Tuesday, November 1, 2011

How it Was: Sunset in Yosemite Valley

I went back up to Yosemite on Sunday, just to explore a bit on a beautiful fall day. More pictures will come later, but tonight I leave you with the sunset view from the Gateway at the exit from Yosemite Valley. I don't have much commentary, just the kind of speechlessness that comes with an incredible moment.
The cliff is El Capitan. The river is the Merced, short for Rio de Nuestra Señora de Merced (River of our Lady of Mercy). I haven't found the Miwok name for the river. They called the valley Ahwahnee, meaning "the valley shaped like a big mouth".



Good night! Or good morning, whenever you happen to catch this!
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3 comments:

  1. biobabblerNovember 1, 2011 at 9:06 AM

    I hear you re: being gobsmacked at Yosemite. I call this the Yosemite Moment when you think you're done being stunned by splendor, and then WHAM, you see another stunning thing. Example: http://trunc.it/ixpeh Gotta love that PARK, and I love your photographs!!! =)

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  2. GaelynNovember 1, 2011 at 5:44 PM

    WOW! You were certainly in the right place at the most spectacularly right time.

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  3. AlaskaNovember 7, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    I looked into this for you:

    "According to Sylvia Broadbent in The Southern Sierra Miwok Language (1964) the name for the Merced River is (phonetically) wakaHI-m-to-nt or wakaHI-m-nt"

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