seas of granite skies of blue.

summer holiday 2010.

'You can't take this for granite.'

~ julian

27 july. Day Four. Summer holiday. It's not quite ten o'clock in the morning and we've been up and around. Had my coffee. Trying to get some sun but it's crazy-windy today. Keeps the mosquitoes at bay I guess but it makes it tough to relax. Trying to figure out a plan for today. We will probably relax this morning then have some lunch by the water and a little more relaxing. The water is cold so not sure about swimming especially with this wind. Then maybe around two or three o'clock or so head up for a go of the summit on Agassiz. Last night was spectacular. The clouds had all disappeared but the light was still good. Running around looking for places to shoot. Need to explore to find new ones for the next couple of nights. There is another lake under Isosceles Peak that I want to check out for sure for a different perspective of this Palisade range. And of course Palisade Basin need to decide if it's worth packing up all of our stuff and moving or just trying to take some photos when the light is good and then getting back here before it gets too dark. It's quiet. The stream between these two lakes where we are camped cascading is all I hear. Julian is off climbing and exploring. The wind is dying down. But then it is warm at last. Yesterday's hike to Bishop Pass was good. We made great time the first couple of miles. Then I think the weight of Julian's pack started bothering him. And then there were the steep switchbacks up to the pass. But he made it! Eleven thousand nine-hundred and seventy-two feet. An elevation record for him. It was when we started down that he got sick. We were almost to Dusy Basin and had stopped for a bit of a break when he walked off came back and told me he had thrown up. Aww. It took me by surprise cos two years ago at the tender age of eight we climbed up to Kearsarge Pass some fifty miles south of here to just shy of twelve-thousand feet and he had rocked it whereas I had come down with a splitting headache. So I did not even consider the altitude of Bishop Pass. We hurried down to the basin and I found us a good spot to set up our little camp above two lakes overlooking the Palisade Crest to the north and peaks unnamed to the south where the trail wound down and down to finally meet up with the Middle Fork of the Kings River and the JMT on its way either to Evolution Basin further north or Mather Pass to the south. I quick tossed up the tent and Julian took to crawling in and crashing immediately. He was out the rest of the afternoon. So I had a few hours to set stuff up and then wander around myself. I napped on a rock with a view to the lake and the Palisade peaks. Then went to find a rock chair on which to toss one of our sleeping pads and read a bit from 'The Alchemist' which I had brought along to finish during the next three days out here. Julian finally woke up and we made dinner in time to finish up before the light started to do its thing. Then there we were running around us each trying to take our own shots in this most spectacular granite basin at eleven and half thousand feet. As the light wound down I was wrapping up and glanced up to see he had found a rock above on which to sit and write in his journal. I grabbed the long lens and fired off a couple of frames. They are my favourite frames of the whole trip. Reflections of mountains and skies and alpenglows none of them compare to a shot of my son on his own three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of granite and mountains just taking his own time being his own self journaling his experiences in these mountains remote and far removed from all he knows but yet perfectly comfortable in it all. Perfect. And unforgettable. He is across the stream from me now. I have tossed a pad on this rock relaxing watching him climb some boulders and cracks figuring out ways to their tops. To solve their 'problems.' He really is quite a good climber despite my lack of any formal instruction. I need to be sure to tell him that. Sometimes I think I criticize him too much. Am too hard on him. He is still just a ten-year-old boy. But I am sure to tell him how proud of him I am. Haven't seen any kids hiking through here. No one close to his age making the trip up and over Bishop Pass six miles and three thousand feet of elevation into this basin as he makes his way up a crack on another boulder off in the distance. I like the subtle sounds out here. The wind through the Juniper Pines. The constant sound of white noise from the stream. Occasionally the sounds of birds. The flapping of the nylon tent fly gently in the breeze. Silence. The sun is exhausting so now escaped into the tent for a while before we gather our things to try for the summit of Agassiz. It seems like the wind has died down and it gets stifling in here even with the doors open. Full moon last night killed our chances to see the Milky Way. It pretty much rose as soon as it started to get dark. Bother all. Well off we go.

28 july. It is early. The sun just peaked up between Mount Winchell and Thunderbolt Peak across the lake. The water is still glass. The moon is hanging low about to set behind a range of peaks whose names I do not know but from which Observation Peak seems to rise the tallest among them. I crawled out of the tent to sit on this rock overlooking it all Julian still tucked inside asleep. The sun glistens off the waters. I am wrapped in my sleeping bag. It is quite beautiful. What strikes me odd when I think of sunrises and sunsets is I can watch the shadows shorten instead of lengthen as I more accustomed to seeing. Going to go make some coffee soon. Moby and some others make a good soundtrack for this particular morning. There is still a chill in the air until the sun has had a chance to warm things up a bit. So we started our climb yesterday at two. Headed cross-country straight up past the lakes toward the base of Agassiz. We had made good time Julian excited and after an hour were already scrambling up talus towards the gully I guessed would take us more or less straight up to the summit nearly two thousand feet higher. Talus and scree steep me leading slowly always making sure Julian was doing okay. As we climbed higher we could see a big group huddled far below back at Bishop Pass. He was doing so good. Approached thirteen thousand feet. Another nine hundred to go and I figured we could just make it by five o'clock which I had set as our turnaround time. But then everything changed in an instant it seemed. He just broke down. We stopped together and decided where we were would be our summit. No worries. How proud of him I was I told him over and over. He cried and asked that I not think of him as a crybaby. I could not tell him enough how much that did not even cross my mind. To take a look at where he was. The summits of peaks we could not even see a thousand feet lower now visible far off in the distance. A haze hung in the sky muting the sun. And when he asked me that I about lost it high on this ridge mountains and lakes and wind beauty surrounding us waiting for him to catch up then almost near me asks for a hug and I said that was exactly why I was waiting for him so that I could give him one! And to tell him again how amazing what he did really was. I reminded him as we descended how one of my jobs of being his dad was to push him to try things he could not or would not think he was capable of doing by giving him the opportunity to try. He nodded in between tears. He said how he was inspired by me how I could have easily climbed Agassiz. I told him I turned around many times on mountains because I was scared. Wanted to make sure I got back home to see him. Wrapped in down warding off the bit of wind and this morning chill as the sun rises higher and the moon sets lower I look back and think back to moments with him and that one on Agassiz will always stand out. So we didn't make the summit. No matter. I led down stopping every so often for him to catch up. The way back seemed ten times as long as when we were headed up excited at the thought of standing on top but he kept after me his little legs taking him around and over boulders and granite and streams. With our camp he called 'home' in view we saw a marmot and his spirits lifted instantly. We do love the marmots and had said earlier how our trip would not be complete until we saw one. He got a good picture of it and then once back crashed in the tent while I started dinner. We ate on our rock. Then after he promptly went back to the tent as I wandered away exploring for a new subject or perspective in which to shoot the impending evening light. But the sunset came and went with little show and I made my way back up to our camp to climb up on our rock and found Julian below shooting reflections with his tripod and camera. We've had lunch now. We took some final shots that evening then made our way to the tent after finishing up the requisite chores of washing up in the stream and brushing our teeth under the stars. A bunch of hands of Uno led up to us switching off the lantern and bidding each other a good night. Clouds have rolled in! The wind is still pretty consistent and I have gone from sunbathing on granite in just shorts to pants and down sweater all in the matter of an hour or two. I am sitting on this granite rock now as the sun comes and goes clouds streaming in and out overhead. I do not know but all of a sudden from this perspective I feel a sense of awe. There is so much granite. I can still hear the little stream below but looking out across the lake to the Palisade Crest peaks and the jumbled mess of granite in every direction it is quite something to behold. It is again so quiet. Just the stream and at times the wind. Shadows move across the face of Agassiz and Winchell and Thunderbolt and Palisade changing the scene by the second. The lake moves in and out of shadow. The wind at times howls through the junipers. I am excited for our upcoming little expedition over to Knapsack Pass and Palisade Basin this afternoon. With the clouds there are photos to be taken seemingly constantly as the light shifts and changes with their every move. I will miss this place of granite and mountains and skies and winds and water. I will miss the quiet. I will miss the time spent with Julian just he and I no distractions except the occasional marmot sighting or photo-taking opportunity. I will miss just relaxing no real agenda other than to soak up some sun and scenery exquisite beyond my pale descriptions and lame photographs. There is absolutely no one around. It is just the two of us. I am relishing it. Counting every moment. Tomorrow we pack up and head out. Back up and over Bishop Pass and down to South Lake. Julian has wandered off now somewhere to go play or climb or explore he has seemingly the whole world of this rocky basin at eleven and a half thousand feet he worked so hard to get to in which to play. The clouds continue to build on the other side of the pass they seem to be intensifying. We have yet to see a thunderstorm build over the mountains while out here. Thinking we may have missed our chance as Sunday evening seemed to have been quite intense. The sunset from the town of Bishop was all mad-crazy red and beautiful and I had remarked to Julian pointing in the direction of the Palisade peaks if only we were up there then! But we would be the next night. And the next. And the next. And I am excited for tonight.

29 july. We headed out around two again cross-country over hills and boulders and around tarns and streams. It was pretty easy-going especially compared to our climb up Agassiz the day before. Some more boulder hopping over talus slopes Julian confessing that was his favourite part. He would hop from boulder to boulder with the ease of a mountain goat picking our route traversing up towards Knapsack Pass under the immense bulk of Columbine Peak. A few more steps he led up and then we were there. And the view. Wow the view! Straight into the heart of Kings Canyon National Park and the Eastern Sierra spread out before us. The rest of the Palisade Crest peaks. North Palisade and Thunderbolt still. But also Middle Palisade and Disappointment Peak. Mount Sill. The peaks east beyond Mather Pass of the Eastern Sierra Crest. Split Mountain. Goodale. Mount Pinchot. And so many other nameless or more likely named but unknown to me. A whole world of granite and sky fell before our feet. Layers and layers of it in all directions. I took some panos. Julian took some too. I took some shots of him standing on a ledge with the backdrop of granite behind. We had a bit of a snack. Hung out just in awe. Then we headed back to camp for supper back the way we came past the lake beneath Isosceles Peak. Promptly after we ate the light started to change so we grabbed our cameras and headed out for the next hour immersed in our craft of trying to capture it. The clouds had held! The light was spectacular. It is now the next morning as I write this and the sky is still littered with them blocking out the rising sun behind Winchell and Thunderbolt to the south and east the mountains look amazing here from this rock littered with cloud shadows our final day. Julian is still sleeping but will no doubt be up soon to join me. We had stayed up last night outside the tent in awe at the stars. Much to our delight the Milky Way came out. We saw the headlamps of hikers coming down from Bishop Pass in the dark. Picking out constellations we cannot see from home. I spotted Leo. We tried our hand at remembering others that seemed familiar. Julian was taken aback in amazement and wonder of the magnitude out here and we got stiff craning our necks for so long the night air still warm without the chill of any wind of which to speak. Cannot say that for now the wind is back and it is chilly just sitting here on this rock. Trying to soak up this place as much as I can before we load up and shoulder our packs for the climb back up the pass and down past all those lakes to Spencer and eventually home. These three days have been spectacular. I learned a couple of years ago to try to find a spectacular place where we could get in to and then just spend a couple days relaxing and exploring rather than constantly being on the move. His little legs are strong and have taken him far but it is good to just let him play. Digging in the dirt under the Palisade Crest. Climbing granite boulders in the Sierras. Playing with Stanley and George. Being free no constraints short of his own imagination. I cannot imagine being a ten-year-old in a place like this free to be a kid and explore and have to myself. I have to provide him these opportunities to let him grow and be himself as he told me last night during our star-gazing fest how the mountains change you Dad he said to me. I asked him how? He said they make you stronger and appreciate nature more. I could not have said it better myself so instead let his words echo off the distant granite and come back to us sitting on our rock. He makes me awfully proud. I smiled to myself and held him tighter. Under more stars than either of us have seen in far too long and the graceful streams of the Milky Way a quiet like no other the shadows of these immense granite peaks Agassiz and Thunderbolt and Palisade stark against the night sky we fell silent.

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30 july. We are now in Redding having covered just about half the distance home from Bishop. When we got back to town yesterday after our hike out we went to the Bishop pool and took a shower and swam. Julian and I went off the diving board. There was a huge water slide. It was the best five dollars I spent the whole trip. All the while under a ninety-five degree Owens Valley sun dry and hot as can be expected end of July. This morning heading out from Mammoth Lakes north on US-395 driving past the left turn for CA-120 just outside of Lee Vining with some hesitation. That was the road that led up Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park and a lineup of cars this morning waited to make the left turn to do just that as we cruised by headed instead north past Sonora Pass back up Monitor Pass and winding back down first through the northern Sierras past Tahoe then through the oak hills and onto Sacramento. It was tough saying goodbye to these mountains I will not see again. Until we come back that is. I kept looking back. Of course there are things to which I look forward to getting home but of course it is always tough to leave as I sit next to this pool in the hot afternoon sun watching Julian splash around and try to dive without kicking back his legs. I give him some instruction. I'll join him shortly then we'll go for our last In-N-Out. Relax a bit this evening. Maybe take a walk after supper. Already repacked everything back in Mammoth. We'll get up early. I'll try to find coffee here in town and we'll jump on I-5 for the long drive north. It will be good to take a shower in my own shower. Sleep in my own bed. Feel the breeze through my own windows. Lie in my own grass. Look forward to our next holiday.