• AT HAND: Deuce Lee, The Big Dipper
• LOCATION: Yosemite Valley NP – Red’s Meadow, CA
• DATES: July 11-17, 2009
• STATS: 7 days/6 nights, 60 miles – 9,375 feet EG

Delusions of grandeur tend to persist. By design, our whole experience in this wild, wacky world is filtered through our own perspective. We are, in effect, engineered to be selfish, self-serving and the center of our own universe, usually to our detriment. When you are your own celestial sun, it’s easy to be blinded by the light and hard to close your eyes, turn your gaze inward, and acknowledge your own bias, fallibility, and ignorance-to embrace and exist comfortably in darkness, to be humble and empathetic. Getting into the open spaces in our physical world and seeing the expanse of possibilities available to you first hand opens similar swathes of space within you. Stepping into that unknown is the whole point of exploring. There is no reason to stop.

This first section of the John Muir Trail has it all. Crowds in the valley and the septic majesty of the Backpacker’s Campground provide a great foil for the journey to come. Hiking up the Mist Trail adjacent to Vernal Falls, and feeling the power of the water and the moisture in the air gives you chicken skin. Camping at Little Yosemite Valley and climbing the cables to Half Dome provides uneasy access to breathtaking vistas that are difficult to describe. Cathedral Peak and Lake as well as Garnet Lake offer reflective beauty and a chance to refresh on hot days. Sketchy high water crossings at Minaret Creek are guaranteed to get you moist when the water is flowing mid-season. Big open grasslands at Tuolumne Meadows and exceptionally unique geologic features at Devil’s Postpile, as well as some epic waterfalls, round out the sights.

Of consequence: Bears in the Backpacker’s Campground; waiting until the sun hits your tent before getting ambulatory; mosquito two-stepping; hanging over the abyss at Half Dome; snacktion at Tuolumne; disabled hiking in sandals; portaging.