Gateway to the Valley

What's the most thrilling/magical/enchanting engagement you've had with the non-human world?
The summer before my Junior Year of high school I went on a two-week trip to Yosemite National Park, where I went on a 3-day backpacking excursion with a group of girl scouts from all around the United States. The park itself is magical, as much of it seems so untouched by human presence, which made me feel like an intruder. The waterfalls were hundreds of feet high and the beauty of Half Dome and El Capitan were simply breathtaking.


But this particular afternoon captured an experience that I will likely only see again on a Discovery Channel episode. One afternoon after setting up our camp for the night, the girls and I decided to go exploring around our site. While walking through the fields, we suddenly caught sight of two male deer running into each other, backing away, and running into each other again. For over ten minutes the antlers clashes and the intensity soared as we anxiously waited. It was not until at least two minutes into the fighting that we noticed a lone female deer standing slightly off to the side. It was such a remarkable experience, to witness the two males fighting over the female. I will never forget this experience for as long as I live. (Although very tiny, the three deer are in the picture to the left... take a look and see if you can find them!)

Part II, is "saving nature" something we should concern ourselves with? Why, or why not?
Saving nature is something we should absolutely be concerned with. It is so ridiculously important to protect parks such as Yosemite, not only because of the serenity it brings to those who live there, but also to the many species of animals and plants for which it is home. Stephen M Meyer's expresses his fear that there is "virtually no place left on Earth" that fits the definition for wilderness in "The End of the Wild." Others suggest that National Parks provide this specific environment for many species to live in, making it impossible for them to survive if this environment disappears or is ruined by human interaction. However, we need to be concerned with saving nature in all forms. We need to make sure that we are not intruding into areas with "relic species" and doing more than our best to protect what we have left.