High Sierra Topix

I'd tell them to go for it.

Allot of factors come into play sure but the key for me is how I made it clear that I was ok if I died out there. If someone makes that fact clear then go for it. The same goes for carrying a PLB or a SPOT. I do not recommend to anyone that values their life to go cross country without one.

This year I came close to dying since I came close to not being able to walk in a very bad place. Now if I go out next year will I carry a PLB? Nope...lol

Do yourself a favor and don't come back to Bakersfield lol. This city is not the place anyone wants to be.

P.S. I love the Grapes of Wrath.

Years have passed since you posted, but I just read your entire TR in one day. It helped me create a cohesive mental map of many parts of the Sierra I have either seen or read about previously in a fractured way. ( It also helped me through a trying 12 hours stuck in an uncomfortable chair. ) Can't wait to get out there for my tiny 4 day trips. (And when I do something advanced enough to post I will stop lurking. Thank you Rogue!

umm.. Rouge has posted aLOT! eg, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8672&p=105501&hilit=days#p105501

If you use the "Advanced search" and look for Rouge, you will see his posts.

Or, just log in more often and use "View Active Topics" search.php?search_id=active_topics

I need to get back to writing the 130 days in the Sierra! I've been epically lazy lately. Have not even finished week 3 of my photos this year and have yet to build maps for the other two which is why I have not posted them.

Rogue,

I have only read the first portion of your trip, but so far I really like your taste in books and movies!

I have read the responses and comments about what you have revealed about your relationship with your father. Thank you for your honesty, and for allowing us to see this far into your soul. It has made your TR exceptional.

When I thought David was some annoying friend, I thought, "Oh, well, this has happened to me, too--taking someone along whom I did not get along with." I wondered if having an additional person present might have helped. That was Admiral Byrd's theory when he decided to overwinter in Antarctica at 80 degrees latitude. When his Advance Base could not accommodate three, he decided to go it alone, rather than take a chance on not getting along with only one other person.

When I realized that David is your father, well, this is different, and much more complicated. All parents do unforgivable things to their children all the time, and mostly the children aren't even aware of it, and if they are, they readily forgive. But sometimes-- they don't. My mother told me that my grown children would not even know they needed to forgive me for the ways I failed them, but the things they blame me for, I won't even know I've done. That's the first paradox of parent/adult child relationships. The second is that you can never really forgive your parents until you grow up and have your own children. When those little ones come along, whom you love more than your own life, yet whom you hurt the most (yes, even as you love them the most), you will then realize how imperfect we are, and how we need to forgive each other.

Looking forward to reading the rest. Your pictures are so good I can almost taste them!

Well I always felt it was important to put the whole truth out there. I haven't just gone to the Sierra for so many days every year because that's just how much I like it. Got to add the dark reasons for my escape.

As far as parents go, my relationship with him is not so much based on what he has done in the past which there are more than enough flaws there. But just who he is as a person now. I don't respect him for who he is so I feel no need to look into the flaws of the past. Although to be fair you point out how we are flawed and make mistakes. His mistakes fall mostly under heavy drug use and alcoholism. He certainly was never a violent person but things like drinking and driving and getting in a serious car accident with his kids in the car was one of many things. You don't just say hey that's what people just do ya know? lol

Well, I finally have read this post from beginning to end. It took five hours. From five years ago, but the best thread I have read about 2011 as a big snow year!
My, to see lakes frozen south of Alpine Col in mid August, and also to see Iceberg Lake by the minarets frozen in September...helps to think about what this year will be like.

Plus, I met Rogue Photonic and AlpineMike this summer at the lake east of Mather Pass, and I had made it my mind to read all of their epic posts...
I have "binged read "them for the last couple of days. I can't think of a better way to read about cross country in the Sierras than read their posts.

Plus,,just read AlpineMike first installment of this last summer...cant wait to read the rest!