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High and Low, New and Old: Table Mtn and Petroglyphs

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:01 pm
by MooseTracks
Sometimes it takes a few days for my adventures to sink in. Then, all of a sudden, I want to write.

"Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality." -- John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (1911)

Last March, I got the chance to explore around the Tyee Lakes for the first time after pulling a sled of treats in to my friends at the Aspen Grove Campground. With just a few hours to play this past Saturday, Richard and I decided to play with our new cameras up the same trail. At the highest lake, we stumbled across the litter of some misguided campers, who left all of their garbage behind. As we gathered the meal pouches, tupperware with salsa, can of beans, and assorted smaller pieces, I looked for a spot to bury the salsa. Richard and I were rewarded for our efforts when I discovered a sixer of unopened, chilled Heineken stashed beneath a boulder. We ambled up to the top of Table Mountain, crossing to the western rampart to try to see the view into te Sabrina Basin, but were denied by ridges below. We raised our treat of brew high to salute the mountains that have been so good to us both over the years. Along the four miles, we were blessed with calm air, mirrored lakes, and fresh patches of snow breaking the usually stoic grey granitodiorite of the moutains. It was harder to shoot more often with the larger camera, something I'll have to get used to. But as this was a trip of moments, that's how I'll share it with you.

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Rest of the pics are here .


"I find nothing in fables more astonishing then my experience in every hour. One moment of a man's life is a fact so stupendous as to take the lustre out of all fiction." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

As part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the CLMRG, a tour of Little Petroglyph Canyon, deep in the heart of China Lake, was organized. While there was another hike being led up Morris and Jenkins peaks, this was a unique opportunity not to be missed. We gathered just outside the main gate before 0800, piled into carpools, and headed into the base. I could tell you what happened next, but then I'd have to kill you... The canyon holds thousands of petroglyphs: everywhere I looked there was a new design, a different shape or form. Restrictions on climbing on the rocks limited how close we could get to the inscriptions, and they didn't photograph all that well from afar in the bright sunshine. Although we were a group of 20, I never felt as though I was crowded or overwhelmed by the numbers of people or noise. Somehow, the narrow canyon absorbed sound instead of sending it ricocheting off the rocks. In fact, it was the silence, the warmth of the sun, and the light breeze blowing up canyon that struck me the most. The basalt lining the canyon was worn smooth and grey by water draining off the plateau, sand filling the basins between outcroppings, flood layers outlined in the bottoms of short falls. The patina of desert varnish dripped over the upper echelons of the rock, into which someone, at some time, had sat and pecked away with primitive tools to create, well, something. We may never know what these ancient men and women meant through their art. And in that I found comfort: it doesn't matter what they meant; all that matters is that they were here, and they lived in their moments, trying to capture meaning in their own lives. Their stories may be gone forever, and ours, someday, will follow.

A few moments:

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Rest of the pics are here .

From the luckiest girl in the world: Climb Hard, Be Safe.
-L :cool:

Re: High and Low, New and Old: Table Mtn and Petroglyphs

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:30 pm
by Trailtrekker06
Cool pics and report, Moosie. Nice job with the new camera. I'll look at the glyph pics tomorrow...