Mariposa Stopover

Back in the saddle again, on my way to Yosemite National Park to celebrate my birthday.  Stopping off in Mariposa in the Sierra Foothills on Hwy 140, it's a soft day showered with wildflowers.  Spring is just over the horizon, swelling up from the warming soil and flowing to the tips of the now-gray and dormant trees.  I've gotten a glimpse of the high Sierra in the hazy distance, cloaked in white snow and towering above everything else, regal, abiding.

Mariposa is a bustling but small community, conservative in attitude and political orientation.  It's one of the gateway towns that supplies the national park with workers and supplies.  This will be a brief trip to the park, but any visit is memorable no matter what time of the year.  The pleasant mix of showers and sun all this late winter is urging the buds in the oaks and chaparral in the hills.   I'll have to go up over the next grade and down another to get to the Merced River, which should be in full flow at this time, and I'm getting excited to see it.