We headed to Yosemite on Friday to see how the park was looking after a few months of rain. Somebody is probably thinking right now, "Well, I could have told you how it would look without moving an inch from this computer and saved you the gas money if you only asked. It would look wet. Very wet." And that somebody would have been right, but I'm one who likes to see things for himself, things like the astounding price of gas in El Portal ($3.77 a gallon for regular unleaded).

By pure chance, we happened to be in one of Earth's most beautiful places for this year's Earth Day. To celebrate, the park had a festival featuring activity booths for children, displays about the environment and sustainability, some of the park's hybrid and electric vehicles and samples of various organic foods and environmentally-friendly products. One of the booths that caught my attention showed the park's future development plans that aim to reduce the environmental and physical footprint of permanent structures in the Curry Village and Yosemite Lodge areas.

In honor of Earth Day and John Muir's birthday, which was April 21, Lee Stetson gave a free performance of his one-man show, "The Spirit of John Muir", at the Visitor Center Auditorium on Saturday night. Adopting the attire, accent and persona of Yosemite's greatest champion, Stetson retold some of Muir's wild adventures in California (Yosemite, Mt. Shasta) and Alaska (Glacier Bay). He told every tale with such emotion and enthusiasm that it only took a few seconds for my imagination to fool me into believing the man on the stage was Muir himself. It probably helped that part me wanted to believe.

While it wasn't as wild as a Muir experience, we had our own moment of excitement, a few hours before the show, as we sauntered along the Mirror Meadow Loop Trail.

We were perhaps a quarter of a mile beyond the furthest point we had ever traveled on the trail when we heard a loud snap, as loud as a thunderclap, come from somewhere up on Half Dome. We then heard what sounded like a series of firecrackers or shower of hail, with rumbling underneath.

A hundred yards ahead of us, a pair of hikers stopped and peered up at the mountain. We stopped and turned to look, too, but could barely make out the face of Half Dome through the trees.

Although we were far from the base of the mountain, with an entire lake separating us, I had the fleeting vision of a boulder charging down the cliff, crashing through the trees, taking a bad bounce (in slow motion) and landing on top of me. I tried to make out any evidence of boulders or rocks or dust clouds or snow, but saw nothing.

We waited nearly a minute before resuming our hike. We had barely gone another hundred feet or so, when there was another snap followed by more rumbling. Again we paused in awe. Although we couldn't see it firsthand, there was definitely something big coming down the mountain.

Later, when we were returning to camp, I took a moment to look at Half Dome. From what I could tell, the face of it didn't look any different. The best I can fathom is that we heard icy sheets of snow break from their granite seats high above Mirror Lake and shatter on the cliff wall before cascading down the mountain to the valley floor.

Whenever I'm out hiking, I'm usually aware, on some fundamental level, of how tiny I am compared to, well, almost everything, but every once in a while, there is a moment that makes me very aware, very suddenly, of my size and insignificance. I don't think that type of moment will ever cease to be humbling.

This weekend also marked the beginning of National Park Week, which runs from April 22 to April 30. (Technically, that's nine days, but apparently they round it down to the nearest week.) Parks across the country have special events and activities planned throughout the "week". So, if you have the chance and the itch to get outside and explore, this would be a good week to visit a national park near you.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." - John Muir