somehow I get to go on living among summer grasses -Santoka the empty lake Today was mostly spent in the low altitude valleys and it was hot. First thing In the morning I crossed the San Joaquin River and then climb right back over 2000 feet. But the rest of the day was primarily on valley walls going up and down in the heat. I was on these virtually empty back roads through ranch…
Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike. -John Muir steaming into the valley Today was going to be a short day due to the vagaries of campgrounds and timing so that I’d reach Sequoia National Park post weekend. So when I was just four miles out from camp and I encountered the Yosemite…
It seems strange that visitors to Yosemite should be so little influenced by the novel grandeur, as if their eyes were bandaged and their ears stopped. Most of those who I saw yesterday were looking down as if wholly unconscious of anything going on about them, while the sublime rocks were trembling with the tones of the mighty chanting congregation of waters gathered from all the mountains round about, making music that might draw the…
But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Down through the middle of the Valley flows the crystal Merced, River of Mercy, peacefully quiet, reflecting lilies and trees and the onlooking rocks; things frail and fleeting and types of endurance meeting here and blending in countless forms as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest treasures, to draw her…
To the timid traveler, fresh from the sedimentary levels of the lowlands, these highways, however picturesque and grand, seem terribly forbidding– cold, dead, gloomy gashes on the bones of the mountains, and all of Nature’s ways the ones to be most cautiously avoided. Yet the are full of the finest and most telling examples of Nature’s love; and though hard to travel, none are safer. -John Muir into the valley This was quite possibly…
The Mountain Spirit (excerpt) Driving all night south from Reno Through cool-porches Bridgeport, past Mono Lake’s pale glow, past tongues of obsidian flow stopped chill, and the angled granite face on the east Sierra front — -Gary Snyder High Point Today i would ride Tioga Road into Yosemite Park. This was pretty much a relentless climb for about 6 miles before leveling off at a series of alpine lakes. I have to saw…
butterflies in the wind seeing them on their way -Santoka through the devils gate The high, rocky valley walls effectively block the sun both setting and rising leading to a truly cold night. I had to put on my raincoat in the morning to warmup. I had ridden part way up the pass getting to this campground but there was still nine miles to go. The wind was back early too but there was…
the crow silently flew off -Hōsai Ozaki apex predator Another chilly morning, but once the sun hove into view it quickly began to warm up. Almost as quickly as I am on to climbing up a pass. As I turned left following 89, hwy 4 pealed off the route and went down a signed 24% grade. Sure glad I didn’t have to go up that. It was a pretty long hot climb up to…
warm day — and still some food on hand -Santoka it’s Tahoe vs Veygus in the Big Game It was another chilly, mountain morning, though not as outright cold as yesterday. Climbing the hill out of the campground warmed me right up anyway. I did a bit of riding high above Lake Tahoe which afforded some spectacular views, of the layered blue lake. It was a sunny, heading toward hot day and already the…
Moon in mid sky, high over the village hovels and wandering on -Buson I can see Nevada from my tent It was really cold last night which I have to say I’m grateful for when I’m snug in my sleeping bag, but packing up this morning I could have used a sweater. Of course I was camping over 6000 feet! I was most of the way to Lake Tahoe and the bulk of the…