Childish Empires and Ancient Trees (plus bears & meteors)

August 14 –

            Giant Sequoias. Muir Grove, Slight Return. Today I finally wander back to where my epic Summer began. On this day, a light rain falls (thankfully wetting the parched ground) during my late afternoon saunter. After two months of dishing them out, I’m certain there is no longer a need to wax poetic with more flowing adjectives trying to describe the grandeur of these places. So I won’t.

Ahwahnee, Day 6

Day 6, August 3

            From our perfect campsite, sunrise is as spectacular as sunset was. Half Dome and Yosemite Valley are glistening in the early morning rays. The full moon is still visible above them. Shadows glide through Little Yosemite Valley, our route for this final Ahwahnee saunter. Again, sitting in silence for what seems like hours, I am unwilling to leave this place. Views from enormous hills and mountains and peaks have always drawn me into that “Wilderness Trance” I mentioned yesterday. Not surprising that my family names are “Duneman” = Man On a Dune, and “Lamontagne” = The Mountain. I guess we of these clans were supposed to view the world from above. It certainly feels like home to me. Often, as I am leaving a place that had such an impact on me, I stop to soak it in one final time, with a nostalgic deep breathe. I had to do that twice today. It is hard to leave these places.

Ahwahnee, Day 5

Day 5, August 2

            Cloud’s Rest, indeed. Resting among the clouds after an intense climb straight uphill to 9,926 feet above sea level. We earned these views today. All the way up we meandered past stunning mountain views and now we sit at the peak of peaks. It is a 360 degree panorama that puts one in what I like to call a “Wilderness Trance”. You could just sit and stare for a day, or thirty. Religious adjectives abound.

Ahwahnee, Day 4

Day 4, August 1

            Water. Agua. The theme of this divine day. Greeting the morning with the calls of the mountain chickadees and a crisp, cool splash of Lewis Creek’s pure H2O across my face, I could sit there all day and just soak in these liquid sanctuaries. The way to explore Yosemite and its waters is with a slow, deliberate saunter. Thoreau has a wonderful take on walking and “sauntering.” Evidently, the word “saunter” comes from France in the Middle Ages, “sante terre” - holy land. People claiming to be on their way to the holy land would stop and ask for alms and food, and soon they came to be known as the “sainte terrers” – the holy landers. I like that. Because here, in this holy land, you must move slow and pay attention to the water and the hidden adventures to be found around every turn.

Ahwahnee, Day 3

Day 3, July 31

            Glorious day. I am awakened by a text message at dawn informing me that I am now the proud uncle of a brand new nephew. Not sure what could possibly top that event or make this day even more special, I now get to journey deep into the backcountry of Ahwahnee. Evidently there was a bear in the backpackers camp that morning, drawn by some food left outside of one of the mandatory bear boxes found everywhere in the High Sierra. Quite a commotion, evidently. I was so happy with the new news that I slept right through all of it. Glorious day, indeed.

Ahwahnee, Day 2

Day 2, July 30

            Yosemite is a very busy place in the Summer. After a long morning of waiting in lines, our backcountry permit is secured, but only for a next day departure. So we had to skip what had promised to be an extraordinary first night down in Lyell Canyon. Bummed, but realizing that wherever we ended up would be jaw dropping, we weren’t too upset. Plus it’s all the more reason to return to this special, special place for another trip very soon. After a delicious hot breakfast of eggs, bacon and hashbrowns, and a good chat with the good folks sitting around the little communal breakfast table at the Tuolumne Lodge restaurant, we head out for the day. Instead of backpacking into Lyell Canyon, we day hike up to the famous Mono Pass, where you get a clear yet distant view of Mono Lake via Bloody Canyon and down through the eastern valley. As we started off, I was very conscious of the fact that something I had been planning and dreaming up for a very long time was now underway – my first visit to Yosemite’s High Sierra backcountry. Momentous moments abound this Summer.

Ahwahnee, Homeland of the Ahwahneechee (most people call it Yosemite) - Day 1

July 29^th-August 3^rd

            Yes, I talk a lot about John Muir these days. With good reason. He was an example of what a truly “Great American” can and should be. The Sierra Nevadas were his temple and he treated them with the honor and respect due to such a holy land. His writings about Yosemite and the entire “Range of Light” are poetic, inspiring masterpieces. But there were people there long before Brother Muir, honoring and respecting the divine landscape that is today called “Yosemite.” You should know the real name of this place. Ahwahnee = The Place of the Gaping Mouth. Old Chief Tenaya and the Ahwahneechee = the last free people to inhabit this sacred valley. I finally had the honor to visit their land and spent five glorious days wandering its peaks and valleys; soaking in its crystal waters. There is a reason millions of people flock into Yosemite Valley every year. Despite my mixed feelings about such multitudes – many of whose disgusting behavior voids their right to visit there, imho – I understand why it has been flooded with tourists. It is simply stunning in its grandeur. “Man needs beauty as well as bread.”

Picking Your Jaw Up Off the Ground (and fighting off false fear)

July 19^th

             I’ve been doing quite a bit of that lately. It seems around every corner I wander, there is some jaw-dropping vista of one type or another. I can, without reservation, say that I am now pretty much in love with Sequoiadendron giganteum: some of the most magnificent beings I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. I don’t think I will ever tire of just staring up and gasping at the fact that something could be so ancient, so giant, so beautiful. If these fluffy adjectives I constantly use seem silly, you have clearly never been in a Sequoia forest – go visit grandpa and then try to describe the experience in this language of ours.