Breathless Beauty…

Yosemite; how do I even begin to describe the sheer size, beauty and inspirational impact this national park has on your psyche? Simply put, I can’t. It really is a place that you have to see to believe and feel.
My Mam’s had a love for Native American culture since I can remember, so while she was here visiting from Ireland, we took her to the lands of the Ahwahneechee tribe. We booked a tent in Housekeeping Camp and set off on our travels with a car full of campfire food and fishing rods.

Road tripping it with family is always a fun time. We chatted our way through different landscapes; past truck stops, desert fields, almond groves and peach orchards. When we passed a tiny shop in the middle of nowhere we pulled over to take a look around. It was the oddest little place with a boatload of character. The owner, a lovely man from New Zealand, was a welcoming presence who gave us tons of advice for our journey. And then we got to Yosemite…

Arriving at Yosemite National Park.

It’s a five hour journey from Oakland to Yosemite, but you spend another hour or two travelling the few miles into the park because you keep pulling over to gaze at El Capitan, the views of Half Dome, and the wonderment of that supreme expanse. It literally takes your breath away and makes you realize how small you are in the grand scheme of things. But that doesn’t mean that it makes you feel insignificant, in fact it’s the opposite, it makes you feel worthy and present in life.

We swam, fished and surrounded ourselves with this kind of river beauty.

We spent the weekend swimming in the natural river (which was freezing, but invigorating,) fishing (with no results,) checking out the Native American museum, eating campfire food (Mam and Ray had their first s’more,) and hiking up the mountainside to the absolutely stunning residence of giant Sequoias. Being in the presence of those 2,000 year old beauties was one of the most profound moments of my life, (experiencing and seeing the carvings on the walls of the 5,000 year old Neolithic tomb Four Knocks in Ireland being the most momentous.) But, even as I write this, I’m still in awe of the Sequoias grace. At the top of the mountainside, there are baby sequoias and it blew my mind to think they’ll reach their full height 2,000 years from now. Do I need to mention the questions that thought inspired or ask you to imagine who will see them when they reach that age?

The Giant Sequoias we hiked to.

Our campfire looked up toward half dome, and on a whim, Martin shone his flashlight up at the cliff face. The reply came in the form of a climber sleeping in a hanging camp on the side who flashed their torch back at us. We’ll never see their face, know who they were, or what brought them there, but in those moments of communicating a friendly goodnight, we were connected. I hope they reached the top and take with them the memories that we were lucky to take with us.

Our campsite view of Half Dome where we communicated with climbers sleeping on the cliff face through flashlights.

At glacier point where the view is a miraculous wonderment, it made me smile to hear an older man with a thick Dublin accent telling a story to a new friend. We’re everywhere us Irish, and it’s always a comfort to hear a voice from home.

The views we were blessed with at Glacier Point.

Yosemite is incredible. It gave my family and I a place to reconnect, a campfire around which we reminisced, and for the future, magical memories to smile about. It’s history, culture, and beauty is a must for anyone who has some time to go and experience it for themselves.

(Special thanks to Martin for taking all these wonderful photos of our amazing trip!)