The CA Landscape

I experienced the diversity of California over the past few days. I had grown tired of long drives and felt wary of my gas consumption this summer, so I took the train up to meet my hiking partner - mom.

I used to take the train a lot when I had no car and needed no car. I walked, took public transit and for long trips took the train or bummed a ride. Its a great way to travel - you can sleep, get work done, read a good book, meet strange people, etc. On one occasion, the train hit something and we were stopped for three hours. Public transit stops running at some point and that was my way home, as I was a college student who did not carry money for cabs. (Lesson learned.) A kindly gentlemen with a 4-year daughter in tow loaned me $20 with a business card, as I was pretty panicked about how I would get home. I mailed a check and a thank you promptly and received a Christmas card with picture of the two the following holiday. It was pretty cool.

On this particular occasion, I was on the train that hit a woman committing suicide. We were stopped for two hours. It must be sort of eerie for any conductor that has hit someone. I noticed there were several accidents with trains during this same week. I can hardly fault the train, however, sort of seems like an unlikely beast to halt.

California is an amazingly diverse state. The train passes through housing, parks, industrial zones filled with trash or miscellaneous things to buy, and open spaces. The drive to our hikes starting point was a much starker and some areas were completely untouched. We drove along highway 395, which traverses the backside of the Sierra Nevada. Heading south, you pass Mono Lake and some of the most barren high desert country. Brown juggernauts of rock surround expanses that alternate treeless flatlands of more coffee-colored rock with green river oases. The town of Bishop lies between these expanses. It seems more or less a single wind torn street lined with the usual hodge-podge of gas, fast-food and lodging. We ate at the famous Schatt's Bakery before heading to South Lake, just outside of Bishop, where we would begin our hike. The hike was really more of a Sherpa trek. We agreed to carry 20 pounds each of food up to the Bishop pass to a couple of thru-hikers on the John Muir Trail. The man was a colleague of my mom's and he was hiking the 270-mile trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney portal with his son.

We,unfortunately, could not backcountry camp because of the food situation. It would have been a very heavy haul to take their food, plus our gear, and we lacked bear canisters. And honestly, neither of us was in good enough shape to haul 40 lbs of stuff up to almost 12,000 feet. We did a quick hike to acclimate, up to Treasure Lakes (about 5.5 miles round trip.) The trail from South Lake begins among subalpine trees and splits after about a mile. If you head right, you climb to Treasure Lakes, left, Bishop Pass. Treasure Lakes are radiant turquoise alpine lakes nestled at the foot of the surrounding peaks. It was fairly windy when we arrived, so we soon skirted back to our base camp, Parcher's Resort. Parcher's Resort has hikers cabins you can rent for up to two nights - to help you get acclimated, I suppose.

Early the next morning we started up the same trail, this time veering left to Bishop Pass. The sunlight only barely glistening from behind the mountain peaks, gently brushed the tops of conifers and subalpine deciduous trees. The geology of the area is also quite fantastic. Rocks swirled with reds and gold lined the trail in one section, while glacier pounded granite jutted from other areas. The trail begins at about 9,000+ feet and our eventual destination would be at 11,972 feet, Bishop Pass. The first 5 miles traverses mild switchbacks between the flat sections that pass three alpine lakes. We arrived at the first of the lakes after an hour plus of hiking, Long Lake. Long Lake was spectacular. Approaching Long Lake you are greeted with more glistening turquoise water, green conifers and wildflowers of brilliant orange, purple, and yellow. The peaks beyond appear as gray mounds of rock, like giants had laboriously piled day after day until the jagged points touched the sky. Another switchback passed a second set of lakes and the final switchback passed Bishop and Leavenworth lakes. Heading out of Bishop Lake the trail began to climb the final 700-800 feet to the pass. It staircased up a rocky path, the switchbacks tightening with each subsequent pass. The packs heavy, the air thin and our legs feeling the burn, it was a slow go. At the final stretch, when looking back to where we came revealed each of the lakes traversed and the final taxing climb now behind us, we could see our party anxiously wondering if it was indeed us with their food. Mom decided we should hike in a special lunch as well, as a treat, so at the top we shared apples, homemade brownies and blts with garden fresh tomatoes. Following lunch, we exchanged the food for trash and other various objects they begged to off-load, then said our good-byes and headed down opposite sides of the mountain. Mom and I arrived back to South Lake, in about half the time it took us to complete the 6 miles up. We were both weary, caked in dirt, and sun and wind baked. It was a gorgeous hike and we enjoyed, mostly, every minute of it.