Sharon's Summer

Sharon's Summer
Sharon Chooses High Elevation and High Temperature

Sunday, July 18, 2010

At the Edge of Humanity

On this last civilized day before wilderness, I strolled about the several lakes that are close to the Village of June Lake and my motel.  This town of 600 rests resort-like in a lush valley and collects more visitors than residents in the summer months.  While June Lake is beautiful, it carries less backwoods charm than the nearby Gull and Silver Lakes.

As my time on the outskirts of humanity draws short, I think about what brings me here.  What I did by scheduling this adventure was to start things, and now that they are started, it is time to let them drag the rest out of me.  I is the way I have always done things: think up a destination, start moving toward it, and if nothing stops my progress, carry through.  I am talking a lot these last few days because I can’t talk for the next six.  While the solitude I will experience in those campsites high in glacial carvings will relieve some of society’s pressure, they will also draw me, each one, closer to the destination and return to the people I left.






June Lake and the village











Creatures seem to love these beautiful surroundings as much as I do.


















Gull Lake is a short walk from the village







Silver Lake was astoundingly beautiful this morning with the sun just entering its valley and lighting its island and parts of the shoreline before the wind came up to disturb an utter stillness.









The trees around Silver Lake must be the happiest in the world

8 comments:

  1. 150 Hours of Solitude? There's a book title in there somewhere.

    Have a wonderful week.

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  2. I was born near a Silver Lake... it was a resevoir. Many memories there, amidst it's reflections... I think of you now, amidst all this beauty, really astonishing in its purity and it makes me as happy as a tree to see. It's true you set your destination and carry on and through... and so you are off on another solo adventure... No, there is nothing like that here, now, in walking distance... you had to go away for this ... the Chinese Lake at the Huntington is the closest, of flowing fragrance.
    Yet even the pictures inspire to find the inner silver and gull... the inner wild heights of openness where sterling solitude vibrates with no location and no space... only with distance and the approach of words...

    I'll be with you in that world of beauty in this way... and look forward to the words when they come to you ... and to us!

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  3. Thanks Ritchie, I hope also for a wonderful week. A good book title, yes.

    Kathabela, please do come along, just extend what you’ve seen to higher elevation and fewer people. See you in Yosemite.

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  4. Beautiful photos! ...and, as always, I am enjoying your thoughtful prose! Enjoy the week and savor every step, sight, sound, smell, etc!

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  5. Kathabela said...
    "I was born near a Silver Lake..."

    Now she lives just east of Lake.

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  6. Love your adventures and bike trips. I get to see a part of the world that is new to me. Your journals and pictures are as fascinating as ever and am happy that you're sharing it with all of us.

    Happy biking.

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  7. Asuncion, Thanks for wishing me well while I am gone to the wilderness. What a good time it was at Kathabela's house just before I left. I am back from the woods now and have a story to tell, which I hope to turn like pages of days lived alone and with some surprises. Please stay tuned.

    Steven, thanks for wit. I love wit. Pour it onto me.

    Mandy, great to see you here. Your stories are fascinating too. The blog method of sharing them is satisfying for me. And comments like yours are great encouragement.

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  8. The village of June Lake looks very nice, I hope to go there some day.

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