Labour Day in the Monarch Divide--King's Canyon NP, September 2001
==================================================================

After finding gas at the once upon a time price of $1.15 a gallon in Mendota
and some navigational confusion in Fresno Magdalen, Louise and I met up with
Lizzy, Douglas and Oliver in Grant Grove then followed Lizzy's taillights
on towards Road's End. Rising on Friday morning to find we'd laid our 
sleeping bags out next to the cars only a short distance from an actual
campground, we completed the drive then--suitably instructed in the 
regulations by the ranger--set off up up up up the Copper Creek Trail into
Kings Canyon NP, each with our bear canister heavy with five days of food. 
With one lunch and one dinner eaten we were just barely able to fit everything
inside the canisters that evening...Leaving the aptly named Granite Basin
via Granite Pass we moved on to State Lakes, our base for the next two days.
It being a Lizzy trip there were peaks to be climbed and that afternoon
D, L and I set off for State Peak, eventually doing a short section of third
class after failing to find anything that could possibly be Secor's claimed
second. The view from the top included peaks from three past trips--Goddard,
Thunderbolt, and Split Mountain--as well as tomorrow's target: Marian Peak.
Reaching the second State Lake just before the last sunlight left it D and I
had a quick paddle before rejoining everyone at camp. With a further breakfast,
lunch and dinner gone, getting everything in the canisters was an easier
but still non-trivial task...Next morning--the third day, let me see, that
would be, ah, Sunday?--D,L,L,O and I left for Marian, M electing to spend
the day exploring the nearby area on her own. My camera, too, remained behind,
the lens jammed on macro--after a hard life of 7 1/2 years of service 
tramping, hiking and climbing and, um, maybe just a little neglect?--since
photographing a flower coming off State. Following a section of Roper's
Sierra High Route we trod a shelf that snaked round the hill like a secret
passage, delivering us from a little lake to the pass, then dropped down
and up again towards Marian and the fun third class knife edge ridge
leading to the summit. Looking across to the Palisades we thought of fellow
Chaots Yossi and Mark embarked on an ambitious traverse from Sill to 
Thunderbolt...The black cloud above us didn't amount to more than a few
insignificant spots as we made our way back to the secret passage, but as
we neared camp the smell of rain was in the air and the ground was damp. 
Magdalen, ready for us with hot water, reported both rain and hail, and 
as we got dinner underway more rain--preceded by a rainbow, uhhn, yeah, still
jammed--blew in, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Needless to say we 
wasted little time finishing up and crawling into the tents...Rising to a 
clear sky we reversed Roper's route towards Grouse Lake, traveling through
beautiful meadows, past scenic lakes and over two passes, the day lent
an unfortunate sense of urgency by early cloud and Lizzy's declaration "It's
going to rain in three hours". The rain was a little late and we made it, set
up tents, lunched and lounged before the weather hit, at which point most
crawled into tents to read or nap, only M staying out to enjoy the 
surroundings. The weather having broken in time for dinner there was
beautiful light on the mountains across the way...which, no longer trying
to budge my lens, I had to leave to Douglas and Lizzy to capture on film...
Goat mountain having been postponed to the fifth and final morning, shortly
before 7 it was "Ready? On your marks, get set, go!" then clock ticking
Lizzy, Oliver and I set off, gaining the blocky summit ridge (fun!) and
high point in 53 minutes. We enjoyed a fantastic panorama from the summit,
range on range fading into haze in the east, Whitney in the distance, the 
mountains to the west illuminated by morning light...then after watching
the sunlight reach camp and finally spotting a tiny patch of blue, we
descended, packed and set off round the lake and through trees with the
others to hook back up with the Copper Creek trail. Majestic firs and pines
eventually gave way to more open terrain then switchback on switchback took
us down to the cars. A dip or swim in the river, a change of clothes, then
off; more gas at $1.15 then M made me go back to the start of Terry 
Pratchett's "Witches Abroad" to entertain her as she drove L and I back 
to the grey and fog-shrouded Bay Area. Oh, and thanks Ruth for teaching for
me on Tuesday!

postcard 1: Heinz Obein "Denker"--a business-suited man sits elbow on knee
            on a green pinnacle, surveying the land below and the mountains
            in the distance. Inexplicably there's a computer behind him at
            the edge of the card.

postcard 2: Castle Towers, Garibaldi Park, BC
            J.W.G. Macdonald, 1943.
            The wrong range but the right idea...