Returning to the Sierra after 30 years!
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:11 pm
I'm new here and I confess I've been lurking for a couple weeks, but I have to tell you I LOVE THIS PLACE! I stumbled upon this site when I found Bill Finch's trip reports "sierrahiker" site and from there D.W. Donehoo's "Sierra Trails" site, of which I have read every single trip report on each site. Having been a former resident of Merced, Atwater, and Lemoore California, (former active duty Air Force and hubby went from Air Force to the Navy) you could find me "burning up a trail" every single time I had the chance to disappear into the high country, Pt. Reyes, ANYWHERE there was one and a few where there was none, no matter what the season, but the Sierra remains my first love. But alas, that was 30 years ago and "life trails" have kept me away from the beloved wilderness for far too long--my heart aches to return, as you all I'm sure can understand. Over the year since leaving California, I moved to Alabama to take care of my mother who was dying of COPD and well, she lived for 9 years after I got here, which I will always be grateful for the time we got to spend with her in her last years. One year before her death, in 2000 my husband was tragically killed in an accident, leaving me with seven children to raise on my own ranging in age from 17 down to 3. Needless to say it's been a road of recovery for the past 10 years. I shed many a tear when I left California many years ago and I had, over the years began to believe that I might never again in my lifetime spend even a day in the beloved High Country of the Sierra. Well, recently I have yelled a resounding "Why not return?!!"
On a lighter note, my son (now 24) and I were reading this forum together the other night and laughed like crazy over the "bears and beer" info--you guys are GREAT! This prompted my son to hilariously ponder if a beer company might pay us to hike a keg up some back country trail--NOT REALLY but we laughed our heads off as we considered hauling a keg on a wagon of sorts (yeah right! lol) and considered a shot of two ppl sitting on a rock beside the trail, lungs heaving, but alas they have their nice cold <insert beer brand here>!, then another shot of a bear trying to steal the keg, and finally a shot of a couple bears sitting together with a couple humans, all enjoying a nice cold <insert beer brand here> lol. Okay, of course we aren't REALLY gonna try that! (well, my son MIGHT lol) but ya gotta admit it WOULD be a great advertising campaign! More importantly, it made for a nice time of laughter together with my son and some great memories I'm sure he and I will treasure for years to come. Thanks y'all! That night, I told him with tears streaming down my cheeks how how much it burdens my heart that none of my children have ever even laid eyes on one of the most awesome places on Earth--the Sierra. So, thanks to this site and all of you wonderful posters here, he and I have begun the preliminaries of trying to plan a trip to Kings Canyon (one of my favorite old stomping grounds) in a few years when he finishes college, IF we can save the money up lol, and we will drag the rest of any of my other children who want to come. It's been long while for me, but I am not out of shape and thanks to Bill Finch and D.W.'s trip reports and this forum, I now know that many people well into their 60's and some even 70's hike the Sierra on a regular basis, so my faith is renewed! Again, THANKS Y'ALL! Which brings me to my reason for posting all this ramble, and thanks so much for bearing with me:
I know lots of things have changed since I have been--dreaded bear canisters for one, I always hung my food and never lost food on any hike I've ever been on--okay whatever; water filtering is also new to me; of course gear has changed considerably as well--I had a Jansport backpack with an internal frame which I loved, can't remember the sleeping bag brand but it was great--not down tho, as back then the worry was if it ever got wet you were screwed, I had Rossignol X-country skii's, again they worked great for me; never used "trek poles" but I can sure see their benefit; never brought a tent except on longer trips and rarely used one, so again don't even remember what i had; mosquitoes seem to be a real problem now, so much so that I see "mosquito reports" even have a thread of it's own--don't remember them being that much of a problem back then, what's changed?; etc. etc. So, I would appreciate any and all information and wisdom you fine folks might want to share with someone such as myself who is returning to Heaven on Earth after being away so many years. I thank you all in advance and I have to say I envy the heck out of all of you being able to commune with the high country so often. One day, I too will return and rediscover the piece of myself that will, as you know, always be there. Okay, let 'er rip!
On a lighter note, my son (now 24) and I were reading this forum together the other night and laughed like crazy over the "bears and beer" info--you guys are GREAT! This prompted my son to hilariously ponder if a beer company might pay us to hike a keg up some back country trail--NOT REALLY but we laughed our heads off as we considered hauling a keg on a wagon of sorts (yeah right! lol) and considered a shot of two ppl sitting on a rock beside the trail, lungs heaving, but alas they have their nice cold <insert beer brand here>!, then another shot of a bear trying to steal the keg, and finally a shot of a couple bears sitting together with a couple humans, all enjoying a nice cold <insert beer brand here> lol. Okay, of course we aren't REALLY gonna try that! (well, my son MIGHT lol) but ya gotta admit it WOULD be a great advertising campaign! More importantly, it made for a nice time of laughter together with my son and some great memories I'm sure he and I will treasure for years to come. Thanks y'all! That night, I told him with tears streaming down my cheeks how how much it burdens my heart that none of my children have ever even laid eyes on one of the most awesome places on Earth--the Sierra. So, thanks to this site and all of you wonderful posters here, he and I have begun the preliminaries of trying to plan a trip to Kings Canyon (one of my favorite old stomping grounds) in a few years when he finishes college, IF we can save the money up lol, and we will drag the rest of any of my other children who want to come. It's been long while for me, but I am not out of shape and thanks to Bill Finch and D.W.'s trip reports and this forum, I now know that many people well into their 60's and some even 70's hike the Sierra on a regular basis, so my faith is renewed! Again, THANKS Y'ALL! Which brings me to my reason for posting all this ramble, and thanks so much for bearing with me:
I know lots of things have changed since I have been--dreaded bear canisters for one, I always hung my food and never lost food on any hike I've ever been on--okay whatever; water filtering is also new to me; of course gear has changed considerably as well--I had a Jansport backpack with an internal frame which I loved, can't remember the sleeping bag brand but it was great--not down tho, as back then the worry was if it ever got wet you were screwed, I had Rossignol X-country skii's, again they worked great for me; never used "trek poles" but I can sure see their benefit; never brought a tent except on longer trips and rarely used one, so again don't even remember what i had; mosquitoes seem to be a real problem now, so much so that I see "mosquito reports" even have a thread of it's own--don't remember them being that much of a problem back then, what's changed?; etc. etc. So, I would appreciate any and all information and wisdom you fine folks might want to share with someone such as myself who is returning to Heaven on Earth after being away so many years. I thank you all in advance and I have to say I envy the heck out of all of you being able to commune with the high country so often. One day, I too will return and rediscover the piece of myself that will, as you know, always be there. Okay, let 'er rip!