A new beginning
The first day of any backpacking trip is a day full of adjustments. You must adjust to the altitude. You must adjust to the weight being carried on your hips, shoulders and back. And you must adjust to your new surroundings.
Tomas and I picked up our wilderness permits in Cedar Grove at 7:30 a.m. and were on the trail by 8. We encountered surprisingly few hikers on the Woods Creek Trail, our access to the John Muir Trail above Kings Canyon.
We camped the first night in Upper Paradise Valley. We'll reach JMT on Wednesday.
Marek's first entry using the new satellite phone was broken, probably owing to still being shielded by Kings Canyon. Check back as he and Tomas move toward the finish of The Bee's journey.
Comments
Have a great trip, Marek and Tomas, from all of us restricted to hiking vicariously. And as for those communication problems, hey, John Muir's phone didn't work so well either!
Posted by: Alan Birnbaum | August 30, 2006 08:06 AM
Don't worry about us recieving your comments. We will wait for the good news!
Posted by: Rich | August 30, 2006 03:55 PM
Hey Marek, enjoy the view and be sure to toss the Frisbee for me. You brought a Frisbee right?
Posted by: Steve Shea | August 31, 2006 06:58 PM
Concerning John Muir, many early Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes considered him quite an "eccentric" or even a little bit kooky. There are several tales of what some Paiutes thought of Muir. One time during a Big Horn Sheep hunt Muir followed a Paiute hunting party, watching them as they hunted the sheep which we Paiutes called "Koip". There is actually a mountain in Yosemite named Koip mountain. If you hit the URL you can see an old drawing of Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes hunting Big Horn Sheep along the same Sierra Nevada. They used to be very numerous, but now are struggling to survive. Like the Paiute Cut-throat Trout in the same Central California area they are on the brink of extinction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Awahnee
Posted by: R. Dandridge | September 3, 2006 02:35 AM