WHAT'S TIME TO A WATERFALL? It's the kind of question a couple of buddies might pose around mile nine of an especially arduous hike, the sort of demanding trek that removes the chaff surrounding your thoughts and digs deep down to the philosophical and/or fanciful questions. And while each hiker might have a different response to the topic, depending on their own view of the clock and of nature and of how the two interact, most people can agree that the passing of time isn't first and foremost on a waterfall's mind. Sending great gushing gallons rushing over soaring granite cliff faces is at the top of a waterfall's to-do list, however, and the fact that we humans are feeling stoked because spring is at hand, a period of high waterfall wonderfulness, may not truly register with the natural landmarks (as mentioned, all of those rushing gallons keep a waterfall rather busy). That's okay; we humans can be fully blissed-out because spring is here and, with it, the impressive H20 show that the waterfalls draping numerous parts of Yosemite Valley deliver each year. It's Waterfall Week 'round the national park, and Aramark, the new concessionaire for Yosemite, is celebrating with a new waterfall video each day for eight days. First up is...
YOSEMITE FALLS... as seen from Housekeeping Camp Bridge. Though a clear torrent of wet stuff is falling from a high place to a lower place, impressively and at great rate, one is equally as impressed with that quintessential waterfall roar, an aural aquatic experience that is quite different from listening to the ocean. What falls will get the spotlight in the days to come? Best watch the Yosemite Facebook page, or, better yet, make for the destination to see/hear in person. The park got a fairly prodigious amount of snow this past winter, with some major flakes falling up in the meadows in early March. That has many positive implications, but a major one is major waterfall action. It's a spring thing, though, as mentioned, we're not sure the waterfalls are paying much nevermind to our human clocks or calendars. Nature flows with the seasons, and not by what our wristwatches or the feeds on our screens say. Still, though, as celebratory weeks go, a week packed with waterfall videos is about as nice as it gets.
