Came across this scene on our first backpacking trip in Yosemite in 2003. Teresa and I took a circle route up the Mist Trail and then around and down to Tuolumne Meadows. At this point in the path we left an open area and entered an almost mystical environment that quickly became more wooded as we set off for Cathedral Peak some miles out ahead. I recall stopping and in seeing the trail curve into the wilderness that we were finally not only leaving civilization behind, but any connection to it as well.