Yosemite

Yosemite Valley is a portal to the sheer size of Nature.

What we call Nature is a work of art painted with different shades of green and brown.

The hike up to Half Dome is a 16 miles round trip from the trail head in Yosemite Valley (elevation 4040 feet) to the summit (elevation 8836 feet). Hikers may get a little wet when they walk past the Vernal Falls.

Not many people can say that they have stood above a rainbow. I was in heaven and did not even know it.

Power and beauty in Nature reflect the glory of the Creator.

When there is too much beauty everywhere, the extraordinary can become ordinary.

What makes something extraordinary is that it can thrive on something very ordinary.

Sequoia is the biggest tree in the world. It can grow up to 300 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter and live up to 3000 years old. Imagine that some of these trees was there when Jesus walked on this earth.

The fallen tunnel tree (originally called the "Wawona Tunnel Tree") was carved in 1881 and fell in 1968-1969. Sequoia has a very shallow root system. There are very many fallen sequoias like this one in the Mariposa Grove.

The second tunnel tree called the "California Tree" was carved in 1895 as a winter replacement for the Wawona Tree. I am standing with a creature that is several hundred times more senior and a thousand times bigger than myself. Yet I can walk freely in and out of it. Perhaps it is what theologians call the "creation order." According to the book of Genesis, although man was created last, he is first in God's creation.

There are a lot of beautiful lakes near the eastern portal of Yosemite.

All three states of water (liquid, ice and vapor) are represented here. One can walk around in shorts and T-shirt in sunny weather when snow is just a stone throw away.

Moonlight makes Yosemite dreamlike sometimes. Just in case you want to know, I took this picture without a tripod.

I saw three black bears in the last two days of this trip in Yosemite (July 2010). Black bears are naturally shy of people unless people start feeding them.

If you look carefully, you can see people climbing up to Half Dome on the cable. The rock on Half Dome is smooth and the face is almost vertical for the most part. Every year a couple of people die falling off the cable when the rock is wet.

My reward for climbing Quarter Dome was the view. Ironically when I was surrounded by so much beauty, I just took it for granted.

John Muir Trail offers the best view of Nevada Fall.