My first destination was Red Rock Canyon State Park. This is the true definition of high desert. About 3000í elevation the air was dry, hot and crisp. I found an out of the way spot to camp even though it looked like there was only 3 other campers here out of the 50 camp sites. I set up my tent and found a cool shady home for the thermometer drank lots of water and took a well deserved nap. 

The therometer said it was 111 degrees outside and inside the tent it was125. Now were talking end of May, 2:00pm with the afternoon sun directly  above  and Juasha trees provide little or no shade. I decided to hike a little to find shade but there was none to be found at this time of the day.

I thought driving around the state park would cool me off. so off I went with water camera beef jerky and trail mix. Most of the roads in the park are compacted dirt. OK for a Honda. I found a trail that took a route down the dry river bed and to a bridge under the freeway. Cool, Iíll just drive down there and see where it goes. I thought it was OK because I could see other tire treads in the sand. After about  a quarter mile I down shifted from 2nd to 1st. Then the steering got real squashy. I thought I was getting a slow flat tire then I realized that I was sinking into the dry sand of the river bed. Shit I said. I immediately stopped the car and got out to see how bad this was. I kept saying in my head ëI need to get pulled, I need to get pulledí. Now I look at the situation and saw I had 3 inches before the engine touched the sand. well I said what if this was snow? Iíd get some wood and sand and wedge then under and get my self out. well sand I have plenty of but wood I donít. I tried to dig behind the tires and go back the way I way I came. I got one foot and I need to got about  75 . I though I could keep on doing this until I got out. I was only yards away from the freeway and I could hear the cars and trucks going by, them not knowing what Iím going through. I tried a few more times and either the car would stall of it would start to dig in. I was hot, sweaty, dirty from the sand and drinking lots of water. I still needed some wood. As I looked around the car, I noticed to the right was solid ground. If I could get the car there I would be fine. I looked at the sinking front end  and I though if I could get the car to where it was when I got  stuck I may be able to move it around to where the ground is solid. I looked in the trunk and under all my gear was two large thick cardboard boxes that I put over the carpet of the trunk 7 years ago to keep the carpet from getting beat up. I found the wood I needed. I managed to get the front tires on the cardboard. but in order for this to work I needed to get to the next stage which was get the car off the cardboard and on to something else with out have the car sink into the sand. The only two other things I could find was an of pair of jeans that were in my trunk from a Halloween where I played a homeless person in OB with my guitar and made a few bucks and a floor mat. The jeans went on the side with the solid ground and the floor mat went on the other. The car drove on to the floor mat but the jeans were send flying away. Next was get the car on the cardboard. This worked. I had moved the car two feet. Again was the floor mat and the jeans. This worked but the card board was wrapped around the wheel well. It came out in a few pieces. Another foot. At this point I stopped thinking about calling the Ranger. I tried it again and the next piece of cardboard went in to the wheel well and was just about destroyed. I was getting there about  a foot at a time slowly getting the car around to the right  where the solid ground was. When one wheel was a solid ground I was digging  in front of the other wheel a about 4 inches down was solid ground. I wasnít out of it yet because I had only move the car about 8 feet at this point. Now I had to predict If I gunned it and  made the big move where would I end up. I made a calculation and that ground was about  half as soft as where Iíd want to be.  When I made it out I shouted yes. yes! trying not to get the car stuck again as the car came to a halt. After picking up the  cardboard and jeans I found a direct path out and  cleared out all the large rocks and headed out as fast as I could. I could hear things scraping the undercarriage of my car thinking I donít  care, I donít care. As I sped away as fast as I could. I found that there was a road to a beautiful place in the shade where I hiked to a sat, looking at the view, feeling my heart  pounding still 20 minutes later.

I spent the evening watching the thermometer drop as I made a cool meal and type this story. Later that evening when the temperature dropped to about  80 laid on the picnic bench watching the sky. Itís hard to believe that there are so many stars in the sky. It was a moonless night and the stars were out in force. I managed to learn how to get the binoculars to focus on the sky. I was hoping to see an occasional falling star but the one thing I noticed is that number of planes and satellites in the sky. I learned to tell the difference between the two. Planes have blinking red and green lights and make noise and satellites are a steady light that just travels across the sky. I would be looking at a star though the binoculars and a satellite would go by. Iíd follow as long as I could then after a while that is all that I was doing. Forget the falling stars, lets watch satellites. The neat thing is that they would come from any direction but the planes were always on the same route. Before I knew it Iíd been laying there  for about two hours, itís 10:30 and time for bed.

It was 81 degrees when I awoke this morning.

The next day I drove to Lone Pine. The entrance to the Mt. Whitney  area. I stopped  at the ranger station to get information about the area. They gave me cheep maps and lots of information. I inquired about Mt. Whitney camping and hiking and the ranger said there have been 5 incidences of bears breaking in to cars and camps to get to the food. I saw on the map a place called Horseshoe Meadows that was way off the beaten path for the average traveler. I said that where I want to go. The drive up to the 10,000 camp was very easy. I guess what keeps people away  is the distance and the fact that this is not the famous Mt. Whitney the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. 

I drove around the camp ground and it was deserted. When you look at the area there is not much to see from the average tourist point of view. This area is famous for the golden trout, a small fish with bright orange and yellow stripes. There was a stream not far from the camp ground with lots of fish darting away at the site of a human. I decided to go fishing to see what to catch. The rule of the area is that you have to use barbless hooks which makes them much harder to catch the fun part of catch these fish is the time it takes to get one out of the water and most of the time they  fall off the hook of they area to small to keep. After a while I caught enough of the keeper size under the legal limit for a dinner for one. 

My companion and friend on this trip was my thermometer. We went every where together. In the High Sierras the weather can change rapidly and you have to be prepared at all times. On the first night the temperature dropped from 87 degrees at 4:30pm to 36 when I went to bed at 9:30. It was a pyromaniacs dream with the camp fire. Perfect conditions, a cold night and the need to keep warm. A nice relaxing night of fire and doing nothing.

It was 36 degrees when I awoke this morning.

I wasnít sure what I wanted to do today. I got the fire going had breakfast and got cleaned up. I grabbed my patch and went out to the meadow. I saw a small peak half way up one of the area mountains and said that is where Iím going It took me about an hour to find the rocky area where I knew it would be good to take pictures of the valley. The climb up was very strenuous though I was only climbing up about 500 feet at 10,000 you get winded in about a minute I managed to make it with frequent breaks when I felt like I couldnít go much further. When I got there I felt great And took lots of pictures. It took me about a half an hour to get back to the camp. I was exhausted when I got there. One of the fellow campers asked me where I went and had some great topography maps of the area. He assumed that I was a seasoned hiker and this high elevation was not a problem, he showed me some hiking route and made smoke recommendations. He also said that this is his first hike since undergoing open heart surgery and that is he wasnít back by 9:00pm to call the rangers. 

I took a nap for a for an hour to catch my breath, got a snack and was off to conquer a mountain. I found trail head and started out. I seemed like It was taking me in the wrong direction but I trusted the path and the directions of my guide and stayed to path rebelling against what looked like a shorter route. The was the easy part the hike to the mountains. Across the valley through the sparse pines, I could see out into the meadow the young green grass the would soon become food for the elks when they return from their winter at the lower elevations. I looked like a picture out of a book. I took my camera out and took a picture.

This being a national forest, leaving everything be was important but what I needed was a walking stick. I was prepared to go it with out one but when I saw the perfect sized stick right on the side of the path I decided to use it and return it when done.

Where the mountain started it incline was a distant point. As you started to go up the path became rocky but manageable. The path switched back and forth about every 30 to 40 yards. For the most part it was easy every now and then you would come across a patch of snow of the path would become the stream of the melted snow coming down the mountain. Back and forth up 2000 feet. The terrain changed a few times from granite boulders with pine to cottonwood bushes to young Secoias waiting to see what life it going to be like 2400 years from now. Depending how the path was Iíd have to break now and then, and drink some water catch my breath and got going again. With the high elevation and low humidity dehydration was a problem and with limited water I had to be careful home much I drank. Iíd check my heart rate when I would stop and for the most part it was about 140. I felt like I was running all I was doing was walking up a hill. 

As I approached the top it got steeper and steeper. I was about 40 yards from the top the trail came to a end to nothing but snow. I walked back and forth few times trying to figure out what to do but trying not to over analyze the situation. I climbed up the rocks nearly straight up to the top.

Cottonwood pass was very windy and a lot colder that hiking up the mountain. I was at 11800 feet, higher than Iíd ever hike in my life. The view was of the valley I just came from, the two mountains to either side and the valley down across to the next ridge of the Serrias. After a bit of a rest and a snack I was off to hiking again. There three choices, down in to the valley which was about the sane elevation, around to the right and hike around the small mountain and back to the camp ground and head north to get a view of Mt. Whitney. I decided to go around the mountain. After about a quarter mile the path turned in to snow with no foot steps indicating the path and I couldnít see where the trail started either. I headed back and started in the direction of the valley. I knew there were some lakes closed by and that I thought would be like to see, plus the valley was flat and I knew that would be an easy hike. As I headed down the valley the wind came up at a steady 30 miles an hour. I wasnít prepared for this kind of cold. 

The only choice was to head north. I thing this is called the Pacific Chest Trail. This meant more climbing in rough terrain. The path wound up another few hundred feet and I could see a rocky point about that I thought would be a good place to take pictures. I wasnít sure how to get there and but I know Iíd figure out a way. About a quarter of the trail was snow and it started seep in to my shoes. When the trail took me directly where I wanted to go I was amazed that the people who made the trail must have been thinking the same thing that I was that day. The view was spectral. from the peak Mt. Whitney to the north and further up the Serria Nevada Mountains and to the south to the last mountain of the range. Again something that looked like it was a panoramic photo but I knew this was real. 

I continued to hike north to get a better picture of the back side of Whitney but the further I went the more it went out if view. I kept of saying to myself another 10 minutes and I might be in a better place for a picture. I saw a ridge that would look like a place to get to and it would be clear after that but when I got there all I saw was more of the same side of the mountain. At this point my feet were very damp it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I was a the half way point. I had been hiking three and a half hours and it was time to return.

The trip back wasnít as eventful as the way out. It was more of a mediation. My feet were tired and my right foot kept on dragging on things. Iím glad I had the walking stick. I couldnít wait to get back to the other side of the valley. When I got there a cold beer was waiting for me with a great feeling of accomplishent.