Blogs from Lone Pine, California, United States, North America - page 3

Relatively few visitors to California make it into the Owens Valley. Many of that do stick to a resort area called Mammoth Lakes. For the rest, the valley holds a truly compelling piece of American history. Most museums in California now talk about the Japanese American internment during World War II (see ). Where did they end up? The answer is Manzanar, an armed camp deep in the Owens Valley. Eastern California Museum Until thirty years ago, finding anything about the camp was quite difficult. Many people, including those held there, tried to pretend that it never existed. Thanks to the dogged efforts of some detainees and local historians, that willing blindness slowly changed. The first major efforts happened at the Eastern California Museum in Independence. It’s a worthwhile stop ... read more

In my last update, I mentioned that I intended to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the U.S. outside of Alaska at the end of May. Well, how life changes in an instant! April 30, I fell at work, breaking a vertebrae in my neck, as well as my left arm, along with a number of scrapes and bruises. With a broken neck (fortunately, only a hairline, undisplaced fracture), and a neck brace for the next 8 weeks, any mountain climbing was immediately ruled out. However, tickets had been bought for my wife, my cousin and myself, and the others continued their serious training. Mt Whitney is really just a very long hike, with 6200 ft. of elevation gain, at high elevation--tough, but no technical climbing, as I found out 3 years ago, when I ... read more

shepard's pass is out of the small town of independence. it was about 6200 feet of elevation gain on the trail to arrive at the base of mt. williamson. i had foot malaise and so didn't try for the summit. beautiful weather and not to cold at night.... read more

the only noteworthy thing about Cedar Creek Campground, Sequoia Nat´l Forrest, was that i i had the joint to myself. So, as you do, I busted out the harmonica that I still haven´t learned to play. I spent most of the night trying to play along to "Silver and Gold" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros and loudly singing along to Hank Williams and Born Ruffians. I made a huge fire and danced around, tooting on the harp - you know, to scare the bears away. They´re rampant in these parts...¨ Then it turned out that someone had shown up in the night, unbeknownst to me. I packed up and split first thing out of emberassment. Then I tipped the bike over on the side of lake Isabella, saw my first joshua trees and was in ... read more