After kissing the populated world goodbye, I will stand upright with a pack containing all my needs for crossing the mountains to arrive in Yosemite Valley, out of food and not starved, according to plan.
There will be no cell phone reception in this designated wilderness, a place where human improvements are strictly forbidden; and no internet. I will write, of course, but with pencil on paper, in hope of receiving response about as quick as a letter sent by ship to Europe, for nothing can go out or come into the wilderness, except by foot. All communication must wait for my return. You may comment here on this blog, and I hope you will, but once I leave June Lake on July 19, I will not answer until I arrive in Yosemite Valley on July 24.
In case I am eaten by a bear during this admittedly irresponsible jaunt, please remember that I was winding down in life. Most of it is now spent, and I live the remainder with greater risk, because there is less to lose.
The photos shown here were taken by Tony Wong along the trail I will travel: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=14120
I have to admit the landscape is stunning, and I looked at Tiny's blog and the trail looks beautiful... I especially like the water. The mirroring lakes seem dreamlike amidst the rocks, like in Tibetan mountains they seem to hold a special clear vision. It will be fascinating to see your thoughts as they emerge in this reclusion... I'll do my best to water the garden and ward off the friendly gorillas here... here, while you are gone, and you will have some quiet! Until then... we are enjoying the last few days together, like an ongoing festival, and please don't let the bear eat you! We have too much fun. I'll be waiting with a big glass of red wine for you on your return!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathabela, the water may be clear and like Tibet, I will see, but not as clear to the thinking as that big glass of red wine. Mind the gorilla, he’s an interesting character.
ReplyDeleteOh, I do hope that the high altitude will not play its tricks with you. Keep your legs! Don't let them run back down the trail without you!
ReplyDeleteI wish you an excellent time in Yosemite. I and my boyfriend are planning to go in late August, but without the risks: no traveling alone and no backpacking. I think we will be missing out, since the way you are doing it will bring you so much closer to the spirit of the place. No doubt, you will be refreshed by the end of your trek. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteAll the Best,
Claire Koehler
(I met you at one of Susan D's AHA salons)
my goodness sharon
ReplyDeletebe ware of bear
if you are drawn to bear
let it be bare, spare
not bear in the lair
i for one do not want to lose you
to bear or any furred thing
bare this in mind--I will be very unhappy if you
become somebody's meal. Then there will be no one for Kathabela to offer the red wine and the salon of your journey will be very unsatisfactory with too many pauses.
take every bear precaution.
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ReplyDeleteOkay Steven, good advice, Gotta keep up them legs.
ReplyDeleteClaire, It’s good to see you here. Yes, I remember you from that good time at Susan Dobay’s house. Maybe you and your boyfriend will walk some of the same trails I do. Stay tuned and see my pictures and missives which I hope to post in the days following my return.
Susan, you always find a poetic way to a bear or anywhere; the poem is your ware. Please don’t worry if I am eaten by a bear, for nowhere in the sea or air, will a bear care more or fare more fair than when it speaks my words of wine and fare at Kathabela’s.
As you write with pencil and paper, imagine what it was like to write on the canyon walls --- as your canvas, before pencil and paper existed.
ReplyDeleteI bet it was very hard and they had to have very hard granite pencils to write with and I bet it took them a very hard long time to do it...
ReplyDeleteThat's how we inherited the expression "Those were hard times when women were hardly ready and men very hard and rough ... lol
Yes Michael and Alexandre, writing is hard when you are using a writer’s block for a pencil. hehe
ReplyDelete