The Mighty El Capitan | America’s National Parks

Yosemite s granite facades are heaven
for rock breeding birds like these
common Ravens but the chicks are
dangerously exposed and there’s trouble
overhead a keen eyed adolescent bald
eagle
but here comes father to the rescue nose
diving straight at the much bigger eager
fearless he harasses the predator even
plucking its tail feathers and saving
the day
father wheels above El Capitan
maintaining his defensive air patrol
mother meanwhile arrives home with a
beak full of food for her insatiable
brood the places precarious enough for
creatures with wings but the flightless
love this rock face to El Cap as they
call it is coveted by climbers the world
over the 3000 foot monolith takes four
or five days to climb Yosemite sheer
walls towers and spires offer climbers
every imaginable degree of difficulty
from hair-raising to flat-out insane
it’s as if the waves of glaciation over
time carved this place with Daredevils
in mind with incomparable vistas as
their rewards
you