An Adventure in the Sierras

[Oldbob]

I'm going to betray my age by telling this story, but since Firefly gave me permission to bore you all with the adventures of my past, here goes.  In the early 70s, I never heard of anyone using bolts while climbing.  Instead, most climbers used top ropes.  My merry band of numskull friends and I didn't use anything.  Free climbing was all we knew.  We never did anything quite so insane as free climbing El Capitan or Half Dome, but we covered a huge portion of Yosemite in one fine summer.  It was perhaps the greatest time in my life.  We would leave the area every few weeks to pack in more food.   But for the most part, we lived free for nearly four months.  I recall several broken ribs, a concussion, several twisted ankles, plenty of torn flesh.  It was grand.  I returned to the area several years ago and was amused to see that not many people were attempting the climbs we did.  I assume this is because we had to hike in several days to get to many of the sites.  Yosemite is a magical place, and we sure enjoyed the heck out of it.  Sleeping under the stars every night and then hiking and climbing all day was a dream come true.  Like everyone in my mery band, I had an experience I would consider "near death."  I remember climbing and climbing all morning, and then realizing that I was facing a very tough overhang, but i had no desire to climb back down.  (Everyone knows that going down without ropes is terrible).  So I tried the overhang and found myself hanging by one hand about 500 feet from the ground.  Adrenaline came to me, and I managed to muscle my way over the top of the overhang.  The feel of elation at having hung from one hand far above the rocks below and survived was overpowering.  The rest of my merry band declined to try to imitate my feat, and I was forced to hike down the backside of the mountain, which ended up being an extra 6 miles or so.  Okay, I'll stop talking now.  I hear Firefly yawning.  The moral of my longwinded story..... Live free while you can!     

[MotherEarth]

OB---oh, that's just Firefly being cool...she is impressed, I'm sure.

Could be you were in the park the same time my hubbie was...they backpacked in and although
they hung the food up, bears came to visit, stomped over the sleeping guys, one was on the
ground while the other climbed and got ALL their food down.  They were about 15 miles
from the cars and said after driving for a while...the Golden Arches were the best food ever
eaten!

[Oldbob]

What a small world!  It could be that your husband and I crossed paths.  The bears up there can be relentless in their search for easy food.  And as far as McDonald's goes, your husband is right on the money.  Nothing takes so good as cheap high calorie food after living off of granola and beef jerky for weeks.  The only sad part is that the stomach shrinks considerably during a long adventure, making it impossible to eat very much upon return to civilization.  This leads to the classic "big eyes, small stomach" syndrome.

[Maximus]

Sounds like quite an adventure!  I wish I had been there as well.  Although I have to admit that climbing without gear strikes me as insane.  I can't even handle climbing with ropes, much less without them.   

[DR]

I certainly fall under the vicarious living classification when it comes to these things.  That's quite a story, Mr. Oldbob.  I think you would get along well with Sir Edmund Hillary himself.  I've read much of John Muir's work regarding his time spent in the Sierra Nevada.  If you haven't read his work, I suggest you give it a look.  His descriptions of the mountains will most certainly trigger a few memories.