Infinity in stone

Explore, Gulf News, November 30, 2007 [Layout view]

Pictures by Gautam Raja

Yosemite. Mountains and streams. Waterfalls and meadows. Wildflowers and mirror lakes. Traffic jams and parking problems.

How do you come to terms with a national park that’s so Californian in its contrast between brilliant openness of sky and exhaust-fuming mundanity of ground? One whose beauty is its downfall; but once you’ve elbowed past the crowds and craned over the shoulders, its pristineness makes the very breath catch in your throat?

Looking out over the craggy vistas, it could have been just yesterday that the glaciers ground over the park and retreated up north to die. It’s as if only that morning a man carrying a field camera and glass negatives hiked for days to get photos of such beauty that it’s his work you see before you, in 3D and full-colour.

Whether standing humbly before El Capitan, the largest granite monolith in the world, watching the ripples on Mirror Lake, or bounding in meadows by the Merced River, you realise why photographer Ansel Adams’ work is so vital. It captured Yosemite’s beauty, but—improbably—gave it beauty in return. It’s nearly impossible to look upon haunting Half Dome and not imagine a frame around its infiniteness.

Cold start
Yosemite’s glacial origins are the key to unlocking the wonder of this park. The focal point for visitors is the Yosemite Valley, scoured out from a ‘V’ shape into a mile-wide ‘U’ by glaciers 14,000 years ago. It’s humbling to remember that not only was the valley full of ice, but the cover actually extended a few hundred feet above Half Dome, which rises to an elevation of 8,847 feet.

For the casual visitor, Yosemite is best visited in late summer. Some guides suggest spring, when the waterfalls are at their peak, or autumn, when the foliage adds to the splendour. There are fewer visitors at these times, but some roads, especially the Glacier Point road and the Tioga Pass, are not motorable.

It would be sad to miss Glacier Point. It’s a long, winding drive, but worth every moment. Once there, it’s rightly described in the official Yosemite guidebook as “one of the most exhilarating overlooks on Earth”. Though usually crowded, silence falls as visitors gaze over a vista that takes in the legendary rock features and waterfalls of the park and looks down 3,214 feet to the Yosemite Valley floor.

It’s here that viewers are treated to the spectacular show the setting sun stages on Half Dome. Many people make the mistake of packing up and leaving once the sun is below the horizon, but this is when the best part begins. The ethereal light known as alpenglow bathes the famous rock formation in pinks and purples that grow softer and softer until, nearly an hour after sunset, the moon and stars take over.

Being able to see this is one of the best things about Yosemite in summer, but the downside is that the park is packed. Finding accommodation inside Yosemite needs a quick trigger finger because rooms are sold out mere minutes after the bookings open. Campgrounds also fill quickly in summer, and some of the larger ones really pack people in, with tents standing shoulder-to-shoulder like refugee camps under the trees.

Parking full
In spite of booking two months in advance, we found accommodation only in the town of Mariposa, about 45 minutes’ drive outside the park. We didn’t mind, since Mariposa is full of character—an old mining town with a historic courthouse and various local-run restaurants. The drive to and from the park is through golden meadows, along hilly, winding roads and past the rushing Merced river—hardly a taxing commute.

And though the valley gets crowded, not many visitors are eager to tramp up mountains in the hot, dry, slightly rarefied air, so treks that involve a bit of work also offer a bit of solitude. Another option is to break out of the valley altogether and take the Tioga Road to the Tuolumne Meadows, the largest subalpine grasslands in the Sierra. A hike to Lembert Dome is recommended for its stunning views of the meadows and the distant mountains. On the way to the Tuolumne, there’s little that can beat a picnic lunch and quick nap by the cold, clear Tenaya Lake. Be warned that distances are great in Yosemite, and it’s easy to spend a lot of the day driving.

Many sights took our breath away, but it was cold, distant, rocky Half Dome that stole our hearts. We watched it glow for as long as we possibly could, and at nearly 9pm, tore ourselves away for the long drive back. We were almost in tears as we left a show that has played in magnificent solitude for much of Half Dome’s 87 million years, and will continue to play long after there’s nobody left to watch. GR

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