I think it's the most sacred place on earth.
Showing posts with label Life in Los Angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life in Los Angeles. Show all posts
June 20, 2012
We spent Sunday afternoon hiking and exploring more of Margot's River, going up stream from our normal spot to find some nice pools and small waterfalls. This is the spot where we had her memorial service, where we carefully poured her ashes into the river. This is the spot we come back to, time after time, to dip our toes in the water and collect rocks and explore and tell her yet again that we miss her.
I think it's the most sacred place on earth.
I think it's the most sacred place on earth.
November 8, 2011
Pacific Crest Trail: Mile 265-277
Category: Hiking, Life in Los Angeles, Pacific Crest Trail, Travel
We got dropped on Friday around 11pm. It was in the 30's, the moon high, three quarters full. The four of us zip up our respective wintery gear and start walking, climbing to 6855' and then 6680' and so on. The night views catch us off guard around a certain bend and we stare out over the landscape, the mountain behind casting a shadow on the valley below.
This is the Pacific Crest Trail. It runs from the Mexico border fence straight into Canada, some 2600 miles all said and done. Yes, if you can imagine it, there is a trail that stretches across the entire United States. And ever since I heard of such a miraculous thing, I wanted to walk on it, all the way. Or attempt to anyway, over the decades. This little weekend jaunt started where I left off in 2009, at mile 265 out of 2663.
My tent partner and I swallowed a benadryl and we were off to dreams. We woke up to the sun and food and many miles in our immediate future. At 8am I won a bet about snow, and scored seventeen pringles.
As we climbed up, the temperatures dropped down, almost secretly, like it wanted to catch us off guard. The snow fell lightly, and then fell all damn day, inch after inch, covering the place magically. It looked exactly like something fabricated you might see at Disneyland, except it was real and hard to walk through. And it made everything wet, which created a nice entry point for potential frostbite.
One of us, the partner of this friend, took pictures from time to time, lucky for us.
By 4:30, we had stepped through 17 miles of forest. Night was rising. We were freezing. And despite the fact that being in our tents for the next fifteen boring hours seemed like torture, it also seemed like a smart idea considering the elements. So we pitched some tents and shrugged off the concern. Let's get warm, we all said to each other.
Then we heard some guys running, literally running, in shorts and stocking caps. And they stopped and offered help. And Bob and Micky came back with a truck an hour later to pick us up, and fed us homemade cookies and spaghetti, and let us display our wet gear all over the living room and staircase and bathroom, and cleared off the ping pong table so we could play, and brought out blankets and pillows, and let us crash on the couches and mattresses, and then went to the store in the morning to buy orange juice and syrup so we could have home made waffles. And then said, "thanks for coming" on our way out the door, as if our whole misadventure and rescue had all been planned.
This is the Pacific Crest Trail. It runs from the Mexico border fence straight into Canada, some 2600 miles all said and done. Yes, if you can imagine it, there is a trail that stretches across the entire United States. And ever since I heard of such a miraculous thing, I wanted to walk on it, all the way. Or attempt to anyway, over the decades. This little weekend jaunt started where I left off in 2009, at mile 265 out of 2663.
My tent partner and I swallowed a benadryl and we were off to dreams. We woke up to the sun and food and many miles in our immediate future. At 8am I won a bet about snow, and scored seventeen pringles.
As we climbed up, the temperatures dropped down, almost secretly, like it wanted to catch us off guard. The snow fell lightly, and then fell all damn day, inch after inch, covering the place magically. It looked exactly like something fabricated you might see at Disneyland, except it was real and hard to walk through. And it made everything wet, which created a nice entry point for potential frostbite.
One of us, the partner of this friend, took pictures from time to time, lucky for us.
By 4:30, we had stepped through 17 miles of forest. Night was rising. We were freezing. And despite the fact that being in our tents for the next fifteen boring hours seemed like torture, it also seemed like a smart idea considering the elements. So we pitched some tents and shrugged off the concern. Let's get warm, we all said to each other.
Then we heard some guys running, literally running, in shorts and stocking caps. And they stopped and offered help. And Bob and Micky came back with a truck an hour later to pick us up, and fed us homemade cookies and spaghetti, and let us display our wet gear all over the living room and staircase and bathroom, and cleared off the ping pong table so we could play, and brought out blankets and pillows, and let us crash on the couches and mattresses, and then went to the store in the morning to buy orange juice and syrup so we could have home made waffles. And then said, "thanks for coming" on our way out the door, as if our whole misadventure and rescue had all been planned.
The next morning, from the comfort of Bob's living room.
October 16, 2011
February 25, 2011
Kari and I packed up the Element on Sunday and headed an hour away to Point Dume State Beach for some hiking, reading and sunset watching. The beauty of the Element is being able to transform the back into a full size bed, which is where the reading, napping and sunset watching took place. With Grandma watching Stella and only six weeks before our second child arrives, it was a really nice way to spend the day.
February 23, 2011
Just up the road from us, some four miles away, is a trailhead that quickly ascents five thousand feet towards Mt Lowe and even deeper into the San Gabriel Mountains. Paul and I climbed the peak on Monday after a big snow weekend. We faced sun and clouds, snow drifts and desert, pine forests and charred landscape and changed multiple times over the fourteen mile hike. Here are some of my favorite photos in chronological order.
February 18, 2011
A new daughter is coming soon, Grandma is here and I left town for a day in the mountains. I brought the winter coat for some hiking, the laptop for some writing and The Road for some postapocalyptic reading. The snow is falling here at Jackson Lake, just on the other side of the mountains from my home. After a peaceful hike around the place, I opened up the back of the Element, crawled in my sleeping bag and dozed off.
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