Greetings from Yosemite National Park

When I climbed over that rocky peak, everything stopped. It didn’t matter that our field research group had a meeting in 5 minutes. It didn’t matter that I left my sunglasses on a rock somewhere. It didn’t matter that I seriously needed to chase a coyote. At that moment in time, all I wanted was for the world to turn just a bit slower. I didn’t want to turn away, but I had to. Someone else had to see this view, someone had to tell me I wasn’t just dreaming or hallucinating. I quickly sprinted down back to camp, and convinced the group leaders that the meeting had to take place up about 200 feet further up the mountain. I worried that the hike would be too long to reach the sunset in time, and the group meeting would be ruined. Well, I was half right. The meeting was cancelled because there is no one on this earth who could turn away from that sunset. When the orange rocks faded back to grey, and the fire on the horizon was extinguished, everyone hiked back to camp. I was just about to leave as well, but not before I found my sunglasses and took the picture that still holds the top spot in my gallery.

Sincerely,
Charles