Such a pitiful throw. I watched my boot wobble above Mono Creek, then— in what seemed like real-life slow-mo—bounce against a rock and flip into the rushing current. Gone, gone, gone. Barefoot on the bank, I screamed, cursing my idiocy for tossing my boots instead of carrying them across in the wading shoes lent by my new friend, Doug Crispin. My life flashed before my eyes there on Mono Creek, days from anywhere. But then, someone was crashing through the creekside foliage.

For the second day in a row Thursday a massive slab of rock peeled from the face of El Capitan and fell to the floor of the Yosemite Valley. This rockfall, though larger than the one Wednesday that killed a British citizen, resulted in no fatalities but did injure one, Yosemite National Park officials said.

Yosemite National Park and the Yosemite Climbing Association invite the public to participate in the 14th Annual Yosemite Facelift, an event held each fall to clean up trash and debris from around the park after the busy summer season.

Wildfires billowing thick, choking clouds of smoke, threatening historic structures, and impacting access were burning in Crater Lake, Glacier, and Yosemite national parks on Wednesday, while a blaze just east of Mount Rainier National Park had prompted closure of part of that park.