Yosemite National Park

March 28 - 29, 2015

By Kimberly Maroon

If you think you feel small in New York City, you haven’t been to Yosemite.

I would often take day trips from Boston to New York just to make me feel small, immerse myself in a place where I was overwhelmed. After experiencing Yosemite, I am pleased to announce that New York City has been defeated—by a landslide of massive rock formations, waterfalls, elevations adding up to 7000 feet, and night skies overflowing with stars. All made by nature! Over that weekend in Yosemite, I kept thinking how unreal this place is. And it’s just here, a few hours from San Francisco, in the middle of the mountains, protected—for people like us to enjoy, explore, and marvel at.

Yosemite Falls Trail

The trail up to the top of Yosemite Falls was going to take 5-6 hours roundtrip. Hot day added to the strenuous level conditions of the trail and I was out of water 2 hours in to the hike. Of course being an avid outdoorsman, hiking, biking, and rock climbing, Bobby charged through the hike. I guess I thought there would be some sort of warm-up before it got steep. Nope, totally vertical from the start, all switchbacks on a rocky path. Think about climbing uneven stairs for a straight 40 minutes. Pretty rough. Bobby was always 2 or 3 switchbacks ahead. It probably didn’t help that I had unevenly distributed weight—a square camera bag off to the side and a backpack—not heavy just awkward.

The whole time I was thinking, “man, I found something harder than my thesis. In 33 years of living, THIS is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Kids were passing me, even a few grandparents. Then I remembered hey my Aunt Suzy does this and she’s in her 70s, granted she has a lot of practice and preparation. So I should be able to finish and not die. On one of the many rest stops on the way up, an older couple passed us on their way back down. They shared a great piece of advice.

“Getting to the base of the waterfall is well worth it, even if you can’t go any further, at least make it to see the waterfall.”

'Lotta big Rocks

Beyond the rocks as steps, there were numerous boulders on the trail.

Creeping on people even in nature, Yosemite Falls Trail.

Yosemite at Night

Me: What’s all that chirping? Are those birds? Bobby: No, they’re bats.

There must have been hundreds of them. It even sounded like they were in the grass next to my foot, but I didn’t see any of them when I shined my light. We sat in the meadow drinking beers, trying to figure out how to set the camera, listening to the bats and Yosemite Falls, and got lost staring into the sky. I was amazed by all the stars I could see and recognized a few constellations, The Big Dipper of course. Finally! Stars! I never really get to see them in Boston because there’s too much light in the city. When the clouds started moving in, the valley looked more like a painting.

Seeing this place only lit by moonlight was surreal. It was just bright enough to light the side of El Capitan and define the lines and edges of the rock face. We winged it with the camera because you can’t see a damn thing through the viewfinder or the live screen. Set to infinity focus and click. The surprise of seeing it afterwards is super exciting, like the feeling you get with film. Sometimes the camera would catch streaks or light trails, but the best surprise was with Sentinel Rock. We kept seeing this light move around and blink in the trees, we thought those must be hikers. Then, the light started moving fast and was illuminating the rock face. They were climbers belaying down! Crazy!