Nature's Splendor, Part Two

To read part one, click here.

After a short while, the bus finally pulled up. Slowly the crowd filed onto the bus, until finally they were all on and the bus pulled away. It had a couple of other stops in town, but finally it pulled onto California Highway 140.

Af first the terrain was little different than much of the train ride had been. The sprawl of Merced gave way to the pastures, fields, and orchards of the Central Valley. However, after leaving the small town of Planada, a new thing entered his view. While barely perceptible in the morning haze, they were unmistakable along the horizon. The high peaks of the Sierra were visible.

Seeing the purple mountains in the distance stirred something in Josh. He remembered this feeling, faint though it was. It was the feeling he had felt every summer, as his family drove west on I-40 out of HIckory, North Carolina. It was a happy feeling, albeit one that was tinged with impatience. The last time he had felt anything resembling it was when he started his job. It was anticipation.

As he thought it over, he hadn’t seen mountains like this in a while. He had gone to college in Iowa, and had worked most of his time since graduation in Chicago. His parents lived in Richmond, Virginia, and he had vacationed in Florida, Las Vegas, and New York. When he had crossed mountains, it had been in the pressurized comfort of a jet. There were mountains in Las Vegas, as well as all around his home in the Bay Area. However, these were merely part of the background, as he headed off to a casino, or sat in traffic on the way to work.

After many more miles of driving, the tall peaks of the Sierra Nevada disappeared. They were still there, of course. It was just that their foothills, several thousand feet tall themselves, overtook the view. Rocky outcropping and small hills first appeared, dotting the landscape amidst cows and pistachio trees. Finally the bus started going uphill, as the once straight road became rather curvy.

The plants were still rather scrubby, although oak trees became more prevalent. The bus made a quick stop at a small village called Cathey’s Valley, and continued on through the oak trees. The bus climbed again, even if the terrain really didn’t change. The road became even curvier as it ran past Agua Fria, once a former boomtown during the gold rush. A few miles later it entered Mariposa, a small town that was also the county seat.

The bus made a few stops in the town, as it was a gateway town to Yosemite for many tourists. There were several motels in town, as well as many other businesses. Shortly they passed out of town and into pine trees. This was short lived, however, as the bus went down into a canyon. Finally the bus leveled off, as the road met the Merced River. Once more the bus climbed towards Yosemite.