That Time Again

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whrdafamI?
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Re: That Time Again

Post by whrdafamI? »

lostcoyote wrote::partyman: hmmmm... well, something must matter, otherwise, what would be the point of posting here or signing the mt. goddard register? ever wonder just what happened to ranger morgenson? he may have done it right... probably read ishmael... the part about the lost soul who eventually just drowned himself. he wasn't really lost tho, perhaps he just did not fit into society and wanted nothing to do with it either.... but that's just an imagination of mine - truth is nobody will ever know cuz he did it right - left without a trace. it's really better to be a leaver than a taker - yet, no matter how hard some try to escape & become leavers in a sense, they can never totally eliminate being part taker in this world... even if it means signing a piece of paper atop mt. goddard. i've always wondered what is the point of these registers anyways? man's own sense of self importance? well whatever the case, i've enjoyed your ramblings. hope ya decide to stick around tho. i like seeing your pictures of tulainyo et. al. you do put that camera to great use, even tho it's materially linked to the world of the takers. we all leave out footprints. some big, some small.... and the best part is that in the end, we all end up in the same place even when all of us are on different paths.... even the baby deer you saved.... what a beautiful event.

Apparently you didn't read the "Last Season". If leaving without a trace was one of Ranger Morgenson intentions he failed miserably. They have found and identified his bones.
Last edited by whrdafamI? on Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Better to have it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it!

Get busy living or get busy dying.
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whrdafamI?
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Re: That Time Again

Post by whrdafamI? »

RoguePhotonic wrote:Lol yeah I realize I am depressing but if I act like nothing is wrong I am just living a lie. Some people just ask questions they don't want to know the answer to.

The temporary high as you could put it of going to the Sierra just isn't enough. It does not have enough substance to carry you in all other aspects of life. Even if I could do this every single year until I die is that enough for me to say it's worth going on? No it isn't. The dynamics of my life and the reasons I no longer want to live are far outside the scope of this forum and frankly beyond the nature of most people. The best thing for anyone to know is that if I decide to find a grave in the Sierra and put a bullet in my head it wont be some irrational decision. It will be one I carefully calculated for more then 10 years and there wont be any tragedy in it. We shouldn't pretend we understand what it is to be alive and what it even means to live to be my age or older. We can't say if it really matters.

For now I am still calculating but I feel I am getting very close to a decision.

It's never my intention though to turn anything into a :soapbox: but like most people that take to the wild for months on end there is more behind the story then just a love of nature.
I think you need to read my 2nd tag line a little closer.
Better to have it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it!

Get busy living or get busy dying.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: That Time Again

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Lol the ramblings of philosophy is the ultimate chess game of life. :D It's true something matters and we ask what and why. Living in America though you have to ask yourself how much your willing to sacrifice in order to live here.

On mountain registers they are mostly a history book to me. I suppose they don't mean much on summits that are climbed constantly but can say allot about others that are not.

I'm sure bears make it up around the Lyell Fork. I see bear scat in the highest talus fields all the time. I used to think it was horse crap since it looked exactly like it and I always wondered how and why a horse was in some of these places but it's just the bears while they are living on grass.

The tail bone is doing pretty well. I can almost lay on my back again and I have very little pain from it anymore. The finger is going to take longer though. It's so stiff that I will have to work it back into shape once the flesh heals enough to move it around.

As for your tag Bill I think I do a pretty good job at both ends. I spend allot of time living in the Sierra and I spend allot of time dying in society. My hair is turning grey at a nice rate lol
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The hermit
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Re: That Time Again

Post by The hermit »

Rouge you have way too much knowledge and experience to not keep on sharing it with all us sierraphiles. Tonight I was in line buying a tasty beverage and I happened to start talking with some "kids" who had just done the jmt.I asked about hot springs and they raved about iva bell. You had me convinced already! Small world. Im headed there next week.Thanks.If you live close enough to big sur you should check out essalen hot springs. Ive often realized that places like that give life new meaning!
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The hermit
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Re: That Time Again

Post by The hermit »

Did I just coin the term "sierraphile"?
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: That Time Again

Post by RoguePhotonic »

The Deer that did not have a death in the family on this day:

Image
Image
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cgundersen
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Re: That Time Again

Post by cgundersen »

rogue,
Interesting theory on bears, but dang, in several decades of traipsing through the high country, even pretty early in the season (several May trips), I have never seen a bear above 11K. Have you? Coyotes, yes; I occasionally see them and their scat on high ridges (there was a nice coyote calling card on Dumbbell Pass when I went through in June). I'd guess they'd be more likely to recycle you (or, me) than bears. Or, even more lame is that I have been seeing crows/ravens in the deep Sierra in places I never saw them before. When I was last in Kaweah basin there were 2 crows making a racket. I think they thought I was dead meat, but I just smelled that way.
cg
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kpeter
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Re: That Time Again

Post by kpeter »

cgundersen wrote:rogue,
Interesting theory on bears, but dang, in several decades of traipsing through the high country, even pretty early in the season (several May trips), I have never seen a bear above 11K. Have you?
cg
In the early 1990s my friends and I camped just west of Kearsarge Pass. It would have been somewhere between 10900 and 11100--can't quite pinpoint it. This was before portable bear boxes and we thought we were safe from bears at that elevation. Just to be sure, we hung our food as best we could from a couple of small trees--there weren't any decent sized trees. As you could guess, we were up all night driving off a persistant bear.

I've often wondered if bears follow the trails over passes sometimes, or if they stay in their basins.
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: That Time Again

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Yes I have seen at least one bear up high which was noted in my report last year when it ran over Muir Pass and over the SE slope of Mt. Solomons into Ionian Basin.

Bears live on a variety of stuff based on the season. Their whole died is about 75% grasses and tubers of sorts. When the season is right their scat will show the classic berries but until then and sometimes just location in general the scat is much closer to horses.

As for Coyotes they also can be found commonly up very high. I have seen and heard them allot over 11,000 feet. If you happen to be at a high alpine lake and there is an unusual amount of Marmot frightened calls being their loud single whistle you may have a Coyote near by. The Marmots let each other know when trouble is near. The Douglas does the same.
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SweetSierra
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Re: That Time Again

Post by SweetSierra »

I've often heard coyotes at high elevations in the Sierra, a sound I love at night. I miss them if I don't hear them. Bears may go over high passes on their route to lower elevations where they find their main sources of food. But from what others have observed on my trips, they don't linger at elevations above tree line any longer and perhaps haven't for many years (no scat at all or perhaps on very rare occasion very old scat). There may have been more bears up wandering through up high for a potential meal before bear canisters or bear boxes came into use. But since then, several generations of bears don't associate humans with food at high elevations and especially off trail where few people go.

My favorite memory is coyotes calling one another at Sunrise Lakes in Yosemite on a solo trip in the early 80s.
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