What I Saw - The Range of Light

Conifers including Sugar Pines - Yosemite NP - Big Oak Flat Road After and  Near Big Oak Flat Station

From the Sacramento Airport one travels south on I-5.  It is a mistake to exit to I-80.  One must pass the I-80 exit ramp and continue south on I-5. Taking I-80 will take the traveler to Reno. I-80 never meets CA-99, the needed highway to proceed to the Sierra Nevadas. The correct exit is Business I-80.  The naming is confusing for a Sacramento traveler but the correct selection must be made.  Business I-80 is also state route 50.

From Business I-80 one travels to CA-99.  CA-99 takes one to the San Joaquin valley.  There is an illness called San Joaquin Valley Fever that is caused by inhalation of airborne dust or dirt. The causative organism is the fungus Coccidioides immitis. C. immitis resides in the soil.  The valley has many groves. Cherries are grown in the area near Stockton.  This a large cherry producing area.

From  CA-99 one travels to SR 4.  SR 4 goes to Copperopolis.  From Copperopolis one begins to climb into the Sierra Nevada range.  From SR 4 one travels SR 49 to go further east.  The SR 49 bridge over the New Melones Reservoir is a beautiful bridge.   The water levels in the New Molones Reservoir are strikingly lower than past years.

 One may take SR 49 to SR 120.  SR 120 winds its way to the Big Oak Flat entrance station to Yosemite National Park.  Fires have burned parts of the conifers along the alignment of SR 120. The Rim Fire in 2013 burned many trees along SR 120.

The Sierra Nevadas though logged in the national forest areas have in their highlands Yosemite National park.  The park is a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.  As one enters the park one becomes one with the land.  One feels like one is going home.

 

What I saw - West Point

Water cascading over the creek bed - Fort Duffield, KY

Wildflowers in bloom - Fort Duffield, KY 

A wooded area has been set aside for historic preservation along Highway 31W at West Point.  The U.S. army constructed a fort there during the American Civil War.  The high area where the fort was located could have controlled a large area of the surrounding land.  The fort and the area of  surrounding land was never attacked during the American Civil War.  The winter of 1862 was a harsh winter.  Some of the soldiers in garrison died of their illnesses during that winter.  There is a listing of deaths and the illness for each decedent if known posted at the park.

It is springtime in Kentucky.  There are numerous flowers in bloom along the streams in this historic park.

The quiet beauty of the flowers stands against the loss that occurred at Fort Duffield. The area speaks of healing.

A puzzle

Snowy path - Iroquois Park

John Muir wrote of the outdoors and the land under the sky.  In his writing he said it is "familiar."  And it is familiar.  When we enter the outdoors we go into a big room that we find familiar.  Though there all sorts of creatures that we don't know about we sense the familiar in our journey into the outdoors.  The scents to come to us mostly appeal to us.  It is a puzzle how the outdoors is full of unknowns and is familiar.  And it is familiar.