The Yosemite National Park is one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever been to on Earth. I’m very lucky to be able to go there for a weekend, as the Sierra Nevada is just a few hours away from San Francisco. I invited a friend and we decided to go for a couple of days. The park is busiest during the summer as it is when it is the best season to hike. However, I am curious to explore it during the winter as well – as an appreciator of the photography of Ansel Adams, seeing the valley covered in snow must be incredible. Regardless, I was awestruck to be able to see those known formations in real life.
During the trip, we were able to experience the temperate forest and see some of the most incredible sights, the history of the park, and the infrastructure that supports it. It’s fascinating to see the geologic portrait of millions of years of activity. The basin of the valley itself is a result of melting glaciers and rainfall. The most iconic/known parts of the park are El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and Half Dome. The latter fascinates me as to how it is known to be formed: it is two domes that were generated by different processes. The lower dome was created by volcanic activity, while the upper dome was formed by erosion. However, we didn’t get to go to all of the most iconic/known hikes of the park, as we stuck to the easy ones and still managed to get lost in the process (a few times).
A very high point of the trip was seeing the Giant Sequoias for the first time. These massive trees are truly something to behold. Standing next to them, you can’t help but feel insignificant. They are effective reminders of how our notion of scale can be so easily put out of proportion. But to be frank, I felt like an insect throughout the entire extent of the park.
