And Ducks. In a row.
Monday July 2, our Ducks were in a row. We had just finished a six week stint of multiple workshops, a major website revision, a major email marketing campaign, the closing of our OFF THE GRID show, and the prep and successful launch of our new gallery exhibition STICKS & STONES: Nature Abstracted. The opening night of STICKS was beautiful, sales were off to a good start, and we were exhausted. Work hard, play hard. Clearly it was time for a change in latitude and a change in attitude. Time to play.
As usual, our family idea of play involved the High Sierra. In the winter, it is all about back country skiing. In the summer, it's about back country camping. Tiny problem this year. My son, who just turned 4, weighs 42 lbs. The pack we use to carry him weighs 15 lbs. Additional misc stuff is another 5 lbs. So, one of us is already packing over 60 lbs without any of the camping gear.
Solution: hire High Sierra Pack Station to pack in the gear on mules. A little Googling and a few phone inquiries later, we were set. The Packer would leave with our gear at 8:00am July 4th out of Edison Lake, Ca. Destination: Graveyard Lakes, 8.5 miles Northeast of Edison Lake, elevation 9800 feet. A spectacular group of nine crystal clear lakes surrounded by meadows, towering granite peaks, waterfalls, and blissful solitude.
July 3rd we arrived at Edison Lake to spend one night adjusting to the altitude. This is always helpful when taking a sea level body from 0 to 10,000 feet. July 4th we were up at 5:00am. Gear was dropped at the Edison Lake High Sierra Pack Station with our trusty packer Caylen. We weighed in and admired the local color. (I admired the Cowboys, Dylan admired the Horses, and Chris admired the large saddle bags carrying his creature comforts).
We contracted for two mules for our gear, laughed about how much stuff we were taking to the back country, received a few pointers on the long hike ahead and waved goodbye. Our gear would travel in style, but we were off on foot to Graveyard Lakes. Chris and I were both breaking in a new pair of hiking boots. Dylan, the 4 year old, was breaking in his tongue with a steady stream of flap that lasted 8.5 miles and seven hours up the otherwise peaceful mountain.
The hike up took the better part of the day. Finally, after a grueling final mile straight up the last stretch of cliffs, we reached the first of the 9 magnificent Graveyard Lakes. It was breathtaking and worth the exhausting hike. We started to look for where Caylen had dropped our gear, and after much confusion about his directions we located our pile of stuff by a small side pond.
It was an okay spot, but not quite right after seeing the magnificent first lake. Half delirious with exhaustion and thirst we lugged the gear back to the first lake and set up our home on prime waterfront realty. Home consisted of a sandy flat area surrounded by lush wildflower meadows and massive granite boulders. Lodging was simply two small backpacking tents, one for Dylan and the other for Chris and myself. We set them up side by side and then called it a day. The view was incomparable, the water was beckoning, and the next order of business was a late afternoon plunge in the refreshing crystal clear lake.
Our first night was spectacularly clear, starry and BUGGY. By dusk, I had single handedly provided a movable feast for several biting flies, swarms of mosquitoes, and scores of no-see-ums. So much for DEET, not one of the three bug repellents I offered up was of interest to these pesky critters. The boys, no problem. Apparently they tasted too spicy (or too sweet?)for these particular pests. My blood....just right.
After much negotiating with the Toddler about sleeping arrangements, it was decided that Dylan did not want to sleep alone in the small tent after all. Chris would take the small one man tent and Dylan and I would share the larger two man tent. This led to much tossing, turning, mumbling and grumbling from Chris about the claustrophobic size of his tent followed by a comment about having to sleep in a "coffin" at "Graveyard" lakes. Snicker, snicker, nighty night, don't let the creatures (or ghouls) bite.
The next day dawned sunny, hot, beautiful, and YES! Windy. The wind blew away the pesky critters and life was good. Actually life was great. Each day we would get up, feast on a great breakfast, and then hike up to the second, third or fourth lakes. Each lake stop would involve some form of wildlife sighting (Marmots, Foxes, Wolves, Deer, Eagles, etc) followed by glorious eats followed by more swimming followed by more eating. Evenings were all about the campfire, tasty dinners, fine wine, and smores. In between the above activities I found unlimited inspiration for new abstracted rock paintings and other abstractions of nature. I sketched and absorbed the beauty, committing new colors, forms and texture to intuitive memory.
Time passed quickly and suddenly day four arrived with the startling revelation that we were running low on coffee, apple juice, wine, chocolate and marshmallows. Stop the presses, this news brought the idyllic alpine life to a grinding halt. After a serious family discussion, it was decided by all parties (Dylan was particularly concerned about the dwindling supply of juice and chocolate) that we would eat and swim until 2:00 and hike out early. Caylen and the Mules were scheduled to arrive the next morning to collect our gear. We packed everything up well, making sure that the remaining food was safely secured in our Bear Resistant Canisters. We took just enough food, clothes, and sleeping gear to hike down the mountain to Edison Lake and stay at one of their tent cabins. The rest of the gear we left in good faith, tucked under a tree to await Caylen's arrival.
The hike down was a blast. We told Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and Scooby Doo stories the entire way. Somehow we also managed to count 25 different types of wildflowers. We have our own names for each ie: Double Headed Purple Headed Dragon Headed Monster Flowers. Or just simply Blow Flowers. Between the stories and flowers time passed quickly and painlessly...Dylan actually hiked six miles! Okay, do the math. If the kid hiked six miles, that meant that Chris and I only had to carry 60 lbs of weight 1.5 miles each. YES!
The next day our gear arrived safely back at Edison with Caylen and we moved to a beautiful riverfront car camping site at Mono Hot Springs. Two more relaxing days of tubing the shallow rapids on the river followed by Hot Spring soaks at dusk in various hidden pools along the edge of the river.
Our last two days we split between a night at Courtright Reservoir and a night at Mammoth Pool Reservoir. Courtright is located at 8800 feet and surrounded by majestic granite domes that rival ANYTHING at Yosemite. Beautiful. The last day arrived with a decision to stop in Fresno to pick up Beeswax for our next encaustic workshop. Once this was accomplished we set off for our last night at Mammoth Pool reservoir, located at 3300 feet in the mountains above Madera. We had heard from numerous people that Mammoth Pool was spectacular and it seemed like a fitting final destination to cap off our great week.
Two hours and one twisty drive later, we arrived at a hot, dusty, and fairly secluded PG&E campground. Although we had seen the reservoir at some point along the convoluted drive, it was nowhere to be seen from the campground. Disappointing since we were spoiled with waterfront living the previous 7 nights.
We selected a fairly nice site; large, secluded and breezy. I commented, with more than a little concern, that overall the area and conditions seemed a bit SNAKY for my taste. Low altitude, hot, dry, dusty, and surrounded by Manzanita (A Rattler favorite). Of course, be careful what you manifest...within 5 minutes I turned around only to find myself a mere 4 or 5 feet away from a giant slithering creature headed toward the middle of our camp. Shriek! Cold Sweat. Move slowly away from the snake, Lauryn. Okay. Stay calm.
The boys were fascinated by the Diamond Back creature. Upon slightly closer inspection they determined that the mammoth reptile did not have rattles and it had a round head rather than a triangular head. This was apparently good news and meant that our cold blooded guest was a large California Gopher Snake rather than a Rattler. Yes, they still bite, but they are not generally aggressive and, they are not venomous. Oh happy day (I thought sarcastically). Snake boy finally finished his slow, deliberate camp crossing and disappeared into the Manzanita.
More family discussion about my snake phobia led to a reluctant but unanimous decision to stick it out. We checked to make sure that all bags were zipped, tents closed, and that everybody was prepared to watch their step in snake country. This settled, we were off to find the lake. 30 minutes of stick poking, ground stomping, snake aware hiking later, we arrived at the lake. Unfortunately, like everything else water related, the lake was suffering from drought conditions with only 50% of its normal water level. Still, it was quite scenic surrounded by smooth towering granite domes that are pure Sierra eye candy. Wow.
The hike continued across the dry lake edge to get to the sandy swimming area. We crossed tracks that looked a bit Cougarish. But, could have been a large dog. 5 minutes later we crossed tracks that looked a bit Bearish. But could have been Bigfoot. Okay, so it wasn't Bigfoot, probably just a Big Bear. BEAR! Nice. We all hoped that our only visual would be of his tracks.
Finally at the sandy stretch of shoreline, we took the plunge. The water was warm, the swim was exquisite, and all forms of wildlife were temporarily forgotten. Back at camp several hours and some really good wine later, everything seemed fine. Another delicious dinner and off to bed early. Minor discussion about the lack of campground Bear food storage boxes. Should we Bear Bag (hanging your food in a tree)? Lazily, we decided why bother. It was the last night and if the campground didn't care enough to install the Bear Boxes they must not have a problem. We dragged our cooler and duffel full of food over to the base of a tree away from the tents. Nighty night, sweet dreams, don't let the critters bite. Snicker Snicker.
2:00 am. Chris and I awaken to a loud ripping noise. Grab the flashlight. Poke it out if the tent. Hello Big Black Bear staring at us from about 15 feet away. Quick, wake up and remember what to do when you have a middle of the night Big Black Bear Encounter. Bang Bang Bang. That's it. Bang on metal things and make a loud spectacle of yourself half naked outside your tent in the middle of the night. Yeah, that's it. Then the Bear is frightened away by your ridiculous human antics and hopefully drops the food on his way out of camp.
Wrong. Big Black Bear just stared at us. Not good. He was REALLY big (and getting BIGGER by the second) and Bears are fast. If you start reading stories about California Black Bear camping attacks you'll never camp again. We banged again. Louder. After a long stare down, BBB slowly sauntered away. Now what? Do people actually go back in their tents and SLEEP after this? While we are having yet another family meeting, still ridiculously half naked outside our tents, Blackie returned. Apparently he had assessed the situation, identified us for the idiots that we were, and decided to take the food after all. He grabbed our red food duffel bag and our small cooler, threw us one more nasty beady eyed Bear stare, and strolled away with the goods.
We decided, or at least hoped, that he was satiated and wouldn't come back. Besides, where were we going to go in the middle of the night? Reluctantly we went back to our tents. Just before I dozed off, Dylan, who had slept through the whole ordeal, lifted his sleepy head. He asked, innocently, if the Bear took his chocolate chip cookies. Ah, out of the mouths of babes. I told him I doubted it, there was plenty of other more attractive Bear delicacies to choose from.
It was a long night. Talk about jumping at every little noise. Finally it was morning and time to asses the damage. Immediately I was bummed that the coffee was gone. But wait. The boys followed the trail of ripped bags and ripped cooler pieces and parts and guess what? Blackie had no interest in the coffee, the cheese, the bread, the juice, fresh strawberries, chicken, cereal, nuts, syrup, milk, pickles, butter, Doritos, graham crackers, marshmallows, etc.
Blackie only had eyes for two things: Pringles Potato Chips and Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Go figure, a Bear with a craving for carbs. Suddenly I felt I could relate to this warm fuzzy creature. Perhaps Blackie was a she, and perhaps she just had to get her Chocolate Carb Fix. I know the feeling.
Trip over. Cookies are gone. Time to go home. Sorry Dylan, first thing back home we'll replace the cookies. For you and Mama.
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