SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It’s easy to become blasé about Yosemite Valley. Even a touch jaded. Especially when you live within easy driving distance and have visited countless times and in all seasons. Factor in the crowds and the hoops one must be willing to jump through in order to spend the day marveling at the sheer cliffs and tumbling waterfalls, and it becomes easier just to go someplace else. Incomparable scenery, albeit with unavoidable hassle. So for the last five or six years, a period that included a prolonged drought and COVID-mandated reservations, I avoided Yosemite Valley except whil...