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Sharing the Commons
October 2009
Walk The Way The Wind Blows
On Being Mindfully Surefooted In The High Sierra
By Bob Wetzel
August 2009 was the month I finally fulfilled a lifelong ambition to hike through the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. My hiking companions included mostly pals who work and camp together at the Strawberry Music Festival. And, we’re still friends after spending a month together on the trail! The trip in a nutshell…Start hiking south from Sonora Pass area roughly following the Pacific Crest Trail. We actually took off from Highway 108 on the road to Leavitt Lake. The next morning it was up over Big Sam and down into the Emigrant Wilderness. We camped west of Grizzly Peak that first night out…the mosquitoes were terrible and a violent thunderstorm replete with hot lightning and hail drove us into our tents that afternoon. But spirits remained high as we rolled through the first seven days to Tuolumne Meadows.
The section from Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows is referred to as the Washboard by the PCT crowd. It gets that handle thanks to the multitude of drainages that must be crossed. As one travels further south, the passes get higher but are somehow easier to handle because there is usually only one big pass per day of hiking. Not so in the Washboard section. Seven days is reasonable to get to Tuolumne Meadows where a re-supply is necessary…unless you decide to call it quits there. We had done a training or conditioning trip out of Tuolumne Meadows a little more than a week ahead of our big departure from Sonora Pass and on that trip we’d left resupply boxes with friends living in government housing. The alternative for resupply is to purchase the 4 days of backpacking food you’ll need for the next leg at the Tuolumne Meadows store.
With a new lighter load of provisions, enough to make the four day trek to Red’s Meadow at Devil’s Postpile National Monument our gang caught a Yosemite shuttle bus up to Mono Pass Trailhead where we knew we’d avoid the lion’s share of the PCT and JMT hoards. The hike up over Koip Mountain Pass is epic. Of all the climbs on this hike, several were considerably longer and steeper, this one stands out as the most fearsome and daunting. The night before Koip Pass, threatening clouds began to appear. It makes sense for a number of reasons to plan one’s itinerary such that camp is made at the base of the next morning’s big climb. In this way one can get up and over the open exposed alpine zone early in the day before hazardous thunderstorms have a chance to build. Additionally, it’s a lot easier to make the big climb when fresh and when the air is cool. Koip Mountain Pass is unlike much of the southern Sierra, it’s rock is volcanic, dark and jagged, and the cold wind and storm clouds add a sense of urgency to get up and over. Down the other side of the pass to camp at Alger Lakes.
Cold winds blew for 3 ½ days ending with light snow and our decision to get to Red’s Meadow a day early. Red’s Meadow is the spot to pick up another 4 days worth of food. It’s also a great spot for a hearty meal and those hot springs make for guilt free long hot showers. I think mine lasted around 25 minutes! Our day at Red’s rejuvenated us and off we went the next morning as the big and somewhat freakish storm finally began to move east. Another resupply opportunity avails itself a couple days after Red’s. Some folks (two from our group opted for this) like to catch a ferry on lake Thomas Edison and drop in on the Vermillion Valley Resort. I chose to spend a day fishing and swimming but certainly benefited from the two in our group who went for the VVR experience. They returned on the late afternoon boat with a magnificent cherry pie! What a feast.
Another two days south of VVR and it’s time for the big resupply at the John Muir Trail Ranch. Here they accommodate distance hikers with their resupply bucket service. We’d carefully packed and shipped 5 gallon buckets with 10 days of backpack food for the final leg of the trip. It’s with both enthusiasm and dread that hikers approach their resupply here. Ten days worth of food adds close to 20 pounds to your pack. There’s also usually a bunch of abandoned backpack food available to pick through too. Some folks (the ones who like to live on the edge for whatever reason) simply show up hoping to find sufficient calories to continue their wilderness existence.
That last 10 days held all the biggest passes and truly some of the most magnificent scenery in the world. One could spend a lifetime exploring the wilderness in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and never cease discovering new magic. The culmination of our amble was the western ascent of Mount Whitney. I started climbing by headlamp at 5 in the morning and was rewarded with the great pleasure of being alone on top of Whitney for 25 minutes before the next climber appeared. I learned a great deal about the mountains and about myself on this 275 mile hike. I’ll share more discoveries in this column in the months to come.
The Global Commons, Obama & Muslims
June 6th, 2009
By Bob Wetzel
The entire biosphere is a commons is it not? The fabric of life that envelops the planet is like a living healing evolving quilt of life, and we all must share it in ways complimentary to all the living components - for all lives are interwoven. This truth makes it exceedingly difficult to understand how advocates of rugged individualism and aggressive self-interest can make their assertions with a clear conscience - we’ve got to continue to try to educate them.
On Thursday June 4th, 2009 our “educator in chief,” President Barack Obama spoke to the Muslim world. Over a billion Muslims around the world heard inspiring words of respect and a call to new beginnings, but he wasn’t just speaking to Muslims. Really it was a speech and a humble offering of the hope that humanity can rise to higher ground, that we all can choose respect for each other and the earth - our commons.
This president has taken incredibly bold steps toward the possibility of a peaceful and thriving planet and this speech currently stands at the top of the list in my humble opinion. The courage he displays may be illusive to some, but let there be no doubt that those who hold power and great wealth and are profiting greatly from the current and often exceedingly unfair unbalanced status-quo are not about to surrender their hold without a fight. If you are a fellow advocate for positive change then you must support those, like our president, who seek to lead the push for ethical change. Remember that this man who has assumed leadership, has been quick to point out that he can do little to bring about change unless the citizens are actively engaged and supporting. People need to be crying out for, working for, writing for and singing for positive change.
In the private places, where the most powerful profiteers of health care, energy and warfare conspire, do you doubt that if someone rises to leadership who genuinely threatens their wealth and power, and cannot be rendered impotent with gentler connivances, that those powers that be will resort to more direct and certain removal of the threat? We have to hope for the best, but know that if a leader of a positive change movement is lost for whatever reason, we cannot cease in the struggle. Be engaged now in support of the current leader, and be ready to continue - no matter what.
Obama began his speech in Cairo with praise for the contributions the world has received from the Muslim community. Then quickly honored the fears that many Muslims hold about the ways that progress and modernization threaten rich traditions. This is not just a message to Muslims -it is wisdom for us all. Change is hard and feared by almost all of us. Tradition is often, but not always, rich and beautiful and known - it feels safe and comfortable. But we have to remember that it is possible to cling to the finest parts of our tradition and rituals and let go of and move past those traditions that we have opportunity to replace with improvements. In my many years as a public servant, a manager of the National Forest commons, I often heard tradition used as a defense against a proposed change. Tradition alone cannot stand as a stalemate change. Slavery and sexism, denying races from intermarrying, these were traditions in America. Finally compassion and the civil rights movement put an end to unequal treatment. Other traditions which deny law-biding citizens of their rights are still with us, to wit, the prohibition of same sex marriage - denying two law abiding citizens, people who are in love and seek a marriage together, the right to marry!
Obama spoke of violent extremists who exploit our differences and breed hatred for their own self interests, he challenged us to define ourselves by our mutual interests rather than by our differences. Again the Obama’s message is aimed not solely at Muslims. It is equally aimed at hate mongers in America and around the world.
As this wise American honored Muslims, and noted that there are millions of American Muslims he conveyed sincere respect and a desire for a “new beginning,” one could sense something shifting globally. That sucking sound you may have noticed was the sound of terrorist training camps shrinking around the world. The message from President Obama conveyed to Muslims around the world made us safer here in America. We have to reach out to the nay-sayers, the ones who proclaim that humanity is doomed, that humanity will always disagree and always be at war. We must engage them respectfully.
Respectful engagement is the key. As we look for the common truths, we advance a higher and truer truth. When we engage those who are currently stuck in hateful and selfish ideas it’s helpful to remember that they are humans, humans who love their families and want their kids to have a bright future. Remember that each of us has the potential to lose our humanity and act poorly and that we must be mindful always that we seek to share the global commons in ways that are fair and which leave a bright future for those who come after.
Summer Cycling In The Foothills - A Life Changing Bike Ride
May 4th, 2009
By Bob Wetzel
One summer day almost 15 years ago…I hopped on my Mtn. Bike and took off on a favorite and challenging bike ride. It was a hot Saturday in July as I recall. The air was still and the humidity was high for these parts.
My route took me down a switch backing old road down into the canyon just north of my house on the outskirts of Murphys. When I hit the creek at the bottom, I could cross at the ford and ride up the San Domingo Road past Stevenot Winery to Murphys Sheep Ranch and back to my house. If I wanted to make the ride a little shorter, I’d turn around at the creek and ride back up the switchbacks….a challenging workout. About 40 minutes from the creek to the top of the hill…pumping all the way.
There are places on this part of the ride (the steep switch backs) where the bush lupine and poison oak have grown into the old road making the route seem more like a single track trail. On more than one occasion I’ve spotted rattlesnakes on this section. Hawks and vultures are always present. It’s rare to see another person on foot , bike or horseback. The lower ½ of the climb out of the canyon passes through ponderosa pine with bear clover and poison oak ground cover. At a point where the road wraps around a finger ridge which juts to the north and then climbs on a pretty much full bench section cut into the west facing side of the ridge it gets much hotter and exposed to the full sun. The view opens up down into lower San Domingo Canyon nicely. At this point, climbing up the hill, often standing in the pedals, I would detect motion in the periphery of my vision…always on my left…against the near vertical rock cut slope. I’d joke…well only half-jokingly to be honest…with my daughter that I was pretty sure this was a place where a window into the spirit world was unusually clear.
I used to take my old dog Maggie on these rides. She was a black lab…we got her in Ft. Collins when I was still in college…she moved with us to southern Colorado and Montana before we moved back to California…But one day she just laid down part way up the hill and would' t go any further. I had to go home and get the truck and drive back to find her still there waiting. She lived several years beyond that day…good years lounging on the deck taking it easy…and, staying home when I’d go out for my bike rides or jogs. I’d almost killed her that day. In her youth and in her prime she loved to run and would run out ahead of our pickup on back roads for mile after mile. But dogs are not good at letting their human caregivers know when they are in pain or being asked to go too long, hard or far. They can stoically bare great pain and suffering and stoically conceal it from you. Water and rest…it’s not just for people.
As I said, it was a hot day. I have always loved working out in the heat. I’ve read and been told that the health risks are not a worry as long as one stays well hydrated. I recall one study that described the military determining that soldiers could maintain high productivity all day, doing hard physical labor in 100+ degree heat, without negative health consequences. As long as they drank huge quantities of water…for the hard laboring soldiers 4 ½ gallons were needed to get through an 8 hour work day. I was well hydrated and drinking water from a still half full camel back.
Suddenly, about half way up the hill, something happened that changed my life. I experienced a sharp pain across the left side of my chest. You know, a little later I determined that it was nothing but a muscle spasm or cramp…but at the moment it hit me…here’s what went through my mind….
“Oh no…this is a massive heart attack!!!…” and in a millisecond the thought that followed has brought me comfort ever since, because no sooner did I think I might be having a devastating heart attack I immediately also thought…"damn, I sure would have liked to ago about twice as long…but if this is it…you know I’m going to lie here, look up through the pines at that immaculate blue sky…and I will smile…knowing that I’ve loved and been loved…and that I’m leaving the world a little better than I found it.” That’s it…that’s what this little essay is here to say. In a few more seconds the pain subsided and I became confident that I’d misdiagnosed my symptoms. But those thoughts…have reassured me ever since.
Knowing that when it’s time to face the conclusion of this go-round. Well…knowing that one has tried to live lightly, to take only what’s fair and needed and leave the rest for others (human and non-human), to give love unconditionally, and to try to leave things at least a little better than you found em….that if these are your daily operating principles…your spirit will soar and…well…you know…nothing’s really scary.
Going Solo
April 23rd, 2009
By Bob Wetzel
Last August I spent a week exploring some wild county in the High Sierra just a little to the south of here. I had a couple buddies who were in line to accompany me but both ran into temporary health issues which precluded backpacking for a while. So I went solo. One of the great benefits of exploring solo is the ability to go at whatever speed feels right for you. The other really lovely thing about solo route finding is that there’s nobody behind you critiquing every choice and whining bitterly when a little backtracking becomes necessary. And, one of the greatest benefits of solitary un-confinement is that one is free to probe unknown nooks and crannies of wild terrain and discover hidden treasures in the process.
I won’t name names and describe routes in much specific detail. One of the greatest crimes of writers of any stripe or caliber is to succumb to the temptation to reveal specific secrets of the backcountry. Too many wonderful places have become beaten, common and trashed as the result of a well intentioned writer. Outdoor entrepreneurs are guilty as well. They all tell themselves that they want to encourage folks to get out and enjoy the outdoors (and, no doubt, they do!)….and that they know of lovely and richly rewarding places, special places, in the outback that they want to share. And so… they write that magazine article entitled “secret swimming holes, waterfalls, canoeing spots….fill in the blank….of the High Sierra or the north coast or…fill in another blank”. And the result…a once pristine (or nearly so) place often is overrun and…well…truth is those places often are defiled and lose much of that which was special. Those who expose the fragile and wild, as I’ve already said, often rationalize that they seek only to do good, but the truth is that they often are gaining some profit in the deal. From outdoor writers to outfitters to tourism proponents to outdoor gear merchandisers…I know you mostly mean well but…in a way you are prostituting nature….and many of you need to exercise greater restraint…before every hidden treasure has an eroding overused, unmaintained trail leading to it.
My wife’s dad once told me that the thing he loved about the mountains was that a man could spend his entire life exploring a relatively small chunk of territory and on the last day he’d still be discovering new places, new beauty. Seems like western man has a terrible need to try and possess as much as he can get his itchy hands on. He tends to extend this disease of acquisition beyond money and material goods and even try and possess as many places as he can. He rushes to new places, checks them off a list and hurries on to the next. Even with hiking in beautiful country the destination too often is the overriding focus as the hiker marches from point A to point B. John Muir mused about observing this characteristic…he said something like “these city folks come up to the mountains and you see them hiking here..hiking there…never noticing the beauty at their feet. I prefer to saunter through the mountains…stopping often to converse with an interesting patch of wild…” I’m sure I botched his quote…forgive me…but I think you get the point.
On my saunter through a week in solitary un-confinement I probably did too much hiking and not enough sauntering. But I did discover much that was wild and special. Did you ever notice how much more of interest, of magical beauty…that you notice when you are off trail? I think it must have something to do with survival and ancient instincts. You have to decide which way to go, what next few steps to take based on your goals and needs. Your priorities include such things as not getting eaten by a mountain lion or falling into an icy torrent, finding delicious edibles or beauty to drink in and feed the soul. And with your priorities in mind you activate sensibilities…senses to guide you, to gather information from around you to direct your travels. It seems that your senses become acutely tuned to details of the symphony of life through which you are sauntering, with which you are...in a very real way…dancing. And…when in this dance with life…I think one recalls ancient wisdoms…perhaps the most important of which is that one’s life is interwoven with all life. And when that fact is clear…at one’s core…it seems to adjust one’s ethical compass…to ennoble one’s life practices to seek to compliment and harmonize with the symphony of life…into which…your own life…is inextricably…woven.
So hurry and take to the trail-less out back. And discover wild special places…and look through the myriad windows into the natural world and into yourself. And when you find special places in nature know that the kindest thing you can do, for nature, for your friends, for yourself…is to keep special places to yourself…and convey to others…as I just did…that it’s time to go out and discover on your own…
Oh…and move with gentleness through wild places…taking pride that the land you touch is left no worse (and whenever possible a little better) because you passed through.