Until the Dam Breaks: Hetch Hetchy to Tiltill Valley

Trips, Weekends

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Tiltill Valley

Out and Back – 18.6 Miles

Saturday – Hetch Hetchy to Tiltill Creek (in Tiltill Valley) – 9.3

Sunday – Back to Hetch Hetchy – 9.3

The mark is still there from the mid 90’s, the painted-over crack and words that an environmentalist artist repelled and painted in the middle of the night on the O’Shaughnessy Dam. The words echoed John Muir, “Free the Rivers.”

It’s hard not to agree; hydroelectric power is on its way out, and wild salmon populations have been decimated by the hatchery system. Restoration seems appropriate now, seems necessary now if we want wild salmon to have a fighting chance of survival or hope to see some of our most scenic rivers run free.

There are 75,000 dams in the US alone, a third of which are over 50 years old, and 14,000 of which are considered “high-hazard,” meaning their failure could result in the loss of human life. This isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s an issue of infrastructure in disrepair and public safety. It just happens to have an environmental facet as well.

Stepping down from our soap box, we can think on this from the point of view of the future; of what our children and our children’s children are able to experience and share with their friends and families. Of what they are able to gain knowledge and experience from, and what kind of people we give them the ability to become. There is a direct correlation between our decisions today and the outdoors and America’s natural lands tomorrow, it’s time for that to be recognized.

cramped up hetch hetchy reservoire

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.

A Walk through the Wildflowers: Merced River Trail

Trips, Weekends

Merced River Trail

Railroad Flat Camp to North Fork intersection – Out + Back – 5 miles

Spring engulfed the land surrounding the Merced River. Every step we took brought us to a new spread of flowers, tall grasses, and butterflies. Literally butterflies everywhere. As the warm sun cloaked our shoulders we felt lucky to be in such a place for two entire days. With not so far to go, the river and its creeks and its bursting flowers were ours for the taking. Walking, dipping, napping, collecting, eating, drinking, and singing. That’s all we needed.

Merced River - Josh - Cramped Up

Merced River - yellow flowers 2 - Cramped Up

Merced River - flowers 2 - Cramped Up

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1, except yellow poppy photo.

Heavy Steps

Trips, Weekends

Big Sur – Ventana Wilderness – Out and Back

20 miles Total

Saturday – 10 miles in to Sykes Hot Spring Camp

Sunday – 10 miles out to Big Sur Station

It’s difficult but well traveled and maintained as if it were a half mile loop in one of our national parks. Although you don’t necessarily see a ton of folks on trail, they’re in there, crawling around the tubs, waiting in line, calling dibs. To be honest, it’s off-putting.

Maybe we’re spoiled at this point having soaked all over the eastern sierra and elsewhere. Honestly, should we be feeling that because we do this all the time, we have more right to it than someone else? No way, these tubs aren’t ours, we didn’t make them and we most certainly do not own this land. So why is there entitlement seething beneath the surface and on the tip of everyone’s tongue upon the realization that you’re not the only one who came out here this weekend?

We all worked hard for this, we all dripped sweat up the steeps and felt our knees pop on the scree filled downs, we all jack-assed heavy packs with more food than we needed; we all did the research, made the effort, rounded up our friends and got here, didn’t we?

Maybe we should all just drop our attitudes and appreciate these places that exist for everyone to enjoy. After all, this isn’t the hip new bar your friends have been talking shit about lately.

Check your ‘tude at the trailhead.

The Reward: Hot Spring Haven

Trips, Weekends

Backcountry – John Muir Wilderness – Out and Back

26 miles total

Saturday – 13 miles Rainbow Falls trailhead to springs

Sunday – 13 miles back to trailhead

Thirteen miles in a day is a long distance for your legs to carry you. But when you’re walking towards something so enticing, you seem to fly! A collection of pristine hot spring tubs in the middle of the wilderness is the greatest reward a hiker can ask for. Your muscles melt into the steaming water and the miles are far, far away.

Giving yourself a gift at the end of a hard day of work can really do a lot for you, even if you’re not in the middle of the Eastern Sierras – treat yourself daily! A good meal and a beer, a stroll through town, a jump in the ocean; anything that gives you pleasure that you think you can’t squeeze into your busy day – squeeze it in. You’ll see it can go a long way, and help take your daily stresses away…

Take the Leap, See it Through

Trips, Weekends

Emigrant Wilderness – Out and Back – Kennedy Meadows to Kennedy Lake

16 miles Total

Saturday – 7 miles in and creek side camp

Sunday Morning – A soggy mile out and back to Kennedy Lake

Sunday Afternoon – 7 miles out

The Emigrant Wilderness’s namesake stems from several groups of Emigrants (folks leaving one area to reside in another) that passed through this wilderness but eventually its use as a route was abandoned as the pass was too difficult and there were safer options. As we hike through fall fields walled in by sweeping granite mountainsides and side step small creeks meandering through the vibrant autumnal yellows, we can reflect on the people that made those difficult and dangerous treks through unknown lands and what that must have felt like.

The idea of leaving one’s home for another strange distant land, whether in search of wealth, opportunity, or community is baffling yet was and is commonplace. The essence of the unknown is a terrifying and at the same time enticing or exciting enterprise and so the mix of emotions that these people would have felt is mind boggling, and yet they did it; scared, unsure, nervous, and excited, they made it work and took that leap to the unknown. Their influence still holds true as there are numbers of us daily (young, motivated, inexperienced, and scared) making the decision to take the leap and see it through.

More photos after the jump.

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Above Treeline

Trips, Weekends

Canyon Creek Trail – Trinity Alps

Out and Back – 16 miles

Saturday Morning – 6 miles

Sunday – 2 miles to Lower Canyon Lake for a dip and 8 miles out

There is just something about waking up a bit earlier to catch the stillness of the early morning light creeping through peaks and trees to illuminate the vibrant green and powder white of alpine terrain. Sitting on a rock, a stump, a blanket; stretching your arms and yawning, taking in your first cup of coffee. It’s as if the world isn’t spinning, eternity has stopped, and its just you and everything else; stone in a brisk mountain breeze, waiting for the sun’s tendrils to brush your skin.

“I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found.”
– John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938)

Steep Ravine

Trips, Weekends

The wood is dark and damp, the sky grey, with fog and rain continually passing by; our small cabin is warm and filled with the wafting smells of my family’s Portuguese Kale Soup recipe simmering on the time worn and crackling wood stove. Lantern and tea lights burn low providing us just enough glow to fill our wine glasses and play card games for hours. A singular midweek night that, for all intents and purposes, should never end. Welcome to Northern California, we hope you love it here.

All photos taken with 35mm film.

Alpine Lake Weekend

Trips, Weekends

Tahoe Rim Trail – Weekend in the Tahoe Basin from Big Meadow to Showers Lake

16 miles Total

Friday Night – 3 miles in to Round Lake

Saturday – 10 miles to Showers Lake and Back to base at Round Lake

Sunday – 3 miles out and a dip in Lake Tahoe just 20 minutes down 89

About halfway to Showers Lake we came across a rustic cabin and barn; this is the original home and barn of the Meiss family, pioneers that came to the area in 1878 and in time used the property only during the summer for grazing cattle. Eventually, through a land exchange in 1965, the Meiss family property was turned over to the Forest Service.

Evelyn Meiss Richards said of the family property,

“My father…drove his herd of cattle by horseback, taking five days, through Plymouth, Silver Lake, and Caples Lake…to our range for the summer… My three sisters and I had many a lovely summer fishing and riding horseback. Once a week some of us would ride our horses to Meyers to pick up our mail. It took us most of the day for the trip. My mother, in the meantime, would either make ice cream to be frozen in the snow bank, or bread and biscuits in the wood stove.”

The cabin and barn are still there to see in the midst of a vibrant green meadow full of wildlife just before climbing to the refreshing waters of Showers Lake. It’s quite an experience while hiking through Meiss Meadow to reflect on a “simpler” life of subsistence vs. our hectic daily grind; are we better off with our iphones and desk jobs or are we just longing for a return to a life based on need. To imagine what it would be like to make life in the meadow for the summer, only leaving for supplies and waking daily to the sounds of chipmunks, birds, and the strong Sierra wind blowing through the tall grasses of your very own meadow.

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