The Wilderness is Home

(The top of Yosemite Creek as it goes over the falls.)

This is where it began. In the snow. My journey in Yosemite began in the snow one winter. And I could not believe that such a place could exist.

I grew up in the woods, on the rolling hills and lakes of Wisconsin, reading the words of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Sigurd Olson. When I moved to the Bay Area in California, and the urban landscape of endless buildings and highways, I lost touch with the outdoors. 

When a friend took me to Yosemite, I entered the place that John Muir describes in his books, and I was stunned by what I saw. I return to Yosemite whenever I can to be renewed by the fresh air, hiking up the mountains, and the quiet sounds of sitting in undisturbed forests. 

I sit by the rivers and listen to the surging water, watch deer and coyotes play in the meadows, look for owls, hawks, and ravens in the sky. Often I see bears as I hike, and sometimes I glimpse mountain lions moving through the shadows.

Yosemite inspires me with the power of its many waterfalls, the great granite domes, and the giant sequoias that rise up 300 feet and are 3000 years old. Sunrise and sunset often fill the sky with yellow, orange, and red. From the warm, green fullness of summer and the cool brown days of autumn to the quiet trickling of snow-clad rivers in winter, each season holds its own beauty.

When I am in the wilderness, the rush of daily life slows.  I have time to think about life back home and work through its complications. By camping, I renew a relationship with nature and learn to hear its many voices. Often I feel awe as I hike the trails between the great vistas, and sometimes I feel fear, for this is still the wilderness, and it has its own rules that I need to respect.

When I look over the seven-mile length of the valley as a winter storm clears and light brightens on the horizon, mist rises from between the trees of the dark green forest, drawing me from the visible world into the mystery that is hidden within.

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I have a video with many of these words on YouTube. Created with Kevin Hall, it uses photography from my hikes and music by Lindsay Adler. On YouTube, type in “Liebenow Yosemite” and the video will come up. Or use this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YU61Cy2lio. There are two versions – one with captions, and one without.