California Official Visitor's Guide 2009 - (Page 13) n certain full-moon nights, when the sky is clear and the moon throws off enough light, Yosemite Falls, and the gauzy mists raised by its cascading thunder, produce a fairy-tale moment almost beyond this world’s belief. The moon’s rays reflect off the mist and create a “moonbow”—red, orange, yellow, green, blue—a shimmering brushstroke across the plummeting falls. And should you miss it—like most beauties, the moonbow is a fickle thing—that’s okay; California offers more natural alternatives than a Grateful Dead convention. Our vast and varied landscape is home to hushed redwoods, wild beaches, ragged mountain ranges that scrape the sky, belching sulfur pots, tumbling rivers, and immense desert spreads: Mt. Whitney, Lassen Peak, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia National Forest, Point Reyes National Seashore, Big Sur, the American River, Lake Tahoe. Frankly, it’s enough to give Ansel Adams a serious neck-cricking. Happily, the thrill of discovery comes in as many forms as the landscape itself. Stargazing in deserts, beneath more stars O than sky. Kayaking on a nighttime ocean, the waves winking silver beneath a full moon. Casting for trout shadows beside a sparkling stream. Sighting whales from a high bluff. Watching a child pick a wildflower and place it in your hand. If it were only about the landscape, you could just look at pictures. We touch the landscape and the landscape touches us, an equation both simple and indefinably complex. California was once entirely wild. Today, cities and freeways share the countryside. They make the most noise, but they still do not share equal billing. Lose their bustle, and you’ll find California still harbors untamed places. Thankfully, 25 percent of California is protected in pristine parks [ open space] and other public open space and wilderness, so nature’s footprint remains in a landscape so diverse that it’s nearly beyond our scope. Such grand spectacle requires an equally outsized response. The state is too varied to fully explore in a single trip. All you can do is take your cue from Yosemite Falls, and throw yourself with abandon into the journey. KEN McALPINE Enter keyword in Search box at visitcalifornia.com 13 LAURA FLIPPEN http://www.visitcalifornia.com
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