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I love the (white man's) history of Yosemite. It's been a long time, so I don't remember details, but I was once an avid student of Yosemite history.
The history that really captures my imagination though, and which can no longer be known, is of the Native Americans who lived in the Valley. Though no life could have been easy back then, they resided in Paradise on Earth ... and, with its hidden location, was one of the last native strongholds to survive. I find the notion of the last Indian holdouts existing in Yosemite Valley, one of the most glorious places on the planet, so darn romantic. They were lucky enough to survive for decades longer than most natives on the continent ... yet still doomed to lose the holy splendor of nature's most glorious temple to the invading Europeans.
And the history from there is charming, to say the least. Yet we can know little of the eons when this unmatched Valley was unsullied by civilization.
(Le Sigh)
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