Alas I finally made it to the mountains in September. My birthday trip to June lake was of course delayed due to my sister’s health but after some moving around of the schedule and a great deal of thought and processing of guilt I was able to hit the road with Ryan and the dogs. As we left there was a blazing fire in the National Forest behind our home but our bags were packed and our insurance premiums paid so we said, “What the hell” and took off.
The drive through the desert was pleasant as always and we stopped off for some turkey jerky and homemade honey.
We left one hundred degree weather to a nice temperature in the high 70’s, low 80’s and even though it was warmer than what we were used to or even packed for, we were happy and grateful. The next day a fire began in the mountains not far from our little place of heaven. Luckily even though the major road was closed the mountains directly behind us were not ablaze and we were able to go on hikes. The winds were also in the opposite direction so even though our climb took us higher than the helicopters dropping water, we had fresh air and a gosh darn good view of the smoldering fire. At one point on our hike we were headed directly to where the fire was and I didn’t think it wise but then at the top of climb there was a lake we could always jump in if needed!
Tommy and Kaylee did great on the hike. It was a 5 mile hike, 2,000 feet increase in elevation and very steep the entire way so we went from an elevation of 7,000 feet to 9,000 feet in less than 2 hours. We packed snacks and water, oh yeah, Ryan carried us up two beers!
Unfortunately I didn’t see any bears, just this one in the lobby, cute flower, huh?
The only true bummer about the trip was coming home. I love the mountains, I grew up a beach girl but my heart belongs to the High Sierras. One day I will retire there, at least during the Spring through Fall and then reside at the beach during the winter. But for now, I shall submit to the squelching Southern California hot desert heat and deal with it the best way I know how – NAKED.
