Mammoth Lakes, California...

and the Crystal Lake hike. 

When five unrelated and geographically separate residents suggest the same destination for a hike, I listen up. Only a fool ignores the locals, especially when they  obviously walk the walk. My wild land informants were young, fit and tanned. Unlike me, who's now feeling the miles, has gimpy knees and has deepening facial furrows from the relentless rays of the sun.
Ah!  To be young again.

Anyway, I checked out what all the hubbub was about. 

What do you think? I think the natives nailed it. 

That's Crystal Crag looming large above the lake. Cool beach for an IPA too. 

I scored a two night, three day permit for 30 more miles of Sierra Nevada bliss starting mañana.

Please have a few brews for me while I'm drinking water and eating dehydrated Thai chicken! Umm umm good! 

Be well and thrive,

Jeff

Devils Postpile National Monument...

is a mere freckle compared to Yosemite, but still worth the bonus miles to gander at. After all, how often do you get the chance to see one of the best examples of columnar basalt in the world. I never even knew basalt could columnar until I witnessed it myself. Way cool.

And... If that's not enough, there's Rainbow Falls, plunging 101' along the San Joaquin River. It requires a five mile RT mosey to see Mother Natures shower. I didn't mind. 

Devils Postpile historical factoid: In the early 1900's some Bozo proposed blasting the columns to pebbles to facilitate constructing a hydroelectric dam. John Muir and his cohorts came to the rescue once again for another ecological/wilderness  save. 

America's chubbiest President William Howard Taft (340 pounds) proclaimed the site a National Monument in 1911. (I don't think our 27th president would have been able to walk those five miles).

No one would ever recall another hydroelectric dam (unless you are a civil engineer), but you will surely remember this pile of rocks. 

Cheers from Mammoth, California. 

My picnic lunch companion

Midnight Lake...

Yep, still part of the aww-inspiring John Muir Wilderness.

Standing tall behind this alpine wet spot is Mount Darwin at 13,831'. Ain't it a beauty?

Here's a bit of Sierra granite history for you. Way back in 1895, Stanford professor Theodore Solomons punched in a route from Yosemite to Mount Whitney. (Much of it became the John Muir Trail). Teddy was rolling along, naming stuff along his merry way, when he noticed six gnarly light-colored peaks raising up from a basin.At that moment,  he decided "what the heck!" and christened them after the proponents of the new (at the time) scientific concept of Evolution. 

In parts of the US, it's still a new found idea! 

Evil-lution, I guess. 

I've been called a lot worse things than a descendant of a monkey. I can live with that.

Onto Mammoth Lakes mañana, so long Bishop, CA.

Enjoy your weekend

For years, I've been...

stating the Europeans make Americans look like a gaggle of "Sissy-La-Las." Those folks on the eastern side of the Atlantic are hard-as-nails tough.

Over there, no one would think of rolling around atop a scooter in a supermarket. Everyone walks and they are really good at it.

Great Britain yields the toughest of the tough.

I know this because I've been hiking and backpacking with Jonathan Deeks for years.

Jonathan embodies the True Grit of the Not-so-United Kingdom. 

He has the survivor/leadership gene of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

He's an explorer and adventurer in the mold of Captain James Cook and Doctor 

David Livingstone combined. 

Jonathan has the stamina of Robert Falcon Scout. 

He makes me look like a statue. He possesses an inhuman amount of crazy energy. He doesn't even require coffee (drugs) like me. Truly amazing.

He's smart too.

Alas, the trips with Jonathan will be coming to an end. 

Soon, he'll be trading cactus for peat.

He and his delightful wife Donna will be moving to Ireland. 

The same Donna Deeks of foodie blogger fame.

( http://www.redmountainrefuge.com/ )

We've had a great run and it's a shame it's over on this side of the Atlantic. 

Thank you Jonathan for putting up with my strange and weird Yank ways. 

Cheers and best of luck to you and Donna on the Emerald Island. 

John Muir Wilderness, California...

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." John Muir

Jonathan and I didn't spend a week in JM's wilderness but pretty close. We ventured over 60 miles in six days of "Can you believe this?" scenery. This is a chunk of the US that is larger than life, like the man it was named after. There's 581,000 acres to get disoriented in. (A clever way of saying, getting lost). John's wild area contains more higher ground (over 10,000 feet) than any place else in the US. There's 57 granite cathedrals/synagogues over 13,000 feet. 

My beloved Colorado mountains seem like the Flint Hills of Kansas compared to the Eastern Sierra Nevada. I love this place and I'll spend more times in the playground of the pikas in the weeks ahead. That is, when my swollen knees stop throbbing and I regain the weight I lost from the 6 day effort. I think real food and a steady diet of IPAs will help.

I'm not complaining though. 

From Bishop, California.

Good Night Mr Muir and thanks,

Public Enemy Number One...

for years I have been harboring a conspiracy theory about our National Park Service. 

Here it is: The unofficial credo is, they don't want visitors coming to our nation's best landscapes. Guests cause problems. We make a mess, trample delicate areas, feed wildlife, make noise and ask a lot of silly questions about trails and bathroom locations. We are a hassle to them.

So...some NPS employees attempt to scare us "Joe Average Visitor" with "Lions! And Tigers! And Bears! Oh My!" Warnings ad nauseam. 

These are the employees who have gone to the "Barney Fife College of Law Enforcement"  In other words, they get carried away with their power and forget whom the tax payers are. (I never saw a bear with a W-2 in his hairy paws). 

Lisa and I were both issued Warnings about our bear-boned mistakes. Her's was the heinous crime of leaving an empty coffee cup in her vehicle. Gasp! Mine was far worse. I had a tube of sunscreen stowed in one of Barley's windowsills. Pure sociopath stuff bordering on being a mass murderer. 

My warning was issued at 10 pm. That was one helluva bored cop to be looking into Barley with a flashlight at that hour. If a civilian displayed suspicious behavior like that, someone would call the cops! 

Now, I'm not saying all NPS employees bought into this idea. I've met many helpful, informative and genuinely good people in uniform. A sincere thank you to those out there. Please continue your positive service to the community. This rant didn't apply to you. 

BTW. I still love National Parks.

Well, that's a wrap on Yosemite. Tomorrow begins a 5 night, 6 day backpack into Kings Canyon National Park. Shhh! Don't rat on me about this blog! 

Live long and prosper,

Jeff

Mount Dana...

weighing in as the second highest in Yosemite NP at 13,053 feet is one wonderful summit. The peak performs a "Hang Five" maneuver (surfboard expression), balancing between the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada. It's like the quiet dude in the bar who's looking in from the edge of the action. Similar to this blogger's beer room manner.

When I was atop Clouds Rest, a grumpy old man (not me, this time) lambasted this beauty. "It's too far away from the real mountains. Why would anyone bother with it?"

You viewers can look at my photos and decide. I think it's worth the sweat effort to get there. 

BTW. That is the same Mono Lake that I donated some coin to keep saving.

Enjoy!