Category: Uncategorized

I didn’t have a big objective or a peak to bag this year. Instead we had a base camp and all the trail maps and guide books to explore the Eastern Sierra with no other agenda but to avoid crowds who all had the same ideas we did: take vacation on 4th of July week, and retreat to cooler, higher elevation during record-breaking heat in the West.

Glaciers and prehistoric super volcanoes are not the only things that have left behind stories etched in the landscape.

If you’d asked me in 2019, I’d have told you that no, I can’t spend two weeks in a camper in the national forest because I have a real job, thank you very much. Life and work have changed a lot since then, and this grove of Jeffery pines in the Inyo National Forest was my office for a week and then base camp for a week of vacation.

“Summer in Northern New England”

Every so often the reality of the days matches up with the layers of nostalgia, anticipation, longing, and hope packed into that phrase. Last weekend was one of those times when high pressure brought low humidity and blue skies with storybook puffy white clouds, and I took advantage by doing two classic moderate hiking loops— my beloved Welch-Dickey, which I’ve hiked many times and which never disappoints, and a popular route I’ve never done before over Mt. Percival and Mt. Morgan.

Summer weather and state guidelines for safe reopening under Covid have brought my trapeze practice back to full height outdoors. There are still a few limitations— even with masks there’s no good way to give a safe spot still keeping social distance, but it brings me joy to stretch out under the open sky.

For some time I’ve been meaning to commit to video the definitive version of the parlor trapeze routine I developed with my teacher during quarantine. Here it is. You may need to turn the volume up all the way to hear the music well. Yes, I’m a monster for taking video in portrait orientation.