Nah, I was just a poor boy working for Ma Curry, then later just south of the Park, while living in Wawona, where a small community of private inholdings survives from before the NPS days.
I did a heck of a lot of boulder hopping and scrambling, but never went for the ropes and hardware stuff.
That’s a sport for kids with lots of free time and well to do families to support them…. I know there are exceptions, but those are the truly obsessed, and I was never one of them either.
I sort of knew some of them serious camp nine fellows for what it’s worth.
You know actually one of my very favorite things was running down the South Fork of the Merced River, during low water.
The zen of getting in tune with the boulders and the water and the lay of the path - I swear I could get to a full run - could even do it at night with a moon out.
Once in a while I get to revisit that experience out here and I tell you short of making love (with the right person at the right time) or having a child, it’s one of quintessential experiences of my life, so far as feeling alive and in touch with my body and this dear Mother Earth of ours.
I bet I could have even given Bridwell a run for his money in that venue
It also got another ancient reminiscing. I’m delighted that my memory is still working so I can remember one of the high points of my life, an eight day back packing trip from Yosemite’s Twalomme (sp) Meadows up to 10,500 feet then cross country in a long circle. Even doing something stupid like splitting off of the rest of my group when they followed the lead of the charismatic but wrong Unitarian minister who was with us even though I pointed out with the geodetic map and a compass the correct way to go. Loved the solitude and seeing a doe and her fawn walk past me at about 15 feet away as I sat quietly eating lunch.
Haha, don’t worry. It didn’t hurt me. i just didn’t want to see the thread spin off in a different direction.
But what do we think, DM? That version of the devil maybe a little more powerful than tentacle-face? 8)
The first time I met the Devil was at a Motel 6
She left Hell to spend a weekend on Earth just for kicks
Sexy little bitch, shorter than expected
About five-foot five big an’ thick in the breast and thighs
Beautiful, dark eyes a strong stare
Large lips, soft hands and long hair
I said, “Ill make you smile for the simple fact I’m good at it
Ill make you smile just so I can sit and look at it…”
I see we’ve got ourselves an Atmosphere fan in the house.
Haha, don’t worry. It didn’t hurt me. i just didn’t want to see the thread spin off in a different direction.
But what do we think, DM? That version of the devil maybe a little more powerful than tentacle-face? 8)
The first time I met the Devil was at a Motel 6
She left Hell to spend a weekend on Earth just for kicks
Sexy little bitch, shorter than expected
About five-foot five big an’ thick in the breast and thighs
Beautiful, dark eyes a strong stare
Large lips, soft hands and long hair
I said, “Ill make you smile for the simple fact I’m good at it
Ill make you smile just so I can sit and look at it…”
I see we’ve got ourselves an Atmosphere fan in the house.
Wow, where did that come from?
Are we back to making up country and western hits, this time with a smack of punk realism?
CC, Atmosphere is an “underground” hip-hop artist from the midwest. Part of a group known as the Rhymesayers. Pretty cool, if you like funky hip-hop and stuff.
Yosemite is pretty incredible. I climbed Half Dome via the Regular Route (NW face, 5.10 C1) a few years ago.
I would say my “spiritual awakening” continues to keep coming when I’m outside. There is a film directed by Richard Linklater called Waking Life that is mostly a series of vignettes of absurdist, existential nature, but there is one sketch in particular that is pretty interesting. These two guys are talking about the concept of “the holy moment;” that is, the moment that is inexplicably set apart from all others. I thought it was a pretty cool way to think about several romantic times I can recall: nights in the 10,000 islands with a trillion stars, days in the Medicine Bow Wilderness, exposed knife edge traverses with 1,000 foot drops on either side, campfires on the Olympic peninsula, bus rides up the pacific coast in Central America…all these moments have no inherent meaning, but in their own way, they have defined me. They are worth seeking again. I never want to get to a point in my life where I am just “looking back” on the holy moments. I want to continue looking forward to having more.
Yosemite is pretty incredible. I climbed Half Dome via the Regular Route (NW face, 5.10 C1) a few years ago.
I “climbed” Half Dome too but it was the back way with that long cable ladder (class 2, with pitches of class 3)
Did you do it in a day or spend a night or two hanging off the wall?
I’ll admit I’ve always wondered what that would be like a thousand feet up a shear wall.
I saw this video recently of some crazy guy practically running up El Cap, you might know who I’m talking about, guess the man has made a name for himself by going up things without ropes that no one would ever dream of doing without hardware.
I hear you about the ‘holy moments’* - sounds like you’ve managed to get yourself to some incredible places… keep on truckin [thumbs up smiley]
{*In fact, I refer Yosemite/Wawona as being my spiritual birth place.}
~ ~ ~
Nada Surf - Blankest Year
I have to admit I’m a little ossified in my musical tastes, plus I don’t listen to radio or CDs that much, (books on tape are more my style for dead air time) fortunately I have a handful of kick ass musician friends so most of what I listen to is live, either them or when they get me out to attend some big name concert.
But, I admit that was a very cool video - the song was fun and the graphics were wonderful and imaginative.
CC, for some reason I posed that video by accident (though I do like it); I meant to post a link to an Atmosphere video. Again, don’t know if you’ll like this or not, but I personally enjoy some hip-hop every once in a while. It breaks up the rhythm of my prodigious collection of country, bluegrass, blues, and other music for uplifting gormandizers.
Yeah, we overnighted at pitch 17. It was amazing. You could see campfires in the valley below and years of stars above.
I can taste it. {I got on my belly and shimmied to look over the edge… unforgettable view}
Many congrats on climbing that wall.
“years of stars above”, fresh out of Chicago, 13, first trip to the fabled valley, bootlegging a camping spot just beyond camp 9, clear moonless autumn night, talk about holy revelation, I couldn’t sleep I just starred straight up. Shear wall framing the sky and me just falling into that abyss of space and stars and galaxies.
Talk about “a holy moment”
Even doing something stupid like splitting off of the rest of my group when they followed the lead of the charismatic but wrong Unitarian minister who was with us even though I pointed out with the geodetic map and a compass the correct way to go. Loved the solitude and seeing a doe and her fawn walk past me at about 15 feet away as I sat quietly eating lunch.
but it was the back way with that long cable ladder 
(class 2, with pitches of class 3) 
