Yosemite National Forest is a wonderful place– most everyone who has actually existed would concur. However simply how wonderful are we talking? A picture shared by the National forest Service (NPS) earlier this month shows a series of lights illuminating El Capitan, a vertical rock development in Yosemite.
A number of the lights illuminating El Capitan appear in a near-perfect vertical line, though there are a few lights sprinkled somewhere else along the cliff face too. It’s a perplexing sight, until you understand there’s a perfectly affordable description– and it’s not fairies or extraterrestrials. The lights are in fact headlamps from rock climbers who are making their way up El Cap.
“As the stars start to emerge, something else magical and unique to Yosemite Valley begins: lights flicker on from the surrounding cliffs,” says Yosemite National forest on its Facebook page. “During our spring climbing up season, lots of climbers in Yosemite take numerous days to climb the park’s towering cliffs. As these climbers settle down for the night, you can watch their headlamps switch on as the stars come out.”
Ultimately, the park says the climbers switch off their headlamps for the night and the only twinkling lights left are the stars. And seeing a stellar night sky in a place like Yosemite is most likely the closest you can get to real-life magic.
Mystery fixed! Have you invested a night under the stars at Yosemite?
A series of lights illuminating El Capitan in Yosemite National Forest had some individuals scratching their heads. Here’s the explanation.