Farewell from Mono Lake

The bags are packed, and we'll be leaving this incredibly beautiful part of the world early in the morning and headed back to South Carolina.

We have been asked by some family and friends why we go on vacation and spend so much time exerting ourselves with hiking and backpacking.

Here is the best answer I have for now...

I have been to the mountain tops, the high valleys, gorges, cirques, land of waterfalls, and beginnings of rivers that you can't see from a roadside lookout. I have been where the air feels different when you breathe it. I have been where the stars are brighter, the skies are clearer, the flowers are more vibrant, and there are no signs of civilization for miles. I have been to places where only the Native Americans treaded once upon a time. I have been where creature comforts are at a minimum, but when you return, the food tastes better, a hot shower feels wonderful, and you are able to maintain a greater appreciation for the daily pleasures we often take for granted.

A special thanks to Sarah for allowing us to share her home.

Until our next adventure,

Ben and Star

Bodie

"Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie" The famous quote of a young girl whose family was taking her to this notorious town.

Yesterday, we visited the remnants of an actual gold mining town. This isn't "Ghost Town" or some other lame attempt at the re-creation of an old West Town. It's the real deal. The State of California has done an outstanding job of preserving what remains of this former hellhole.

Even though it's only 7 1/2 miles from our vacation home, it took us almost one hour to get there. You must travel 7 miles up a heavily wash boarded, rock strewn dirt road to get there. There are no paved roads to Bodie.












The cemetary sits high above the town, and consists of both marked and unmarked graves. What hits home wandering through this graveyard is the great number of children who never lived past a few years. The other is the very few who made it past 40 or 50 years of age. Several tombstones are marked "Native of Ireland".












Bodie continued to survive past the gold rush as evident by this fine young lady modeling beside a 1927 Dodge. The last remaining residents left Bodie in the 1950's.

"And now my comrades all are gone;
Naught remains toast.
They have left me here in my misery,
Like some poor wandering ghost."













According to our guide, Mr. Bodie discovered gold here in 1859 and by 1879 the town had grown to 10,000 residents. The above photo shows one of the remaining saloons. At one point, Bodie had 65 such saloons in town. The below photo shows the school house classroom.

All of these areas are closed off by glass from visitors. The reflection off the glass gives the photos a ghostly appearance.

Quoting from the guide, "Killings occurred with monotonous regularity. The fire bell tolled the ages of the deceased...Robberies, stage holdups, and street fights provided the variety"
















Honestly, after two hours of this place we were ready to get back to civilization. It really makes you appreciate the world we enjoy today.

High Trail to Thousand Island Lake: Day 1

Star standing at the entrance to the Ansel Adams wilderness, less than one mile into our backpacking adventure. A shuttle bus dropped us off at Agnew Meadows, and at this point we are in the middle of 17 switchbacks headed up the High Trail (part of the Pacific Crest Trail).









After navigating the switchbacks, we began a gentle ascent through beautiful meadows along the High Trail.

At about 4 miles, we reached a vantage point of the Ansel Adams Wilderness with our destination being the base of Banner Peak in the upper right corner.























At about 7.5 miles we reached the outlet waters of Thousand Island Lake.





After 8 hours, we reached our destination, a cold and very windy Thousand Island Lake. We continued for over a mile along the north shoreline until finding a campsite. There appeared to be only four other tents set up with six other people camping in the area. All total, we hiked about 9.5 miles on day one.


It's difficult to believe such a cold place exists on July 18th in California.

Thousand Island Lake to Agnew Meadows: Day 2

With Star still snug in the tent, I awoke at day break, put on every stitch of clothing possible, and started snapping photos of the sun rising on Thousand Island Lakes as well as Banner Peak and Mt. Ritter. It couldn't have been warmer than the upper 30's with the wind still howling at 30-40 mph. In fact, we thought the tent was going to blow away on us a couple of times during the night.

We had found the best wind break possible for our campsite high above the lake, but at times it didn't seem to matter as the wind ripped through the trees.

This woodchuck came to visit first thing in the morning, and decided to stick around with us until we broke camp and departed. He seemed curious at two Southerners camping in his terrority, or perhaps, he was looking for a handout.

Departing Thousand Island Lakes through the numerous snowfields
leading down to the River Trail.

One of the many large trees we encountered along the trail. We actually saw several larger than this big boy.

Absolutely, the most varied hike we have ever taken. A 19 mile round trip to 10,000 feet through beautiful high meadows, past numerous several hundred foot high waterfalls, across a dozen or more snowfields, and over way too many creek crossings to even count. It was perhaps our best backpacking trip to date, one surely to be etched into our memories forever.

Destination: Thousand Island and Garnet Lakes!

The backpacks are loaded, and we're ready to make our attempt around Thousand Island and Garnet Lakes at the base of two huge mountains, Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak. The photo shows our approximate trail route, but there is much snow still remaining this year around the lakes. If it gets sketchy, we are prepared to turn back at any point.

If we are fortunate, we will travel 20 miles around the loop and gain 2,200 feet in elevation along the way. The weather appears to be in our favor with mostly sunny skies.

Expect our next post sometime on Thursday.

Pictures from around the House

Reflection of the Sierra Mountains in Mono Lake

Rainbow at sunset

Sunset over the desert

Rare desert storm blowing in

Sore from head to toe...

We hiked 11.4 miles yesterday from Tuolumne Meadows down the Tuolumne River to the head of Yosemite's Grand Canyon in preparation for next week's backpacking trip deep into the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It was our longest day hike ever by more than a mile.

When we take new trails, there is always a surprise awaiting us. On this trip, we had no idea we would be fording one river and several creeks along the way. In fact, the one river involved a 100 foot crossing in thigh deep, freezing cold water. It left us both with squishy boots for the remainder of the hike, but aside from one blister, and two tired bodies, we made it just fine.

This concluded our three days of hiking in Yosemite. We're going to take it easy over the weekend, eat out at some resturants, listen to some live music, hang out at the house, and make sure we have everything packed for our 20 mile journey to the base of Mount Ritter and Banner Peak starting early Monday morning.

To summarize Yosemite, it has the most varied landscape of any National Park we have yet to visit. From the insanely crowded Yosemite Valley, to the numerous high meadows, innumerable rivers, creeks, and high alpine mountains of the relatively quiet eastern side of the Park, it struck me as a combination of The Tetons, Yellowstone, and Olympic Mountains all rolled into one.

I'll add on some more photos of the past week's hikes, as well as some photos from around the house, over the weekend.

That's all for now. I'm headed back to the couch.

Ben

Now THIS is the Yosemite we love!

Star standing at the top of Gaylor Lakes Basin pass. Yes, we hiked down thru the snow!

Our picnic location at Granite Lake

The Gaylor Lakes hike starts from a little parking lot just inside the East Gate of Yosemite off of the Tioga Pass Road at about 9,900 feet. As advertised by the "Yosemite Hikes" website, everybody in their rush to reach the valley passes right by it. We saw absolutely nobody from the top of the pass to Granite Lake. It was the most snow we have ever crossed in our years of hiking, and the highest (10,500 ft.) we have ever been on the trail. The temperatures stayed around 50 degrees for the entire hike. We've never reached such an incredible destination in a 5+ mile hike with only 1,100 feet of total elevation gain.

I have linked a short video. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwljmSqJZyw

Ben

Yosemite

It was a challenge to take pictures of our day at Yosemite that weren't crowded with hundreds or even thousands of people, but we feel successful about these. They show some of the most famous spots in Yosemite: Half Dome, the Merced River, Yosemite Falls, and the meadows. Two other positives were an excellent lunch at Ahwanee Hotel and the fact that we managed to walk about six miles without getting run over by the bicyclists. (That was close; one errant cyclist screeched to a halt inches from us.) The day over, we've decided to stay on the less populated, eastern, side of the park from now on. Star

Greetings from Wild Rose Station

It's Sunday morning here on Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra, home of the Clint Eastwood movie "High Plains Drifter". After a 16 hour journey yesterday, we finally made it to our home for the next two weeks. I am convinced we will never stay in a more picturesque and peaceful vacation home again in our lifetime. There is no traffic noise, and there appears to be only one other house within 3-4 miles of us. Star immediately fell in love with the influence of Ansel Adams and the voice of art that speaks throughout the house.

Today, we are heading out to either Lee Vining or June Lake for lunch and to check out the area more closely.

Keep checking back with us, as we are sure to have much to share with everybody back home in the coming days. I've included some pictures, but there is absolutely no way to capture this place with a camera.

Ben and Star