High Sierra Topix

Hi Y'all.
I have been back and at work for a couple of weeks now.
ARG! Life was so simple out there on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Oh well, I have to pay for my adventurous ways somehow!
I want to thank you all for all your support. I could not always respond due to time limits on computers along the trail but I did manage to check in on High Sierra Topix at each town resupply that had internet.
Thanks Everyone!

Anyhow, I am dying to get back out on the trail! I am having problems sleeping indoors! Ha!
Fortunately I have a plumbing job up in the Sierra(sort of) next week. I will be plumbing a house up on Hwy 88 west of Carson Pass. My boss has offered to put me up at his house for the week.. I have other ideas! I am gonna cowboy camp somewhere up there. I really don't know exactly where this job is but I do know that there is a lot of open country around my bosses house. I am gonna fanagle some kind of hike out of this opportunity as well!
Wow! I have so much to share with you! The hike was incredible! The Sierra were the crown jewels of the California section to be sure. I finally got to see some of those places you HST'ers are raving about. My time at any single place might have been brief, and though striken with acute Giardiasis for that section I still have a vivid recollection of my Sierra passage. After hiking 2663 miles I must say the Sierra Nevada Mountains are unique and unmistakeable. There is truly a special quality to the light there.. ugh.. I know that sounds like a cliche but I mean it! Even during the hailstorms and snowbound pass crossings there was no doubt about where you are.
My gosh we are lucky to have such a wonderful landscape to explore!
The amazing thing is how the white granite backbone of the Sierra transforms into dark Volcanic ridgelines to the north. The contrast is astonishing.
I know I am rambling again! I am still trying to get a handle on what has happened. It took 4 months and 3 weeks to travel the distance.. I guess it is going to take some time to get a grip on it all.

Wow, The gear these fellow thru-hikers carried! There were 10 ounce backpacks made from cuben fiber. Packweight in the single digits! (not mine! I had 15 lbs of gear at monument 78) I met people with 30000 trail miles as well as folks that had begun their hiking "careers" with a thru hike of the PCT! There were Nuclear pharmacists,Fema directors, plumbers(like me!),stock brokers, you name it. I was impressed with the variety of backgrounds and yet the common ground we all shared. We bonded in a real way along the trail.
In fact the trail itself provided for us, brought us together, gave us shelter, direction, and fired our imaginations.
Anyhow, back to the Sierra. Every hiker I met that witnessed the Sierra for the first time was totally blown away. Until you hike this trail you don't realize how special a huge roadless stretch of wilderness like the JMT/PCT is. No place along the PCT from Mexico to Canada has that feeling of really being "out-there".
We are SO Lucky to have the Sierra in it's relatively untouched state.
We need to do all we can to protect it!
Oh yea.. SnowNymph..as to your choice of lifestyle, I get it now!
Cheers Y'all!-Hetchy

Marie Lakes Sierra Nevada, California




Muir Pass June 14 2009




Rae Lakes Area Sierra Nevada, California











Hetchy at Kearsarge Pass Enjoying Sierran Summer Hail Storms

Right on Hetchy! Nice shot of Fin Dome at Rae Lakes. keep up the stoke.

Hetchy, I really enjoyed following your journey (along with being envious). Yes, life is a lot simpler (and saner)on the trail. One discovers what really matters in life. And, yes, there's nothing like the High Sierra . . .

Sounds like an absolutely amazing experience. Thanks for the report and photos!

I needed some trail time in the Sierra too this last week. The trip to Alaska in August didn't make up for lost time in the Sierra. Just wasn't the same. With the temperatures I encountered at 11,000' this last week, I have a start on winter also.

Hikerduane are you going to post a TR with pic's of that Alaska trip of yours?
Hetchy I like the Marie Lakes shot with some lakes still being frozen in parts, and
I understand the Sierra Withdrawl thing since I go thru it every time I have to come
back to reality.
Being out that long would take a lot longer to readjust to my daily routines but I would
have memories that would last a lifetime, or at least till the next season.

maverick, I'm not too computer savy and even with Eric's help havn't had any luck getting photos to post. I figure a report isn't worth posting without photos anymore. So if I seem like I don't get out, it is because of that. Thank you for asking.