This image was taken in Yosemite National Park of the South Fork Merced River just past Swinging Bridge near Wawona. I do not live in an area of California that provides me with various trees beaming with fall colors; for us, it becomes the transition from light brown to browner. Given a chance for a road trip up to Yosemite National Park, I am in two of our favorite times to visit the park, normally winter and spring, summer not so much due to the extreme number of visitors to the park. Last fall, we got a chance to visit the park just as the colder air hit the higher elevations, and the trees provided a gorgeous view of what I remember as autumn.

As a family, we have spent most of our time in the park exploring the valley and trekking up most of the trails to see the spender of the various waterfalls, but on this trip, we drifted away from the norm and explored parts of the park we had never ventured to. This image was one of many that I took during a day hike along the South Fork of the Merced River. Our timing was just right, and the trees burst with colour around every bend in the river. Our trips to Yosemite have not been the same since; we now tend to stay away from the valley floor. The park covers some 747,000 acres, roughly the size of Rhode Island, but the Valley Floor only stretches about 8 miles. Getting out of the valley and venturing to other destinations within the park has changed how we see and experience one or more national treasures. If you get the chance to visit and see the valley floor but give yourself the opportunity to experience so much more, you will not regret it.