Loren’s and my week’s highlight was a backpack in the Emigrant Wilderness in the Stanislaus National Forest, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We started off at Crabtree Trailhead. From our AirBnB home base of 5,000 feet, we were hiking around at about 8,000-9,000 feet, yet still we felt the higher altitude’s effects.

After a mainly uphill slog, we setup camp where we had a view of Chewing Gum Lake. 

After that first day hike, we revisited sites where we have gone in years past. We had awesome views of flora,

 

fauna — including a frog underwater, can you see it?

 

and vistas — that’s Sonora Peak, an inviting mountain meadow, and, we had many opportunities to see aspects of the Dardanelles.

 

We enjoyed some creature comforts — including Chef Lorenzo’s “snow cone” concoctions and learned from our newest friend about a device that reliably communicates home by satellite. We also found the alpine lake where Loren has had at least a couple of swims some years ago.

 

We also delighted in a campfire one night, perhaps our best ever, with logs that took forever to burn before we retired for the night.

We camped our last night at Powell Lake, and were enchanted with the reflection. 

We hiked out through Gianelli Cabin Trailhead after stopping to admire Burst Rock, or, what I would have named “Rock Valley.” Then we comparatively quickly hiked the five miles on the road downhill to return to our car at the Crabtree Trailhead parking area. My calves are reminding me of that part of the trip, regardless, it was all well worth it.