty minutes before sunset, we continue the road up to a lookout spot known as Glacier Point. This is the point where famed photographer Ansel Adams (one of my father’s favorite) captured one of his famous enigmatic photos of Yosemite. The daylight fades, and I can see the rock glowing in the setting sun. I urge Sachi to drive faster.

The view from Glacier Point will take you aback. Arresting your gaze, right in the center as a profile, stands Half Dome. The sheer vertical drop of its face becomes all the more apparent. A valley lies out in front of it, with granite walls on all three sides. Stretching back and off in the distance, higher mountains reveal themselves; their peaks jagged and sharp, untouched by the massive glacier that carved Yosemite Valley eons ago. To the right, the upper and lower half of a waterfall cascades down, tended to by the towering peaks described above. The sun drops below a far off range, and shade creeps up the Half Dome. To the left, visible if you crane your neck, Yosemite Falls peeks around the corner. The colors of the rock change as the sun continues to set. A band of granite, high on the range, soon shines with a purple hue, moving Sapana to murmur that familiar line from America the Beautiful. This view from Glacier Point is more striking than any other I’ve seen at a national park.

If a patron saint existed for the awe-inspiring grandeur of nature, Yosemite is surely an altar.

And I am humbled at her feet.