Dog Day Afternoon

Solitude: the state of being or living alone; seclusion

       The hike to Dog Lake started at the Tuolumne General Store where I said hello to Leslie, a former Valley Store employee who was lucky enough to get to work in the High Country for the summer.  Then through the giant meadow to Soda Springs for a drink of mineral water right from the ground!!
        Did I mention how much I needed to be alone??  After working six 10 hour shifts in a row, I had no energy to give to anyone else!!
        The mosquitoes were replaced by Deer Flies.  You know, the brown ones that don't fly away when you swat at them, and they bite you to boot!!  There are people like that.  You know, the ones that constantly tug at your sleeves even when you aren't wearing any!!.....
        So Dog Lake is a 3 mile hike with a 750 foot elevation gain.  And every step I took was harder than the first!!  I had a lot of emotional and physical hurdles to get through and many times I figured I might as well just turn back.  But I kept on.....trooper that I am.....
        It took the whole way up to slough off some of the irritation from earlier in the day.  I went from shadow to shadow and rested more than once.  Breathing heavily through my mouth with grit teeth so as not to inhale any bugs...
        When I saw my first view of the Lake, I was able to release all the tensions of the day and sat down for a moment by the water's edge.  Such a pretty lake.  Lined with trees....clouds and blue sky resting in the water....I walked to the other side and found a spot by the water to eat lunch and enjoy the view.....I heard a jet plane overhead and watched 2 ducks glide in for a landing on the water...I decided I would for sure go for a swim!!  The lake is shallow at the edges, so the water was "warm" by glacial lake standards...I swam around like an otter for about a 1/2 hour.....
        Sitting on the shore to dry afterwards was wonderful....the sun on my back, my feet in the sand....I sat there for two hours in a sleepy daze.....It was after 6pm when I decided I better leave or I would fall asleep right there!!  It was a temptation I wasn't prepared for.  So reluctantly I headed back.
        I discovered that the trail was a bit steep and I jogged for a while....I saw a deer on my way down and took a picture before he trotted off....I followed my long shadow back through the meadow to my car.....It was a much needed escape...I needed it to be twice as long.....

Euro-love

I love Europeans!!  There are so many of them visiting here in the Park.  They come in all shapes and sizes with just as many accents.  I like to try to figure out where they are from.  I see I.D.'s from everywhere.  Blue ones, pink ones, yellow ones.  Some I.D.'s are just on  folded card stock paper with type written words and a photo stuck on!!  Some pictures are in black and white and seem to have been taken in the 1940's.  I can always tell the Europeans from the Americans....ALL Euro's bag their own groceries!!  It is something they do back home and until I learned that, I used to get weird looks from them when I would thank them for bagging.....I (not so secretly) love to watch them struggle when counting out change...and something I never even thought about is the fact that our nickle is larger than our dime but is worth less!!  That one always gets 'em!!

Above 10,000'

Walk through a meadow to Tioga Lake

Where wildflowers and granite peeks live in harmony,

Up a windy path and into the wilderness,

Where mossy rocks cushion your feet in cool water.....

Inhale the sweet aroma of wildflowers all around you.

Up a steep trail with endless views of distant mountains still with snow.

Fish for shoes suctioned off your feet from deep, muddy puddles.

Gaze upon a heart shaped lake,

Where dreams of home-stead live....

Upward concentration through boulder fields.

Look at where we've been!!

At the top (and chilled to the bone) the views of Mono Lake take your breath away!!!

I did it!! I did it!!

Saying YES to Life

Don't you know what hiking means to me??

It means I get to be "out there", where it's real!  I get to see what Nature (or God if you prefer) designed....I get to touch the Earth and the Sky and marvel at the scenes laid out before me....I get to open my heart to life....