Flying over the boundary of Yosemite National Park, the view from 10,500 feet spanned east across 30 miles of snow, ice and rock to the Sierra Crest. The west-facing flank was side-loaded with massive slabs of snow up as far as you could see. Frozen lakes looked like giant skating rinks.

As the plane banked to the right, we caught our first glimpse of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. Looking toward Yosemite Valley, the top edge of Half Dome was visible, its colossal escarpment jutting into the sky.