The forest along Bridalveil Creek is the Yosemite that most visitors pass without stopping — not a named viewpoint, not a designated vista, just a stand of incense cedars and ponderosa pines through which the creek runs, audible but not visible from the road. The image holds bright fragments of sky through the canopy above, deep forest shadow at the base of the trunks, and the warm rust of cedar bark as the middle register that holds the composition together. Bridalveil Creek descends from the high country through this forest before joining the Merced River — the same water that fell from the lip of the fall, now moving quietly through the trees. The forest rewards the walker who leaves the trail.