And everything there feels just as it should

Ahhh.

That was exactly what I needed. I've been to Yosemite a dozen times or so, and it's often a little stressful what with trying to find campsites, organizing food and people, dealing with crowds, or even venturing off alone. This time, however, was most chill. No panicky search for walk-in campgrounds - I'd reserved a tent cabin at Curry Village inside the Valley. No fancy food prep or organization - I took easy sandwich fixins, fruit, oatmeal, cocoa, canned stew. No big agenda - I figured I'd chill out in the Valley and explore parts I haven't before, but mostly just enjoy the setting. No hordes of tourists - it was early enough in the season that it wasn't overcrowded. And to top it all off, I got my friend Nichole to join me for a little downtime in the mountains.

It was awesome.

Day 1: The Drive. Check in and settle in to the "tent cabin" - an unheated canvas tent with wooden floor, and two single beds equipped with clean sheets and wool blankets. Happy we brought our sleeping bags too. Dinner was a picnic beneath the granite cliffs at the edge of a large meadow. No people to be seen. Alpen glow on Halfdome.

Night 1: Wierd-ass dreams that a mouse was dancing on top of my sleeping bag. Later in the night the it was a ferret. Followed by a racoon. Finally determined it was a dream and not a wildlife invasion when a large cat asked me why I was so freaked out.

Day 2: Hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls - the tallest waterfall in North America and the 6th tallest in the world. I'd made it nearly to the top years ago, only to give out during the steep switchbacks below the rim... so I was determined to make it this time. The snow was waist deep once above the north rim of the Valley, and the waterfall was not at its peak flow yet, but the view from the top, hugging the granite for dear life on the narrow lip looking down 2,500 feet onto the valley floor - that was totally worth the sore calves.

Day 3: Walked around Mirror Lake at the far end of the valley, up a trail no one else was on, past melting snowbanks and early season flowers. Sat in the middle of the stream relaxing to the roar of water. Final Evening: Picnic along the banks of the Merced river. Sat under the stars on a footbridge over the stream watching the moonlight light up the falls. Informed the lone other person to cross our paths that the geysers he was looking for are in Yellowstone, not Yosemite.

Day 4: Drove to Hetch Hetchy Valley - once comparable to the Yosemite Valley in beauty, it was flooded behind the O'Shaughnessy Dam in 1923 to provide San Francisco with some of the most pure water in the nation. Dude. Bears! A sow and her two yearling cubs in the road. And a hike to one of the most spectacular waterfalls I've ever had the thrill of eating lunch beneath.