YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK -- Morning has come to the valley floor. Mists dissolve in the sun's warming rays, revealing a dusting of snow on mile-high Half Dome. With the exception of a small herd of deer nibbling on leaves, all is silent.
Men have their cathedrals. Nature has Yosemite.
"It is always a privilege to visit," says documentarian Ken Burns, who fell in love with this swatch of protected California land roughly the size of Rhode Island while making 2009's The National Parks: America's Best Idea. "In the end, it's nothing less than a great testament to the American dream."
This year, that dream turns 150. In 1864, President Lincoln found time in the middle of our bloody Civil War to entrust the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees to California state officials, a bold and visionary act that eventually led to the creation in 1916 of the National Park Service.
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"Yellowstone may have been named the first national park (in 1872), but it all started with Yosemite," Burns says.
Yosemite's sesquicentennial will be marked by events ranging from a dignitary-filled party on June 30 to smaller happenings such as poetry readings and film festivals throughout the year in communities abutting the 1,200-square-mile park.
But for filmmaker Burns, Yosemite's founding is celebrated every time a visitor passes through its gates.
"I remember seeing a young girl frolicking in the spray of Yosemite Falls and thinking, 'Thank God this place is for everybody,'" he says. "What Lincoln did was incredible. It was the first time in human history land was set aside not for kings and noblemen but for everyone for all time."
Yosemite routinely draws 4 million visitors a year from around the globe, the bulk of them preferring its warmer seasons. Where a summer month can draw 750,000, cold-weather months average 150,000.
Sounds of silence
That proffered solitude is precisely what makes Yosemite in winter magical. Even when the park is jammed, it's difficult not to be slack-jawed in the face of imposing glacial-cut granite cliffs, towering redwoods and sparkling rivers. But under a blanket of snow, the sense of being in a natural church is inescapable.
Walk to Yosemite Falls accompanied only by the sound of your own footsteps. Stand in the middle of Tuolumne Meadows with just the wind whistling in your ear. Catch a reflected glimpse of white peaks in Mirror Lake after a solitary mile-long stroll through hushed forests. Gaze upon the sheer, empty face of El Capitan, scrubbed of gear-toting climbers.
"Going to Yosemite is part of my re-centering," says Mike Tollefson, a 36-year park service veteran and former Yosemite superintendent who now runs San Francisco-based Yosemite Conservancy, which raises money for park improvement projects.
"There's something about this place that has a deep effect on people," he says. "Few parks provide a true spiritual connection to the visitor. But Yosemite does."
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Helping instill a passion for this park is longtime ranger and Yosemite's head of public affairs, Scott Gediman. Gediman, 50, has been coming here since he was in a baby carriage, and he has called it his professional home for the past 18 years.
"My dream was to be a park ranger here," he says, grinning.
"Winter does highlight what makes this place really special," says Gediman, whose office boasts photos of high-profile Yosemite visitors as diverse as Oprah Winfrey and President Carter. "The other day I spotted a bobcat creeping along. You won't see that in summer. And we've got foxes and skunks and bears, all happily roaming around. It's like even the animals know there are fewer people."
Among the ranger's favorite things to do in Yosemite's winter wonderland are skiing at nearby Badger Pass and joining guided snowshoe walks under a full moon. "I think there's a perception that in cold months the park is closed, but nothing could be further from the truth," he says.
Fellow Yosemite staffer Morgan Weber, 22, a waitress at the storied Ahwahnee Hotel, says the skating rink at Curry Village is prized by visitors and locals alike.
"It's very important to employees and the kids who go to school in the area," says Morgan, who adds that the only thing better is skating on Tenaya Lake when it freezes over. "If you're in shape, you can also cross-country ski to Glacier Point.
"There's always something to do here in winter, and the setting is unforgettable."
Lost in pristine beauty
Speaking of memorable locations, few lodges match the mystique of Morgan's workplace, a stone, wood, concrete and glass marvel that opened in 1927. The Ahwahnee's public spaces include a massive high-ceilinged dining room that once hosted Queen Elizabeth II and Native American-themed salons with multiple fireplaces whose hearths swallow humans whole and crackle daily in winter.
Though the hotel is noticeably pricier than the valley's other options — Yosemite Lodge and Curry Village — there are few cozier places to watch snow fall. But what's easy to forget when standing inside a 150,000-square-foot edifice is precisely where you're standing. Zoom out 10 miles into the sky and you'd suddenly become but a speck in a pristine natural landscape defined by its utter remoteness.
Consider that when Yosemite champion Muir brought President Theodore Roosevelt here in 1903 — a camping trip that helped secure Yosemite's federal oversight in 1906 — the journey required days in rail cars and on horseback. (Today, Yosemite is five hours by car from San Francisco.)
"It all just goes to show you that our nation's greatest leaders have always taken the long view," Burns says.
The original inhabitants of Yosemite Valley could not have in their wildest visions conjured the masses who arrive here every year. The Miwoks who dwelled in this verdant slice of heaven coexisted with the animals and fished in the ice-cold Merced River, taking their cues from nature and the seasons.
Today, warm months inevitably bring a cacophony of sounds to Yosemite Valley, whether its the joyous cry of children or the whir of electric tour buses. But in winter, it's easy to close your eyes and hear what the Miwoks heard: peace.
Ranger Scott Gediman talks about winter in Yosemite National Park. The park offers many opportunities for hiking, skiing and playing in the snow. USA TODAY
Themed events celebrate Yosemite's anniversary
To mark the 150th anniversary of Yosemite National Park being set aside as public land, a range of events will unfold in and around the park between now and June 30, when rangers and dignitaries will officially mark the date President Lincoln issued the grant act with ceremonies inside the park as well as at neighboring Mariposa Grove.
Among the activities:
Yosemite: Inspiring Generations Ranger walks. Departing from the Valley Visitors Center, the walk explores Yosemite's early history leading up to the Yosemite Grant Act of 1864. 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm every Tuesday.
Range of Light Film Festival. A selection of movies celebrating the outdoors with an emphasis on Yosemite, including 1968's El Capitan (a climbing film about the epic great wall) and 2013's One Day in Yosemite (a 15-minute short made by 30 filmmakers shooting on one day). Yosemite Valley Visitors' Center; Feb. 27 through March 2. rolff.org
Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Presents: The Yosemite Grant Act 150th Concert. Listen in for a cycle of large-scale symphonic poems celebrating the four Yosemite anniversaries kicking off in 2014 and running through 2016. The pieces are composed by the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra's (MSO) Founding Music Director and Conductor Les Marsden. Fiester Auditorium, Mariposa, Calif. 7 p.m., April 5. Tickets: 209-966-3155.
Way Out West in 1864. Mark Twain (historian Pat Kaunert) and Dave Rainwater (of the New Christie Minstrels and Black Irish Band) take you on a trip to 1864 through the music of the period and storytelling about what it was like to travel through the Sierra Nevada mountains in that era. Groveland (Calif.) Hotel, 6 p.m., June 29; $15. groveland.com.
Oakhurst Woodcarver's Rendezvous Celebrates Yosemite. Yosemite has always inspired generations of artists and this week-long gathering of woodcarvers and other crafters will offer classes and demonstrations on woodcarving and crafts, with particular emphasis on carving the Yosemite Grant logo. Community Center, Oakhurst, Calif. April 6-13.
Visitors to the park can also avail themselves of a special lodging package dubbed "The 150th Anniversary Experience," which starts at $134 plus tax for two adults in an unheated tent cabin. For less rustic accommodations, consider Yosemite Lodge ($321) or the Ahwahnee Hotel ($591). The package includes 150th Anniversary edition travel coffee mugs, tickets for a guided two-hour valley-floor tour, and a copy of Inspiring Generations: 150 Years, 150 Stories of Yosemite.