Here’s a junction sign at a crossroads: one arrow points towards Lake Edison and the Ferry, and another arrow points up the long forested hill to the Bear Creek Meadows area. It’s a relentless but soft under foot climb of about five miles and 2,000 feet.
On that all-afternoon uphill stretch, I ran into a nice young man, Kelly Song, with a buddy, and a camera. He asked if he could take my picture, as he was experimenting with 35mm photography again. He said he worked in the movies. I said sure. So that’s what I look like on the trail, I guess.
Ah well — though the trail can be demanding, and embarrassing, also it will surprise you with unheralded spots of surpassing beauty. At this stop on Bear Creek, shortly before the trail turned away from the water, I couldn’t stop photographing the Zen-like features of the water, the tall trees, the mosses and plants growing between the straight-line time-smoothed fissures in the granite.
I had nothing in particular to do at this campsite, and left promptly the next morning, as had become my custom, but nonetheless I could not get over the beauty. Clambered all over the water-smoothed surfaces. Loved it. Never forget it.
Kit Stolz 