AS GOOD AS IT GETS
My friend Maura is planning a California jaunt for her Irish cousins and I've been helping with logistics. Yosemite is a center piece of their visit. In 1851 an ongoing battle between gold miners and the native inhabitants, American Indians, reached a point where the famous Mariposa Battalion was sent in. Probably from the moment the Battalion saw the place, word about it's beauty began to spread.
On June 30, 1864 President Abraham Lincoln set aside a grove of sequoias in the valley. That marked the creation of the first state park in the US. Naturalist John Muir, who explored this wilderness, campaigned for federal park status. It took 26 years and in 1890 Yosemite became a national park.
Two rivers, the Merced and the Tuolumne flow through the park. There are 196 miles of road and 800 miles of trails.
The waterfalls are a signature, always spectacular, and even more so after a winter with lots of snow.
Do you see the sprite or spirit dancing out of this falls in this frame?
The land is described as "colossal." Indeed it is. It ranges from 2,000 feet to 13,000 and most of it is true wilderness.
I wish every American could see Yosemite. It is more than sheer beauty,
it is an attitude and sense of being. We have made repeated visits and will
See you down the trail.
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