High Sierra Topix

Maybe that doesn't seem like your idea of a good time, but it might be a good time for the young punks out there who don't know anything unless it comes to them over their phone.

When I first took my younger daughter backpacking, I carried everything (tent and food) and she only carried her own clothes and backpack. And we hiked about the same speed.

Now, if we go backpacking, she is carrying more weight than I do---and still leaving me in the dust.

That's a good thing. I keep looking for more things for her to carry

balzaccom wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:04 am When I first took my younger daughter backpacking, I carried everything (tent and food) and she only carried her own clothes and backpack. And we hiked about the same speed.

Now, if we go backpacking, she is carrying more weight than I do---and still leaving me in the dust.

That's a good thing. I keep looking for more things for her to carry

Thats funny I almost posted the same thing about backpacking with my son when he was little!

oldranger wrote: ↑Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:31 pm But I am sad that I am not likely to be capable of returning to difficult to access places like Adair, Edna, Edyth, Crabtree, and other big fish lakes. During the past few weeks my mind keeps going back to my past trips and I marvel at what I used to be able to do and how good I felt doing it.

Like Mike above, there comes a time….the realization that one cannot do what was so easy to do before. Thankfully my memory bank is almost saturated with past grand adventures. Yosemite has always been my favorite...extensive wanderings...fished off-trail lakes a’plenty... from Hoover to Harriet, to Adair, to Benson, to Peeler... a lot of wilderness unseen by most.
Done the Muir multiple times, a small bit of the PCT too, Campo to Ashland...all mostly solo. BTW, If anybody asks, the best part of my Sierra lies between the two Kennedy Meadows.

Anyway, a few decades back, I had the misfortune to meet up with Mike, theOldranger here. We first met up below Edna…(he was late as usual). Stubborn, obstinate, sarcastic... flatulent, (obviously his pretty wife Kathy just wanted to get rid of him all summers.), we have since hiked together now for a very long time. Why? Who knows, especially as we both are solo artist bassholes. Maybe it is because he does know how to fish a little, enjoys/has access to all the pre-hike research on secret “Big Trout '' lakes, then anally plans everything to the most minute detail. He likes to lead and best of all, Mike is slow. Coincidently, I am lazy but I do know how to cook trout. Maybe it is because we mostly hike alone and he knows when to keep his mouth shut. Maybe it’s that we both have mutual respect and amazingly similar gear. Maybe it's the daiquiris,

It came to the point where I would just ask how many days this trip…(usually 15+)...and he'd pick me up all packed at the Curry Arch. Afterwards, maybe a few days rest up here home in Mammoth and then we would go out and do another of his planned secret adventures, and maybe one more trip after too. I never asked...just tagged alomg happily. This lack of planning on my part but getting to fish the most amazing lakes previously unknown lasted for over a decade, Undoubtedly the best hiking partner ever.

However, recently Father Time is winning...now have a hard time doing ~7 Sierra backpack miles when once could boast consecutive high 30’s. Getting old sucks.
Not being as dumb as I look, a few years back, finagled a summer-season job at the Tuolumne Store ...not a bad back yard. its location, a nexus of backpackers, dirtbags, and drive-throughs. All summer long, in the midst of all this “wilderness meets a store” alcohol and drug drama and trauma...seen it all... have learned a few things about most of the younger backpackers met out on the picnic tables...You can’t tell them anything...most already know it all.
Mike is right again - teaching any class on the subtleties of wilderness etiquette, to today’s youth (if previously unknown), would be tough...Not my idea of a good time.

pardon my ramblings,
mark

I currently teach classes at my local community college, and I want to put in a good word for the young people ( "today's youth") that I see in those classes. My students are bright, enthusiastic, full of questions and good faith efforts--and this at a time when teaching and learning are both suffering from the effects of the pandemic. I would love to teach a class of these young people on how to backpack...

Wait a minute. That's gives me an idea. Gotta go.

balzaccom wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:08 pm I currently teach classes at my local community college, and I want to put in a good word for the young people ( "today's youth") that I see in those classes. My students are bright, enthusiastic, full of questions and good faith efforts--and this at a time when teaching and learning are both suffering from the effects of the pandemic. I would love to teach a class of these young people on how to backpack...

Wait a minute. That's gives me an idea. Gotta go.

Paul, Those young people are there by choice as they signed up for it. I agree on the side of Mark that kids now a days "know it all" b/c of who they are and the internet. I took a backpacking (PE class) at CSUN in the late 70's as part of my curriculum; enjoyed it and learned a bit too. A w/e trip to Dinkey Lakes got scrubbed because of torrential rains. A Geography of California class with a 3 day Geography of the Owens Valley field trip. And to much scrutiny a Geography of Wine class... A night and a half of lecture and a half class tasting wines. Was not easy, had a textbook and exams. Learned a bit there too.

Sorry to hear about your neuropathy oldranger. A good friend who used to go out with me on trips also has the symptoms. He is younger than us and expected to be backpacking for several more years. He is frustrated by the fact that there seems to be no cause (therefore a way to fix it)- has had tons of tests and all say he is OK and should not have it, yet there it is, upsetting his life. He is slowly adjusting.

I still am envious of your fishing. Catch a big one for me!

At 75, I'm beginning to look seriously at alternatives like the Yosemite High Sierra Camps and Bearpaw in SEKI.

Mike started doing spot packing years ago. Could be a good solution as we age. Get into a basin, hang out for a week and get packed out.