Back Where I Began

I am back at the Mono Vista RV Park in Lee Vining, sitting in the dappled sunshine, having just finished a Haagen Daz Coffee Almond Ice Cream Bar (see why I love this place?  Grassy pitch and an ice cream bar) ready to be headed home. 

Last year I never felt like I was ready to head home; I suppose that is because I didn’t really have one.  Part of my agenda last year was to find a winter home.  Now that I found one, I find myself missing my piano, an effortless shower, a queen-size bed that feels like a giant hug, eating on china and drinking from Waterford.  OK, I have one Waterford glass on Beagle, but you get the idea.   I am homesick, I guess.  But this has been a wonderful trip, a healthy mixture of incorporating some new with the old and yesterday’s hike was no exception.

I had traveled down to Bishop to hike the Rock Creek area as I have done on many occasions, most notably, and some of you will remember, last year when I encountered Nick.  Due to my schedule I realized I would only have one full day for hiking and assumed that I would just do the Nick hike again—its beauty is hard to beat and what if?  I mean, it was this time last year, what if? 

But as Saturday dawned I found myself more interested in adventure, in discovering something new, and so set off for Lamarck Lakes in the John Muir Wilderness.  It should have been a short but steep four mile hike but due to my rookie mistake parking, I managed to make a little over six miles out of it.  Ahh well.  Part of why I felt completely justified demolishing a Texas-style BBQ tri-tip sandwich today.

The trail begins within a campground and, unlike most of my hikes in this area, there were plenty of trees and a lovely flowing creek at the beginning.  I saw only one fellow hiker and he was coming down (not even close to Nick.)  This looked like prime bear country to me:  If you were a bear, wouldn’t you live on a shady tree-covered hillside with giant boulders coming together just right to provide a nice den?  And if you got hungry at night all you had to do was lumber down the path to the campground for a midnight snack. More like bear heaven. 

With no other hikers in site and myself not a loud hiker (I don’t talk or sing to keep the bears away), I figured I had better put on my bear bell.  When I took it out of my pack, Opus attempted to run away; he hates the bear bell as I usually strap it on him when he is running free in the wild.  His action made me miss Rosco:  Rosco loved the bear bell, it meant he could run free.  Unlike Opus, Rosco rarely left the trail:  He would dash ahead and then stop until we caught up then dash ahead again.  Once he did dash behind a boulder and bring out a baguette, but what else can you expect in the French Alps?  Ahh, he was a great dog and a wonderful camping dog. 

Not having a great deal to think about I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about Rosco.  A bit of time daydreaming about Nick and “what if” but mostly remembering my Scrunch and the fun the four of us had all over the world.  It is nice to be in a place where memories are fun again.

The hike was ridiculously difficult but so very worth it.  When I got to Lamarck Lake (pictured above), I was the only one there.  It was so quiet you could only hear the babbling water as it found its way to the outlet and down the mountain.  A quintessential High Alpine Lake—given the lack of people I have to rank it my favorite in the area. 

Despite the cold (high 30's and at over 10,000'), I sat and sketched for a bit (suffering for my art as DS would say) but gathered myself up when I heard voices approaching and started back down the mountain. 

On the trail, I was back to thinking about Rosco when I came around a corner and there in front of me was a Wire Fox Terrier.  I thought I was dreaming I had spent so much time thinking of Scrunch and there he was!  He looked exactly like Rosco.  Then, unbelievably (or believably in my life) around came a second woman with three (three!!) Wire Fox Terriers.  My FA would say, “You are such a manifest-er!”

At that point I wished I had spent more time thinking about Nick.

Until next time, my friends!  Thanks for being on the road with me.

-K