ok, then..maverick wrote:Rlown wrote "when did it start for you, Mav?".
..
Now yours Rlown.
I was 7, i think. My parents took me camping somewhere up on the June Lakes Loop as we lived in La Crescenta, CA at the time. I caught a 16" brown on an ol' fiberglass rod with a Mitchell 300 reel. I don't remember actually doing it but it was a nice picture.
My parents never backpacked, but my dad liked to hunt and some of those trips allowed exploration.
I joined the boy scouts in ~ `71. Our scoutmaster decided that he liked winter trips, so off to the Salmon Lakes in Tahoe Nat forest we went; canvas tents, cheap sleeping bags, and those ol' external frame packs with the unpadded hip belts. It was cold. So cold, that we bugged out early. I never liked that guy.
His next trip was to near Camp Sacramento; Same gear. It was colder and snowier. My friend and I woke up and saw everyone gone. We found their tracks where they broke into a cabin there to get warm.
His next trip was down to Kirby Cove near the headlands of SF Bay. Now you'd think they came prepared.. Not! My friend and i brought a great tent and plastic to cover it (think fog).
We wake up, and everyone is gone again. We see smoke billowing out of one of the ol' bunkers, and we duck in. There is the scoutmaster and every other scout, hudled around a fire, with the smoke hovering above their heads.
That's when i realized I was done with scouts.
Later, my family spent a couple weeks near Silver Lk on 88. It was beautiful!! I started to think maybe there was more stuff up there to see.
I got my drivers license at 16, and I had some likeminded friends that wanted to backpack. We spent some time at the Berkeley REI, and bought "Sierra North" (great book), and some camptrails backpacks, beefy mountaineer boots (still have them, but they are relics), and good bags. Ordered our maps which came in those triangular cardboard containers in the mail, and poured over them. I mowed lawns to make the money for the gear.
Our first trip was out of Carson Pass over to 4th of july lk. Amazing. We spent the next 4 summers exploring all of the Moke wilderness. An amazing place, except for the ascent up Horse Canyon. That and the western end near Salt springs which is snake infested.
It was mostly about mileage and places back then. I didn't realize until about 18 that I should be fishing (doh). I was fishing for striper and sturgeon in the bay area the whole time, but then I started to see the fish up there. I (and they) were hooked.
After that we moved on to Emigrant, which was nice. I thought Yose valley was pretty, but too many people. Then, I found Tioga pass. Fell in love with the venue.
After all that, I never looked back. I feel free up there, and only got away with 2-3 trips a year.
Russ