The world turns, time goes by and life takes you
places that are unforeseen. It happens to
everyone and it's no different with me and my two good
friends Dick and Chuck. Riding each wave
that life brings.
Memories from the Beginning
There were many many many years when the
three of us had the time and single purpose in
life to take to the Sierra's together each
season. Spring, Summer, Autumn - we were
on the trail. Some trips it was just Dick and
Chuck. Or sometimes myself and Dick or all of
us with Al Tanner or Virginia in the later
years, but in our hay day it was mostly the
happy trio on the trail. How many times had we
marched over Cottonwood Pass? Or Trail Pass to
Tunnel Meadow then Bullfrog Meadow on the way to
the mighty Kern? Or the campsites at Big
Whitney coming up from Little Whitney meadows?
Or arriving at the trail head near midnight to
start the first leg under full moonlight till
1:00 or 2:00 AM? I can't count them all. In fact
I don't want to count them all, I just want to
somehow preserve the memories.
There was a time when Dick and I did not know
all the "ins" and "outs" about backpacking.
I'd sit around with
Chuck after his return from the trail and listen
to his recounting of the Big Kern meeting the Little
Kern, rainbow trout and quaint camp sites. It
sounded adventurous, magical and I wanted in.
Chuck was our mentor back in those early days.
He showed us his gear, his maps, and shared his
methods. The first few trips I remember being
completely excited and was so elated to be
self-contained, un-tethered to a regular "car
camping" site, ready for anything. Dawdling behind the gang - inspecting every rock
and tree, Chuck strode way ahead. He'd seen this
so many times before. Eventually I developed my
own personal style of backpacking, but Chuck
provided the foundation of which to build. I
also remember him telling me long long ago -
"You ought to check out this new gear place in
Carson - I think it's called REI." Wow - that
was a long time ago.
We Take to the Trail
And so the world turns, time goes by and life
takes you place that are unforeseen. Dick no
longer lives in California. Virginia and I are
engaged, and am feverishly working on my house for my new wife to be. Chuck
continues his own life's journey. Would the happy
trail trio have another chance to head back in
to the wilderness ? In my mind,
opportunities like this will be more tough to
come by as we all move forward. Yet we had
an
opportunity at hand, so we headed out once again.
The video above ( 8 minutes) contains highlights
of our adventure.
