July 29th-August 3rd
Yes,
I talk a lot about John Muir these days. With good reason. He was an example of
what a truly “Great American” can and should be. The Sierra Nevadas were his
temple and he treated them with the honor and respect due to such a holy land.
His writings about Yosemite and the entire “Range of Light” are poetic,
inspiring masterpieces. But there were people there long before Brother Muir,
honoring and respecting the divine landscape that is today called “Yosemite.”
You should know the real name of this place. Ahwahnee = The Place of the Gaping Mouth. Old Chief Tenaya
and the Ahwahneechee = the last
free people to inhabit this sacred valley. I finally had the honor to visit
their land and spent five glorious days wandering its peaks and valleys;
soaking in its crystal waters. There is a reason millions of people flock into
Yosemite Valley every year. Despite my mixed feelings about such multitudes –
many of whose disgusting behavior voids their right to visit there, imho – I
understand why it has been flooded with tourists. It is simply stunning in its
grandeur. “Man needs beauty as well as bread.”
Day 1, July 29 –
Very
mixed emotions as we arrived at the famous Glacier Point vista right on time
for a first Yosemite sunset. Immediately impossible to focus on the beauty with
kids screaming, youth groups singing cheesy Christian songs, hundreds of
cameras snapping, and one hijo de…
actually pissing over a ledge. Yes, peeing over a ledge as his buddies sat
laughing and drinking beers. Someday I will try to implement a ban on people
who dare to behave with such disrespect in such holy places. They have voided
their right to be there. Tell me: what is the proper response to someone who
urinates in the back of a church full of people trying to pray? He should no
longer enter that temple, no? For the first 30 minutes or so, I sort of just
wanted to leave Glacier Point and apologize – again – for the stupidity and
arrogance of some of my compatriots.
But
then… the sun left us for the day, the moon rose to the east, a stillness
settled in as the crowd fled. Suddenly, it was mostly silent. Once the
“Required Effort Quotient” (REQ) goes past a certain level, the shallow waters
clear away and you are left with a sacred area’s inherent profundity. I crept
down towards a ledge and sat in silence for some 15-20 minutes. As if on cue, I
heard the birds singing their night songs, I heard the insects starting their
night chants, I heard the roar of the crashing waterfalls hundreds of feet
below in the Valley. I felt the Spirit present within this remarkable vista.
Glacier Point came back to life from its temporary hibernation. And it dawned
on me that no matter what lesser humans and their lesser angels attempt, they
will never, never cover up or erase completely the beauty of this good Earth.
Because sooner or later they will be gone, and the silence and grace of these
places will remain, to one degree or another.
Slowly
meandering in the darkness back to the parking lot, off we went to Tuolumne
Meadows where we would wait for backcountry permits the next morning and begin
the true adventure into the heart of Ahwahnee, the holy land of the Ahwahneechee.
Thank you for allowing me to visit your marvelous home.
(Given the intensity of my first
Ahwahnee trip, I’m going to try to do this blog as a day by day adventure… stay
posted…)
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