Days 153 to 156 - The Finale Begins in LA

Los Angeles was on fire. I drove into LA three weeks ago-- the city where Adam Watson, close friend from high school and Hollywood videographer lived, and the city of a guy's weekend before hiking "the finale", the 200-mile, world-famous John Muir Trail through the high Sierra Nevada mountains, the beautiful range of light.

A stop at Adam's house for pre-hike laundry, camper conversion and bro catch-up was preceded by a trip to The Getty. Museums make cities pretty again.

Zoli Brown, high school bud and big-tobacco-turned-public-safety law defender, arrived the next morning and Bob Massengale, high school bud and landscape-designer/artist/social-activist arrived that night. We reminisced over drinks and great food all night.

Then we went for an LA adventure best described as strangely beautiful. We hit up an LA swap meet in search a wide-brim hat for Bob for the hike. Bob found his hat while I landed some elderly-ific sunglasses and a Mexican guitarist CD for mood music.

Then on route to our next destination, the birthplace of Mr. Ed, we saw a palm tree burst into flames on the 101 highway. What?! Drought. Foreshadowing?

Then we saw this...

Mesmerized by randomness, we continued on to a giant orange grove inside the city, where we encountered a hundred frogs in a small lake and a duck under a bench. Adam took a Facebook cover-worthy selfie with the animal.

Not satisfied with such hilarious moments, the four of us continued on to the Shrine of Yogahanda, a famous guru of the self-realization institute- the guru to Steve Jobs and many others. We visited In-n-Out, the delicious west coast burger joint, and Santa Monica, the packed beachside haven of roller skaters everywhere. Blade Runner was watched and a dive bar visited. A jam-packed LA day.

We visited Venice Beach the next day and were amazed by the warm water. We rode the waves for a half hour. People buzzed around.

Then Bob and I had to leave. We did a gear check that morning- we had most everything-- but Bob's pack would be heavy. Then Bob and I drove three hours northeast to Lone Pine, California. We checked into our hotel, did a final backpack packing, and went to bed. We had to catch a 6:15am bus the next morning north to Yosemite and our 200-mile adventure. Excited but nervous, we fell asleep.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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