For the most part, the 1980s did not provide any extended trips, but I did reach some Northwest sites of note near Mt. Jefferson, Glacier Peak and the Three Sisters. The decade culminated with a 1989 dream tour of the High Sierra, where I accomplished more than I had dreamed possible (especially with one day trimmed off the schedule)! Now I was truly hooked!!
The 1990s found me in deep granite several times, and four (OK, five) consecutive trips closed out the decade. They were a tough '96 trip with my first dose of cross-country travel (we're sure that Italy Pass has a faint trail, but we weren't on it!), a fun yet challenging '97 trip with my brother Larry, a flashback tour of the Wind Rivers after a nineteen-year absence and the shocking 1999 cross-country monster. It seems that a Really Big Trip occcurs in years ending in 9, starting with that first Big Trip in the Wind Rivers; I hope I still have the strength to continue the tradition for the '09 event, which will have to be a real doozie!! While the y2k trip was no cakewalk, it was much less strenuous than 99 and the rest-day was spent fishing below the southwest wall of Mt. Darwin.
If the new millenium started in '01, it started with a bang: a nine-day tour of the North Fork Kings! It was great fun with a new group of hikers culled from a few hiking websites, and we all proved compatible and had a great time. It was followed by both a bang AND a whimper, as the exhausting 2002 trip captured another North Fork - this time the San Joaquin - with plenty of Yosemite Park on either side. And that wasn't the end of it: my first autumn trip was also my first solo one, as I spent 3 1/2 days traversing Sequoia NP's Tablelands! Even that wasn't quite enough, with day-hikes at Onion Valley and a Lassen Peak climb closing out the 2002 season. It's hard to characterize the 2003 trips as Big, since both were short but very memorable: stormed out in the Ruby Mts, Nevada and overwhelmed by gold as the larch trees in the Enchantment Lakes basin (WA) surrendered to autumn. Another double-feature followed in '04, with a four-day Three Sisters (OR) trip in August and a Sierra Nevada return engagement the week of Labor Day.
This page links you to stories of these trips, more generalized memories and stories, and personal notes and hints of what I've learned along the way. Happy Trails.
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Yahoo! clubs: High Sierra - Muir Trail - SeKi - Wind River |
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