that I stepped off of Bulla’s porch to peer over the side of the garden at the running creek below. He claimed to have seen a good-sized trout down there the night before, so I stood staring into the pool. The next thing we know, we have left his other guests lounging in the…
All posts by drice
Getting out
My pal, Bill, wrote a fine little book called Small Trout. While the book seems as much about Bill and his general proclivities as it is about trout, it is a fine treatise on appreciating solitary afternoons, small creeks, frisky little wild trout (OK, and frisky big ones on occasion),the idiosyncrasies of friends and the…
Golden Globes
We watched the Golden Globes last light for the first time. We did not plan to; it just came on after the Denver/SD game and Meredy’s nap. Being Tina Fey fans, we stuck around. We didn’t see much of Tina, but we did end up feeling steeped in Americana…which is an odd side effect to…
Leo
From the first day of our freshman year we could tell that Leo was different. He wasn’t different in the way of some special education candidate. Oh, he was educationally challenged all right, but not in any way that you could stick a label on. He just wasn’t made for school. The rest of…
Base camp
On the final morning of our trek, it was never a problem to get students up and going…as a matter of fact, the challenge was to keep the anxious from packing up and bolting out ahead of us. After some accidents early on, we finally learned to put the packers behind us as we wound…
Avalanche/Moraine Meadow
On the 5th morning of our trip, we would arise early and usually quietly, each person lost in their own thoughts in anticipation of the day. Being day 5, our packs were lighter by a dozen meals, our legs were stronger, and we were more acclimated to the altitude. Yet none of this made…
Roaring River
To reach the Roaring River, one must trudge up a rise that serves to take one’s breath away. At the top, before we would ascend into the river gorge, we would get a good look at Avalanche Pass hovering across the valley…across and far above. This comes, of course, with a moment of doubt, as…
Sugarloaf
Strapping on packs on the second morning was always a bit of a shock. The bruised shoulders and hips from the climb to Seville made themselves known. As would be my custom, I gathered all food and redistributed it evenly among the group, much to the chagrin of the kids who had carried the Monday…
SEVILLE LAKE
Although the memories of the Avalanche trips seem to mostly evoke people, as I write, the stories seem most easily evoked by campsites and the stretches of trail between. Like the reminiscences of Dylan Thomas, the memories seem to have neither order nor end. But the trail itself, the walking and the camping,…
AVALANCHE PASS
This feels like part of a series…here is the first chapter…. Avalanche Pass is not one of the highest passes in the Sierras, nor even one of the most spectacular. Once attaining the top, one has to drop his pack and walk about 50 yards for the spectacle: a hundred mile view out over Kings…