Yosemite National Park is a true treasure like no place on Earth.
As Californians, we should be proud of it, and as Americans, we should be proud of our National Park system as a whole.
The fact that we have collectively decided to set aside these special places for protection and for everyone to enjoy is a benefit to us all, even if you never step foot in a park - though you should.

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail."

High Sierra Camp Loop

Tuolumne to Sunrise
Sunrise to Merced
Merced to Volgelsang
Vogelsang to Tuolumne

And a varmint on a stick

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."