Mystical

We stood entirely alone on the banks of the Merced River. Other New Year's revelers had dispersed for warmer climes after the sun had cast its last faint rays on glowing granite.

The night air crisp and cold. El Capitan on the left and Cathedral Rocks on the right loomed as silent sentinels waiting for a full moon rising to herald the end of one year and the fresh new birth of the next.