Yosemite is my favorite place on Earth. Okay, I haven’t been everyplace on Earth. Mostly just around the U.S. But of everyplace I have been, Yosemite is my favorite.

A massive fire is threatening Yosemite.

I have mixed feelings about that.

On the one hand, Yosemite is my favorite… well, you got that. On the other, I’ve hiked the brown mountains of Southern California and the Sierras. I know fire is as necessary as rain for the mountain’s health. And as inevitable as earthquakes. Nature has little regard for our aesthetic sensibilities. Nature will take care of herself.

Take a stroll through a grove of Giant Sequoia. They can reach 30 stories high and their lowest branches are half a football field above you. Some of them were saplings when Romans were just a few guys in short skirts getting beat up by Etruscans. Day and night are just eye blinks to them. They have little regard for you.

Some say the massive fire threatening Yosemite is part of the rapid weather change happening to the planet. This is partly our doing. We are part of nature. But at times, we are tragically unaware of that. Nature will take care of herself.

Nature will regard us insofar as we regard her.

Here are some digitally altered photos I took on my last visit to Yosemite.

(All images ©2013 Skip Johnston)