Hey everyone! I found this forum this past summer and have been lurking since. I fell in love with the Sierra when I moved out here in 2011 from Michigan/Florida. I wasn't much of an outdoorsy person before then, but when I did my first backpacking trip ever - to Cottonwood Lakes - I was hooked. My boyfriend and I did the HST (on what was my 4th backpacking trip) and I just couldn't get enough (I fell in love with Precipice Lake). The summer of 2012 was spent wandering the Sierra and doing the JMT. This past summer, we were had several trips lined up (Cloud Canyon to Deadman Canyon, the HSR, etc), but sadly we didn't get to do any of them...
Last February, I broke my back in a skiing "accident". I suffered an L1 burst fracture and a severely bruised spinal cord (if you look at my CT scans, it's shocking my spinal cord wasn't severed). Two back surgeries (T12 - L2 fusion), having to learn to use my legs again, and lots of PT later, I'm back to hiking (and cautious skiing). I haven't had a successful backpacking trip yet (only tried once), but I'm honestly shocked every day by the fact that I even got to hike this past summer. The Sierra was nature therapy for me in the recovery madness. Trips to Lamarck Col, Piute Pass, Bishop Pass, Granite Lakes, etc., made me appreciate the Sierra more than I already did. I'll stop rambling for now, but I have a blog about my life bionic adventures if anyone wants to follow along
http://astrogerly.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Maybe I'll stop being just a lurker now...
Tiffany