serendipity in the sierras

Serendipitous experiences leave deep imprints.

A girl rediscovered traveling alone. She went anywhere and spoke to everyone. Free-spirited, laid back, following whatever path seemed most fun - even if its direction was foggy. I'd forgotten. She's alright.

Serendipitous experiences unfold traveling alone. Crunching through work in the park, so I could have a day in the high mountains. As it turned, a colleague on the fire crew had similar plans. I chose the company - unlike me as going it alone is my natural path. We clicked - it was awesome. I remembered what it could be like.

Experience it below via picture - although pictures don't quite do the sierras or the magic surrounding the trip, justice.

Images from the entire trip are posted here.

And so it began ... just outside the park at saddlebag lake.

we hiked in for a few hours -day one - as the sun was setting...

the terrain was spectacular.

here is mount conness. the plan was to scramble up to it's peak. too bad i don't know how to climb... soon.

climbing to some is like bikes to others... i get that. it's cool.


we setup camp amidst rocks to protect from chilling winds and cold; we sat in the dark, under a huge crystal clear sky watching the moon rise. We cooked, tracked constellations, joked about life... until our cores froze and chills set in. Then it was time to seek shelter.

We rose to a frosty sierra landscape...

my camelback froze as did my nalgene bottle. as the sun rose, the earth slowly warmed.

Water was filtered from this lake. A nalgene of hot chocolate started off the day right. We left camp and began our hike.

each plateau of rocks revealed another crystal clear lake...
all of which were frozen over early on.

As we made our way up the mountain, I found myself needing to stop and catch breath. Justin hung back each time to chat. Dang, and I thought I was in shape. I wasn't even carrying a pack (nice boy carried all the gear given my ineptness on rocks! how sweet.). Perhaps a combination of asthma and elevation took me out (it was well over 11,000' and we were hiking to 12,500'). The terrain was steep, rocky and sometimes lose tallus. We scrambled our way to the top. So fun!
right: look closely for the tiny spot that is our camp!

Justin really wanted to climb. I could see it in his eyes. While I told him to go ahead, he refused to leave me. :) we had lunch on the ridge, under a bright blue sky filled with puffy clouds overlooking the backcountry mountains.

Since we couldn't peak conness in this direction, we turned around and scrambled back towards the next peak over - equally high.

360 view. this panorama is HUGE - like 10 pictures long... you should see it full size.

Justin wanted to tackle the summit together - holding hands. we did.
there was a register there and we both signed it. i wrote "i found waldo". ha! poor guy - i can't help but tease. he didn't deserve it. he's adorable.

Some cool climbers summited on the other side. we all hung out. climbers are laid back but in this adventurous and sometimes wild / risk taking way... nice.
Justin decided we needed a group photo
left: our new friends took our picture.
Right: then we took our own picture.

Then came the descent. The lakes were SO INVITING in a "i know this will be ass cold kinda way"... we had to get in.

it was COLD!
Right: holy sh@@T !!!

I might get in trouble for posting this... but it's absolutely priceless. Our humor was strangely similar.

I was so stoked after the first lake, I wanted to get in again. Here I am contemplating another dive. The air temp was probably in the low 40's. I am the mother penguin.

repeat post... the high after is pretty sweet.

post swimming. me and my west coast boy... what an awesome time.
until we meet again. i hope.
I'm planning another backpacking trip soon... i think i'll fly solo - see what the trail brings...