from an October a few years
ago
*
As I come out of Tenaya
Canyon in Yosemite after a hike, the skies darken and it begins to
sprinkle. Then thunder crackles and
bangs through the sky. The wind increases and blows branches and camp chairs
across the Upper Pine campground. I love rolling thunder, especially the type
that I can feel rumbling deep in my chest. Hurrying back to camp, I grab my
rain gear and head
for the meadows so that I can see what the storm is doing to the surrounding
mountains.
A
white cloud is forming just below the lip of Upper Yosemite Fall. It's the only
cloud this low. The color of the water in the fall matches the white of
the cloud so it looks like the fall is pouring into the cloud like a basin, and
it seems that more water is pouring into the cloud than is coming out.
I
wonder if the atmospheric conditions are such that the fall is creating the
cloud? Maybe the cool air flowing down the Yosemite Creek canyon behind the
fall is mixing with the humid, warmer air rising from the valley floor and
forming a cloud at the junction. Lightning flashes and unhitches the cloud from
the fall to float up the valley.
