TR: Little Lakes Valley, July 2023

[LMBSGV]

Here is my trip report for a trip taken last July in Little Lakes Valley. As all my reports, it’s essentially a personal essay structured around a backpacking trip, which is why the photos are separate.

The report is here:

http://laurencebrauer.com/Images/TripRe ... ley-23.pdf

The photos are here at the top of the page:

http://laurencebrauer.com/ASITHSTripReports.html

I hope it’s a pleasant diversion for any who are interested.

[wildhiker]

Thanks for another thoughtful refection on the meaning you find in your wilderness adventures.
-Phil

[kpeter]

A lovely essay and beautiful photography. Your writing is quite special. You frequently articulate thoughts I also have when I am on my own, contemplating whether I will get back to a certain location again, wondering how long my body will hold out, at what point do I have to transition away from backpacking, etc. But those thoughts seem pedestrian when I think them, but sublime when you write them.

[LMBSGV]

Phil and Kpeter, since I find your reports so interesting and inspiring, your comments mean a lot. Thanks!

[stevet]

Laurence, I always appreciate your reflection and expression of your thoughts. And now, as age and the challenge of less capability creep in, the wondering of when to "quit" and start car camping do enter the mind. Join me in rejecting it! As long as I can, as long as we can, as long as we can drag our ever enfeebling bodies into wonders of the Sierra, let us choose to do so. And then, at the last moment, where first our legs, and then our ability to ride horseback into the backcountry steal our ability to get there, only then will we settle for a front country camp.

Sufficient time in those places of solitude, where our mind-churn stops, can we fully appreciate life, life's creator, and that place in that moment provided just for us; that is restoration and when we recognize our "life worth living". We may get just a few weeks each summer, but let's commit to hanging on to them until the last moment.

Thank you for pulling on my heart and again reminding me to always make the most of my next hike. Steve

[giantbrookie]

What an uplifting story. The perfect antidote for the hustle and bustle of a normal day. It's not that I had a bad day either, as I piled on the third day of some crazy stuff on the microscope that has carried me to a research space over the rainbow. But the pleasures of the High Sierra conveyed in the story are timeless and timely at the same time. Whereas many of the reflections are connected to age, I think (hope) that the greater part of the observations, thoughts, musings, etc., can strike a chord with folks of any age. For those of us who love the High Sierra, it seems easier when there to get Over the Rainbow than just about anywhere else, but Over the Rainbow is in fact a state of mind, and some people can wander over the same ground and not really open their senses and mind to the beauty and wonder of being up there. And, as so nicely demonstrated in the story, one doesn't need to do long, physically demanding hikes, nor do anything sketchy, to find paradise up there.

[oldhikerQ]

Thank you so much for your story. As one who will turn 70 soon, facing multiple knee and achilles surgeries, your words resonate with me. Your story puts in words some of the things that i have been feeling, but unable to articulate lately. Thanks for helping me to contemplate my future in the Sierra more clearly.
Cheers

[Wandering Daisy]

I am not as contemplative as you are, so fishing has become a fill-in activity as I get older. I wish I could just sit in camp and enjoy "being there", but I am a bit squirmy. Fly fishing works for me because I can keep moving. Aging for me has mostly been "if there is a will, there is a way". Just have to be creative. Also, why cannot you do both car camping and backpacking? Also, what about a new venue- try coastal hiking, desert, new mountain range? Make the getting to the backpack as much of the trip as the backpack itself.

One new obstacle is the permit system. You would think being retired permits would be no issue. But the older I get, the more difficulty I have getting organized and to the trailhead. Not quite dementia, but not having to keep a schedule gets one out of practice of doing just that! I much prefer to just have the start date "float" and pick up a first-come permit when I actually arrive. The older I get the more I think about just sneaking in without a permit.

PS. I will be 75 in March. So far so good. Thankful for every backpack day.

[LMBSGV]

Thank you Steven, Giant brookie, old hiker and WD for your thoughtful comments. As I said, since I get a lot of joy and inspiration from all your reports, it means a lot. (WD, I’m saving your 2023 Wind Rivers reports for a rainy day this winter.)

I have been doing car camping for years with my wife (health issues have prevented her from backpacking), especially in the state redwood parks along with Cedar Grove and Lodgepole in SEKI and even Yosemite Valley in non-peak season—we had a great time in October at North Pines since I actually hit the jackpot on the lottery and got to pick the campsite and dates. I did 5 trips this year at Point Reyes since it’s literally 2 hours or so from my house to a campsite. The two week availability period for a lot of sites there allows for some spontaneity. I just don’t write those trips up. We had a great time when we went to Utah for a couple of weeks in April 2021 and car camped in Arches, Zion, Capitol Reef, and Dead Horse Point State Park. Since that was so good, I do need to think about other places we haven’t been to.

I agree on the current permit system. The second backpack trip I took last year was the Rafferty Creek/Vogelsang trip that was booked for July. I booked the permit for that on the one week out Yosemite “walk-up” system. (I am still trying to get around to finish writing that up and editing the photos—I’m really slow about this stuff.) I do wish there was the old permit spontaneity of the past when true walk-up permits were easily available. Back then when we were working outside of the home, we used to look at the weather reports and simply go.

[giantbrookie]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I can't help but give a shout out to the 70+ backpackers posting here. You are a terrific inspiration to us "youngsters" in our 60s. It's the usual "I want to be like you folks when I grow up" thing. First and foremost it is about showing the ways of enjoying the High Sierra whether dialing back the difficult stuff and adjusting as one ages or still doing the challenging off trail stuff (WD: I really really want to be like that at 75!). Whether it's fishing, scenery, or anything else, backpacking, car camping, or getting a room, there remain so many fun options for us up there.