A Grand Adventure Starts Tomorrow

In the early morning tomorrow Mark and Julia (my son and daughter-in-law) will begin their journey from Durango, CO to Lone Pine, CA. I will travel from Lincoln, CA to Lone Pine (about 7 hours without stops). This is the last big adventure of their very interesting summer which took them all over the southwest. They are going to hike all 220 miles of the John Muir Trail (http://johnmuirtrail.org)

Gulp, that's the mother in me trying not to worry. Basically they will be out of communication from Aug. 3 to Aug. 23 give or take a few days at the end. The challenge for anyone who hikes this trail is which end to you start at and then how do you get back to the starting point where your car is. We talked about it quite a bit; I finally decided that I was in need of seeing the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. It's actually the prettiest part. So we will meet in Lone Pine, which is at the base of Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the lower 48 states). Tuesday morning we will take their car up to the Mt. Whitney trail head and leave it there for them.

Then we start our drive up Highway 395 stopping at Mammoth Lakes where we will leave some of their food at Red's Ranch near Devil's Postpile (pictured at the bottom) and Tuolumne Meadows where we will leave more food. Then on down to Yosemite Valley where I will drop them at a camp site for people who are going to start the John Muir Trail in the morning.

I've hiked very small parts of the John Muir Trail in Mammoth Lakes. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I got up to 11,000 feet before my hiking partners noticed that I was giddy from lack of oxygen. Back down I went.

Below is my favorite picture of the two of them on their wedding day Oct. 4, 2008 at the
Grand Canyon.

Once I drop them at Yosemite then I will take their dog Zoey and a lot of their stuff back to Lincoln. They will drive to Lincoln after they climb Mt. Whitney. If we are really tired, Zoey and I may check into a motel outside the park to get some rest and then drive home the next day.

Zoey and Harleen have not met but I'm sure they will have a grand time. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the prettiest parts of the Sierra Nevada. I might even visit a quilt shop or two on my way to Lone Pine. Watch for a post later in the week after I've recovered.