Dance of Water and Light by Stephen Lyman

Dance of Water and Light by Stephen Lyman

 Vernall Falls is the most visited waterfall in Yosemite. It's not very far. You can see it within a mile and a half hike and another mile to this view.

It's spectacular and wonderful and there are rainbows in any waterfall but this one is particularly famous for its rainbows. They're very bright and intense. Because of the waterfall's position, it's easy to see them from the trail many times.

When you distill the entire attraction of waterfalls down, they represent life. Water, in the Native American tradition, is the blood of Mother Earth. All the rivers and creeks are veins. It's the liquid that makes everything alive. And, of course, everything that is alive has water in it.

On top of that, there's the rainbow. That's light and beautiful. It's a phenomenon that's very magical and spiritual. You can never walk up to a rainbow. You can never get close to it. You can always see it and in a waterfall, it's always appearing and disappearing. It's another symbol of the spiritual. It's the tangible and the ethereal, all in one image.

Print released 1991