On our first backpacking trip into Yosemite, we came across this natural line of demarcation – more of a spiritual boundary, probably born of a simultaneous shift in both geography and botany. No matter the cause, as we approached this gentle barrier we felt as if we were crossing over into a new realm – an untamed land more apart from civilization than simply distant from it. I paused to take this photograph in a meager attempt to capture the mood.