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| Our "home" |
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| "Pesky" camp robber Blue Jay |
Today we hiked a 5 mile loop in the twenty lake basin above Saddlebag lake– just
ourside the bounds of Yosemite park.. I
have seldom seen such a variety of prime wildflowers – old friend – columbines,
arnica, shooting stars, lupines ( in their many varieties), mariposa lilies,
monkey flowers, Indian paintbrushes, on and on! Such joy! I am surprised that there is still a snow pack and Conness
glacier still exist (although a fragment of its former self), despite our dry winter.
At the end of this blog you will find the recipe for the best trail food ever - rusks - they are so hard it is necessary to take the days supply- moisten with water over them before you leave camp ( but shake off excess water), carry in a sealed plastic bag. They will keep "forever"as long as dry - they are just right if moistened .
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| The horizontal 'crack' shows that this is an active glacier - it has moved 'this much' since last winter |
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| View outside our tent front door |
Yesterday was exciting but in a different way – we hiked to
a lake in the neighborhood of Mono pass.
The morning was glorious – also filled with great variety of wild flowers. The big storm of the previous day had left
plants lush and flowers perky! About 2
in the afternoon we noticed the clouds gather – (and they do so quickly in the
high Sierra) .
By 3 pm light rain started falling – OK, we put on our rain gear and kept hiking. By 4 pm the rain turned to hail- first small
and then the size of small marbles. I
want to report to you - that ½ inch hail
hitting you on the head is painful! Also
I noticed that hail bounces when it hits the ground – rebounding into the
air by 14 inches. Seeing a meadow with many bouncing hail stones is like being inside a popcorn popper! We returned to our car – shed our rain gear – and returned
to camp… to find the evening dry enough to cook dinner and enjoy the evening.
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| Gathering clouds - 2 PM |
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| Our camp after the 2 inch rain storm |
Saturday – The trail up to Gardinsky Lake is intense!... the trail is a very rapid ascent to a high plateau with a jewel of a lake in the midst of meadows and rocks, a few low growing willows, and more variety of flowers than "you can shake a stick at"! I prefer hiking with Judy, but sometimes she wants a quiet day, and she was put off by this very steep climb - Once I reached the lake, I had it to myself - me and the breeze and the water sounds, Marmot chirps around me in the talus slopes... Walking around the lake I discovered good snow packs melting drop by drop to feed the lake.
I have heard the discussion so many times - "Why do we do this to ourselves?" Many high trails are very tough. The legs complain, breathing is difficult, I have to be sure of my footing on rocky steep slippery trails... My body goes into slower motion the higher I climb...The "why" is easy for me - there is such satisfaction for me in pushing through to reach the height -to see the high lands where so many beautiful things are to be found. It is a "high" like no other experience.
Wednesday - Here I sit beside a high mountain lake - I am held captive by the glacially formed cliffs of North Peak rising before me- we are several miles deep into the 'high country' - In this moment I sit on an immense glacially formed boulder. We just shared a delicious trail lunch, the sun feels warm on my skin, the breeze is cool, The lake ripples at my feet and in the surrounding rocks I hear many forms of falling and flowing water. This is a land of granite, water, ice, green growing things in the meadows, flowers abound! Time does not exist! I feel an intense peace.
There has been and is a problem on this Tuolumne trip that is only getting worse. Judy suffers from Asthma - and the condition is normally controlled by her prescriptions. In the rush to get away she left home a critical drug, Now it is apparent that her breathing is becoming more and more a problem - especially at high altitude and at night. My wife is a stubborn woman - and troubled as she is, she too has a deep love of the high mountains, and is very reluctant to cut the trip short - but it is apparent that we must. It is the fault of the high altitude, the cold air, and smokey campgrounds. So Thursday we did it - we left our beloved high country for another year. I felt a growing anxiety going with her on high distant hikes, especially when sudden problems developed... It has been a good trip and we have stored up plenty of mental images and tales to tell. So we leave it for the marmots and the picas.
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| Above Saddlebags Lake |
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| View across from Gardinsky - in normal years this is white with snow in July and August |
I have heard the discussion so many times - "Why do we do this to ourselves?" Many high trails are very tough. The legs complain, breathing is difficult, I have to be sure of my footing on rocky steep slippery trails... My body goes into slower motion the higher I climb...The "why" is easy for me - there is such satisfaction for me in pushing through to reach the height -to see the high lands where so many beautiful things are to be found. It is a "high" like no other experience.
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| The music of flowing water |
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| Rare Alpine Lily - found by Judy! |
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| Columbines - the best ever this year! |
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| Face of North Peak |
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| 'Elephant Heads' at their prime ( look until you see the trunk) |
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| The frames of Judy's glasses broken due to her stepping on them - repaired with 'mole skin' - it worked ! |
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| Glacial erratic - Granite boulder deposited by the melting ice on top of metamorphic rock |
Rusks 6/4/14
This recipe is highly flexible – add what you have or leave
out the ‘extras’
·
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1.5 cups unbleached white flour 1.5 cups whole wheat
bread flour
1/3 cup each: artificial sweetener (1/3 t Stevia) or
1/3 cup sugar, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries
1 C ground flax, All Bran
1 tsp salt,
2 tsp coriander, cardamom, ginger
2/3 c date granules
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ C almonds, sesame,
poppy seeds
-----
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
¾ cup yogurt
1.3 C milk
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
·
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the dry
ingredients.
·
Combine all the wet ingredients, pour them into
the dry ingredients, and stir until you have a soft dough, similar to biscuit
dough.
·
Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and
roll or pat it to about a ½ inch thickness.
·
Bake the rusks on buttered baking sheet for
about 25 minutes until the tops are crisping and browning a little.
·
Loosely pile the rusks on a baking sheet and
keep them in a 200 degree oven all day or all night (about 12 hours) to dry.
·
The finished rusks should be very dry and hard.
Cool and store in an airtight container.
·
Rusks will keep for weeks.
Divide
into 32 round flat “cookies” about ½ inch
thick before baking
Bake
