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Take A Hike

Sometimes you just need an escape from the stress of life and to get lost in the beauty that surrounds you.

Summer is quickly coming to an end. We have all been taking advantage of the great weather this month has left to offer and soaking up the sun as much as we can. Before we know it, we’ll be back to wearing our comfy sweaters and consuming pumpkin spice lattes just to stay warm.

One seasonal pastime many people seem to enjoy is camping in the great outdoors. I am one of those people. I personally love the opportunity to disconnect from the world and recharge the battery, where the only sounds I hear are the chirping of crickets along with my tent-mates snoring inches away from my face as I fall asleep under the moonlit sky. I’ll take swatting off mosquitoes any day if it means I get to cohabitate amongst nature, wander a trail to discover some wildlife or hike to a waterfall that lies hidden off the beaten path.

Camping is such a great escape and a wonderful journey for the senses. The air smells fresher, the sun feels warmer and the food somehow even tastes better. There’s just something more satisfying about roasting a marshmallow over a campfire under the open sky versus a fire pit in your backyard beneath the glare of the city lights.

One of my fondest camping memories took place a few years back in California at Yosemite National Park. I flew out of New York and decided it would be fun to celebrate my birthday in California with my LA friends and a few hundred redwoods.

As soon as my plane landed in Los Angeles, my friends were waiting with camping gear in tow. We drove away from the chaos of Hollywood and arrived at Yosemite almost six hours later into a sanctuary of serene beauty. Massive mountains and stunning sequoias encompassed our campsite. Our living quarters for the next few days consisted of a three-sided cement building with a tarp curtain making up the fourth wall. A large metal box stood outside of our dwelling which I later discovered was the food storage, or “bear locker” as they call it.

“Oh, great, so the food gets all four walls to protect it, but that tarp curtain I’ll be sleeping behind should surely keep the grizzlies away,” I thought to myself.

We set up our site and immediately set off to explore. We saw the most beautiful, massive sequoias I have ever seen in my life. Grizzly Giant was the most impressive tree we came across. It is over 2,000 years old, standing over 200 feet tall and about 25 feet in diameter. To think this enormous piece of nature stands taller than most sky scrapers was mind-blowing.

The entire park was a breathtaking landscape of wildflowers, redwoods, mountains and waterfalls. As day turned to night, we took a short walk to Mirror Lake. I just stood there in awe, looking up at this immense clear sky filled with more stars than I had ever seen in my life. The backdrop looked as though we were standing in a painting, as the reflection cast down before us like a mirror of sparkling beauty.

The first night was a success without any bear casualties to report, so we set off on our journey. We took a shuttle to the top of the Upper Yosemite Fall trail which leads to one of North America’s tallest waterfalls at 2,425 feet above the valley floor. We opted for the 7.2 mile Yosemite Valley Loop Trail. The hike down was nothing short of a daring adventure. We trudged through fields, rivers and rocky paths. We scaled fallen trees, crawled our way through caves, and clenched to mountainsides as our neighbors passed along 6-inch walkways formed along the sides of the banks. We stood alongside picturesque waterfalls where our only barrier was the drenched mossy rocks to cling to as it cascaded down the side of the mountain.

One of the most intriguing waterfalls I came across was Bridalveil Fall. It flows over 600 feet tall and at times the water would dance with the wind, blowing it sideways appearing as a veil as it flows down the mountain. The Ahwahneechee tribe believed that inhaling the mist of the falls would improve one’s chances at marriage. I gotta tell ya, I inhaled that mist until I was blue in the face and here I stand years later while there still appears to be no ring on my finger. Silly legend!

The trip to Yosemite and the aching joints we endured for the next few days were more than worth it. We witnessed the most magnificent scenery that we definitely earned the opportunity to see that weekend. Sometimes you just need an escape from the stress of life and to get lost in the beauty that surrounds you.

John Muir said it best. “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

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