Journal Entry: Meditation Rock, Stanislaus National Forest
April 7, 2026 (Dardanelles Vista Camp)
At 7:15am I went to a spot at camp I'm calling Meditation Rock. I brought my coffee and my Nemo pad. I sat down, faced east, and waited for the sun to creep over the nearby mountain and warm my bones.
While I waited I tried to meditate, but my mind is too busy for traditional meditation. Instead, I let nature be my mediation, and I felt a deep sense of peace and calm just observing the details of everything in front of me.
The view from here as I write this is breathtaking.
It's not some iconic site in Yosemite. It's not a developed campground strategically positioned to present beauty in all directions. It's just a dispersed camping spot near a forest road, west of Donnell Lake, a few miles away from Highway 108.
And yet it's magnificent.
Blooming Manzanita and striking Redwoods.
Majestic Sequoia Redwoods rise into the deep blue sky, their fluorescent yellow-green moss contrasting beautifully with the smooth, vertical, elegant lines of their fibrous, cinnamon bark. They're joined by forest pines of all types and ages, the sun illuminating their young Spring needles.
In the distance, the Dardanelles are flecked with snow, and other granite mountains, smooth and jagged, glorious and imposing, force me to gaze at them for an extra few moments.
Even right near me, nature's randomness is amazing. Granite boulders sparkle in the morning sunlight, with color ranging from deep shades of grey-blue to silver all the way to mint green. Mountain whitethorn and blooming manzanitas decorate the earth. Mountain chickadees, woodpeckers, yellow-rumped warblers, American robins, and even the squirrels all sing their songs in a nonstop chorus that is endlessly entertaining to listen to.
There are no sirens, no neighborhood noises, no dogs barking, no trains, no traffic.
The more I'm out here, the more THIS feels like normal life. Surely, life can't be better than this on the purest level. Removing "traditional" measurements like career or finances or friendships or romances. Just the relationship that I have with nature, the endless adventures in it, the deep appreciation for and reverence of it.
Nothing in existence makes me happier than mornings like this.
Member discussion