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CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW THE FULL PRINTThe sight of Yosemite from the Highway 41 tunnel is much like the view that greeted the Mariposa Battalion during their expedition of discovery, March 1851. Battalion medical officer Lafayette Houghton Bunnell reported the scene they experienced in 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 the 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 mountain peaks. I increased the awe with which I beheld it, and as I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.
During many subsequent visits to this locality, this sensation was never again so fully aroused. It is probable that the shadows fast closing all before me, and the human mind passing from the novelty and the first impression, dulled the sense that made it so impressive. And yet, when I recall that scene, and the conviction that it was utterly indescribable adds strength to the emotion. It is not possible for the same intensity of feeling to be aroused more than once by the same object, and I never looked upon these scenes without 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 a new Sierra. 17 years later, John Muir found the whole Sierra Nevada, and Yosemite, the heart of the Sierra. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. “Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen.” (John Muir)
On this day in September 1962 the High Sierra cloud makers again conjured a powerful prospect.
WINGED VICTORY, Yosemite Valley, from Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, California, September 1962.
Photo: Tom Frost
CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW THE FULL PRINTThe sight of Yosemite from the Highway 41 tunnel is much like the view that greeted the Mariposa Battalion during their expedition of discovery, March 1851. Battalion medical officer Lafayette Houghton Bunnell reported the scene they experienced in 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 the 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 mountain peaks. I increased the awe with which I beheld it, and as I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion.
During many subsequent visits to this locality, this sensation was never again so fully aroused. It is probable that the shadows fast closing all before me, and the human mind passing from the novelty and the first impression, dulled the sense that made it so impressive. And yet, when I recall that scene, and the conviction that it was utterly indescribable adds strength to the emotion. It is not possible for the same intensity of feeling to be aroused more than once by the same object, and I never looked upon these scenes without 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 a new Sierra. 17 years later, John Muir found the whole Sierra Nevada, and Yosemite, the heart of the Sierra. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. “Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the mountains he wrote of the Range of Light. Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have ever seen.” (John Muir)
On this day in September 1962 the High Sierra cloud makers again conjured a powerful prospect.
WINGED VICTORY, Yosemite Valley, from Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park, California, September 1962.
Photo: Tom Frost