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CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW THE FULL PRINTLafayette Houghton Bunnell, of the Mariposa Battalion, recorded his first view of the Yosemite Valley, 27 March 1851 with these words:
“None but those who have visited this most wonderful valley can even imagine the feelings with which I looked upon the view that was there presented. The grandeur of that scene was but softened by the haze that hung over the valley – light as gossamer, and by the clouds which partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it. I stood in this sublime valley, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.
During many subsequent visits to this locality, this sensation was never so fully aroused. It is probable that the shadows fast closing all before me, and the vapor clouds beyond still undefined, gave a weirdness to the scene, that made it so impressive; and the conviction that it was utterly indescribable for the same intensity of feeling to be aroused more than once by the same object, although I never looked upon these scenes except with wonder and admiration.” (Discovery of the Yosemite)
From Bunnell’s vantage point at Old Inspiration Point, slightly higher than this photograph, he discovered a valley filled with light and wonder much the same way John Muir found the wild Sierra, and named it the “Range of Light.” And even after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in the glorious mountain light, he said:
“On the highest icy peaks, the snowy white mantles are flushed with rose and gold, and the great sun bursts over the mountain walls with a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous beauty. And above all others, the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen.” (John Muir)
Guidebook writer Steve Roper prefaced the 1971 “Green Guide” with a Mike Borghoff pronouncement that speaks to the soul of all those who are drawn to Yosemite’s walls: “Look well about you, wanderer! There is but one Yosemite on the face of the earth, and once experienced, it will always sound the chord of this, your need: simple joy and certitude, the face of life itself.”
MORNING LIGHT, Yosemite Valley, from the Highway 41 turnout, Yosemite National Park, California, August 2001.
Photo: Tom Frost
CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW THE FULL PRINTLafayette Houghton Bunnell, of the Mariposa Battalion, recorded his first view of the Yosemite Valley, 27 March 1851 with these words:
“None but those who have visited this most wonderful valley can even imagine the feelings with which I looked upon the view that was there presented. The grandeur of that scene was but softened by the haze that hung over the valley – light as gossamer, and by the clouds which partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it. I stood in this sublime valley, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.
During many subsequent visits to this locality, this sensation was never so fully aroused. It is probable that the shadows fast closing all before me, and the vapor clouds beyond still undefined, gave a weirdness to the scene, that made it so impressive; and the conviction that it was utterly indescribable for the same intensity of feeling to be aroused more than once by the same object, although I never looked upon these scenes except with wonder and admiration.” (Discovery of the Yosemite)
From Bunnell’s vantage point at Old Inspiration Point, slightly higher than this photograph, he discovered a valley filled with light and wonder much the same way John Muir found the wild Sierra, and named it the “Range of Light.” And even after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in the glorious mountain light, he said:
“On the highest icy peaks, the snowy white mantles are flushed with rose and gold, and the great sun bursts over the mountain walls with a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous beauty. And above all others, the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen.” (John Muir)
Guidebook writer Steve Roper prefaced the 1971 “Green Guide” with a Mike Borghoff pronouncement that speaks to the soul of all those who are drawn to Yosemite’s walls: “Look well about you, wanderer! There is but one Yosemite on the face of the earth, and once experienced, it will always sound the chord of this, your need: simple joy and certitude, the face of life itself.”
MORNING LIGHT, Yosemite Valley, from the Highway 41 turnout, Yosemite National Park, California, August 2001.
Photo: Tom Frost