the John Muir Trail

John Muir was a famous 19th century naturalist. He was a leading early advocate of conservation of natural places of great biodiversity. He was a prolific writer, publishing several books on his experiences walking in the high Sierra. He walked up, down, over, around, and through some of the roughest country in the continental US, and in his later years he founded the Sierra Club, an organization which is still around today and still dedicated to the mission of preserving natural places of great biodiversity for the benefit of current and future generations. There is a trail which runs from Tuoloumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Mt. Whitney which is the highest point in the continental US (and the subject of many famous Ansel Adams photographs) located in Sequoia National Park. David and I had the pleasure of walking along the John Muir trail for about 30 miles through some of the most incredible backcountry either of us has ever experienced. It is a magical place: a land of thundering rivers, tranquil lakes, soaring peaks, towering trees, and scampering animals. The high sierra are located in eastern California. They are the only natural habitat in the world for the giant sequoia trees. These mountains support incredible arrays of plants and animals, and they are one of the very few areas in the US which are not crossed by a highway. The only way to cross the sierra east-west is to walk or fly. Considering their location in the most populous and probably most developed state in our union, I am so thankful for the foresight, hard work, and dedication of a man like John Muir to ensure that these places would be protected from the logger's saw and the developer's bulldozer.







Hmmmm...decisions, decisions. Wish I had enough vacation to do BOTH!













On the road...er trail...again.

Skeeters

One thing we learned in King's Canyon, which I think is safe to say at this point, is that you can drink the water without filtering. When we started on the trip, we ALWAYS filtered water because we were paranoid about getting sick. But the problem is that where there is water, there are mosquitoes, and let me tell you I have seen some mosquitoes in my day, but I've NEVER seen bugs like there were in the alpine highlands of King's Canyon. It was out of control. It was enough to literally drive you crazy. I would get in my sleeping bag at night and still be reflexively swatting bugs even though there were not any. I dreamed (nightmared...) about bugs. We would look forward to getting in the tent at the end of the day so that we could play 'operation hide from bugs'. It was nutty. So beware. If you go in the high sierrra, be sure to take a bug net!



Do you have any idea what it feels like to be bitten by 1,723 bugs at the same time? It ITCHES!

King's Canyon

My brother David and I went backpacking last summer in King's Canyon, CA. For those of you who have not been there, you should go. It is positively epic. We walked 72 miles in 10 days, crossed over 2 passes of greater than 12,000' elevation, and in general had a grand ole time. We learned that ultralight backpacking is where it's AT, that you CAN get your pack under 25 lbs including food, that trout caught at 10,000' are REALLY tasty, and a number of other lessons. David took awesome pictures. I left lots of clothes in the backcountry (long story), and we met several wonderful folks along the way. The thing I love about hiking with David is that we always laugh at each other, and even though we're 11 years different in age, we never run out of things to discuss. Perhaps that means we both talk too much. Nah.