Sometimes, on the trail, one’s attention is drawn from the majestic vistas and craggy peaks to the smallest of things right in front of you. In this case, I noticed a single tiny flower blooming for all it was worth in the midst of a boulder field. I guess I found inspiration as an artist in a kindred soul struggling against immense obstacles in anonymity. So I took its picture and posted it here, and it and I shall bloom because it is what we know and it is who we are.

I have no idea who Vogelsang was, but he had a nice peak. You can see it for quite a distance on a side trail that winds from Nevada Falls down past Cathedral Peak, ending at Tuolumne Meadows.

The Lyell Fork of the Merced River flows down the center of most of Lyell Canyon. At times, the canyon is wide enough that ponds and pools appear in small meadows within the forest on either side.

Looking like the antlers of a fallen beast, the branches of a long-dead tree fill the foreground of this view of the end of Lyell Canyon where a small stand of trees has long ago gone extinct, leaving only the husk of a once-vibrant forest.

Again, about halfway down Lyell Canyon, the woods give way to an dry open meadow as we approach Kuna Crest and begin our climb toward Lyell Glacier.

This is, as I recall, about halfway into Lyell Canyon, which runs a total of nine miles from Tolumne Meadows to Lyell Glacier.

At the end of Lyell Canyon, which stretches out into the wilderness from Tuolumne Meadows, the John Muir Trail winds into a more forested area on its way up toward Lyell Glacier and Donahue Pass beyond.

This is the lower of the two alpine meadows below Lyell Glacier. After our first trip here in 2004, we hiked this section of the John Muir Trail again in 2006 and then once more in 2012. I find it one of the most beautiful spots in Yosemite and hope to crawl my way back up there for some years to come.

This is the view over the edge of Vernal Falls where many have unintentionally taken a plunge to the rocks below.