Back before Amazon.com sea changed retail space forever, the local mall was the place to be. It was a Friday morning, though, and the place was rather empty. My cousin and I wandered the vast space looking for the good laughs held within Spencer Gifts. On our way past the food court, we were stopped […]
Continue reading →Up close to the fire ring I moved the last of the rocks into place. After four or five beers I felt like royalty and the work went easy. Shaped from boulders I found around the campsite, what I’d made looked like a stone age La-Z-Boy, armrests and all, straight out of the Flintstones. By […]
Continue reading →In my head, I did the math and reckoned there are between sixty-three and seventy-two pounds of toe and fingernails spread throughout the Buttermilk and Chalk Bluff Boulders in and around Bishop, CA. Decades of clipped keratin strewn about the high desert. With all the degradational speed of an empty two-liter plastic bottle, it’s all […]
Continue reading →
There is a koan about a Zen master who was being chased by a hungry tiger. He ran for his life with the big cat swatting at his heels until he reached the edge of a cliff. With nowhere to go, he lowered himself over the brink using a vine that grew from the soil […]
Continue reading →
“What the heck are you doing?” “Drilling a hole to place a bolt.” “Why?” “I’m gonna climb this thing this weekend and need a way down.” “You’re gonna lower yourself off this ‘bolt’? With a rope?” “That’s the idea. Don’t worry, I’ll take it out on Monday and you’ll never know I was here.” “Huh. […]
Continue reading →
“Hangout for a sec,” said Scott. “I’ve got to grab some snacks.” “Wait, I’ll come too.” “No, no, you stay. I parked funnily. Move it if you have to.” “Funnily? Is funnily even a word?” I smiled. “Whatever, just watch the truck, keys are in it.” “Fine. Get me a couple snickers then–and an iced […]
Continue reading →
Just over a year ago I hung up the bike and slipped my climbing shoes back on.
Continue reading →
An optimist sees the glass as half full. A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An engineer sees the glass as being twice as big as it needs to be. I was five years old when my father pointed out the twin granite pillars that cling to Wheeler Crest. “It’s a rabbit,” I said and […]
Continue reading →
From page 163 of “Here’s England” by Ruth McKenney and Richard Bransten Soaring pillars, vaulted roofs, Columns rise unbroken. The great pointed walls of stone, This massive stone; Flight of steep, leads upward. You–subdued, dim, half conscious, Clumsy, solid, naive. The massive walls. You feel awkward, Scared, excited, daring, On the threshold of a dream. […]
Continue reading →
Tom Schmottlach and I were at it again. This time, to see to a dream of exploring a Sierra-sized chunk of granite that sits high above South Lake, 14 miles west of Bishop. If its orange face were down lower it’d be a destination. If it were in Nebraska, it’d be a State Park. But […]
Continue reading →