OLMSTED POINT TO TENAYA LAKE: TWO SIDES OF YOSEMITE
At Olmsted Point, Yosemite put on a grand show.
Granite slopes, endless pine forests and in the distance,
Half Dome.
Seen from an angle quite different from its familiar face above Yosemite Valley.
Same mountain. Different perspective.
A useful reminder that even old acquaintances can surprise you.
A stone model near the parking area offered a miniature guide to this enormous landscape.
My daughter ventured a little way down the path for photographs.
I stayed closer to the car.
At my age, I believe in appreciating nature without negotiating unnecessarily with gravity.
I took photographs too.
But capturing that vastness was like trying to fit an orchestra into a matchbox.
The picture could record the view; the feeling was another matter.
Then came Tenaya Lake.
More than 8,000 feet above sea level, it lay cradled among granite peaks and dark green pines.
Blue water rippled beneath a sky full of drifting white clouds.
The mountains stood guard around the shore, their grandeur softened by reflections on the water.
After Olmsted Point’s dramatic spectacle, the lake felt like an invitation to slow down.
We lingered, taking photographs, looking, and doing very little else.
Perhaps that was enough.
Olmsted Point made me look far. Tenaya Lake made me want to stay.
Yosemite, it seems, has more than one way of taking your breath away.
