There are literally hundreds of books on Yosemite National Park, including the iconic Ansel Adams black and white homage and John Muir’s The Yosemite, and it’s no wonder: it’s 1,200 square miles of mountains and canyons and valleys like nowhere else on Earth, and means so much to so many. And here is another must-have for your library, a rare combination of beautiful images coupled with heartfelt words by two masters of their crafts.

Author Mas Masumoto, in A Sense of Yosemite, writes, “Yosemite feeds my imagination.” His essays, accompanied by photographer Nancy Robbins’ insightful and gorgeous photographs, give an intimate profile of this incredible landscape, and the connection that visitors have with it. Masumoto writes, “When we actively seek a connection and bond with a place, when we claim ownership to a place, we are no longer alone in nature but rather part of the natural world that envelops us.”

A Sense of Yosemite, published by the Yosemite Conservancy, creates a lovely portrait of the gem of the Sierra, with words and images. You’ll see the familiar in this book; the meadows and waterfalls, granite cliffs and oak trees, wildlife and wildflowers. But the photographs and words go beyond that, and you’ll see images that are totally original. And I especially enjoyed Robbins’ winterscapes, a scene most visitors never enjoy.

For example, Robbins' exquisite photograph of the Grizzly Giant sequoia in winter shows a pristine calmness and sense of scale that I really liked. A four-part sequence of a coyote hunting a snowy meadow ends with a fat mouse dangling from its mouth. A languorous marmot takes a break on a granite boulder, and a white-headed woodpecker peers outwards from its cozy hole in a pine. There are the brilliant colors of a rainbow in Bridalveil Fall, and many other images that go beyond the iconic postcard photographs we’ve all seen.  

Masumoto, best known for his book Epitaph for a Peach, describes the sensory experience of Yosemite. One such essay, The Nature We Smell, describes the amazing aromas of Yosemite, from the junipers to the ponderosa pines. He writes of the, “…perfume of spring wildflowers such as fragrant azaleas or lupines or the fresh aura of splashing water from a waterfall,” and, “The lazy incense of smoke from a campfire…” He combines personal reflections, the importance of senses and seasons, in his lyrical style. Robbins’ captions and descriptions are personal and enlightening as well. It’s great reading.

This is a hardcover book of 144 pages, and printing, binding, and layout are perfectly executed, and a bargain at around $25. I don’t think this book will go on my shelf right away, but stay accessible so I can visit Yosemite any time I need to.