The freedom of the hills

Howdy pals and gals,

Time again for another blog entry. Where to begin... Well I am currently leading a chainsaw crew for the summer. We will be working mostly in eastern NV on an 8 day work schedule. That leaves me with 6 day vacations... how am I ever going to fill up my time?

This first picture here is from a climbing trip I took to south lake Tahoe. This area is called sugarloaf and that is the desolation wilderness behind me. Ironically the desolation wilderness is one of the most used wilderness areas in the united states.






This here picture is from Bishop, CA. These rocks are some of the most famous boulders in american climbing. These are called the buttermilks, and you can see the setting is amazing. My friend brad and I went to bishop for a few days and did as much climbing as we could. We also hit up the most beautiful hot spring that I have ever been to.








In the background of this photo is Mt. Whittney. This is the highest peak in the lower 48. The day we were climbing here was freezing and winds gusting at about 50 mph. I climbed this one route, snapped this photo and we were done climbing. The unpleasant climb was worth this awesome photo. As usual these photos can hardly do it justice... those peaks in the background are over 14000 ft tall. I am hoping to make it back out there in better weather and climb a big route going up Mt. Whittney.








Suprise, suprise, another climbing trip. This time to a place called Echo Lake. This is another alpine lake in the sierras that had just gotten a bunch of snow. My friend and I had other plans for climbing that weekend, but weather lead us to this spot. The climbing wasnt all that great but with the fresh snow was limited access. We hiked in about two miles on this pleasantly warm day and had the entire lake to ourselves. The lake was still frozen and the mountains that surrounded us were covered in snow. We hiked the PCT trail to get to our climb.



This is us coming down from the climb. The climbing may not have been that great but the adventure in itself was amazing. When was the last time you had an alpine lake to yourself? Sorry dont mean to rub it in.... yes I do. I am loving life and not ashamed to it.






I just had a berfday and turned 23, but spent it working sadly. My most recent work trip brought me to a new part of NV and I was so excited to go. We were doing chainsaw work in the Ruby mountains in eastern NV. This is a mountain lion print that i found on the ridge just above our camp... you ever get that feeling that something is watching you?






Here is a picture of what i look at while i work.
We were cutting down small trees to promote the growth of bushes that sustain the huge mule deer population. There are over 25,000 mule deer in this park so they do everything they can to accomodate such an enormous amount.




These are the Ruby mountains. This is the wettest part of NV. This is where the great basin is, and it is so great. I wish that you guys could experiance these places the way that I do.

So that about catches ya up. I am hoping to go to yosemite on the next days off for some climbing. In case you dont know, yosemite is mecca for climbers in the usa. Anywho, until next time gang....











Yo ho, yo hum, my life for me.