Notes:

As a group of life-long friends, we make sure to carve out a couple weekends each year to “get out there,” putting our lives on hold for just a moment to get lost, slow down and reconnect. Backpacking trips are the perfect balance between fun, hard work, risk and reward. They truly test toy mentally and physically and I’ve found that each trip leaves me more grateful and appreciative of life than before. Backpacking is an incredible life teacher and reminds me a lot of sports, where each test and each adventure brings with it important lessons, memories and stories. More importantly, it shows us that life is pretty simple if we want it to be.

Our weekend adventure in Sequoia took us 12 miles and 3,000 feet up into the mountains. We trekked through dense redwoods, along hairy single tracks and stopped off at Watchtower to peek our heads over its steep granite walls. We were greeted by a sparkling Pear Lake in the early afternoon and were able to claim the primo campsite. Our afternoon was spent cooling off in the Lake (more like ice-bathing - pear lake was formed by a Glacier) reading and talking story over an ice cold beer. Just before days end, we climbed back towards the trailhead to take in the sunset. Together, we watched in awe as the days final light highlighted the canyon below and together agreed that it would be one we’d never forget. Nightfall brought with it a cold I’d never before felt. I found myself wearing every last piece of clothing in my pack as the morning frost blanketed our tent - long-underwear, pants, shorts over my pants, two shirts, a fleece sweater, my down-jacket, beanie and gloves. Blake on the other hand slept perfectly through the night, wearing no more than a pair of long underwear that might honestly have belonged to Scrooge. We woke to another beautiful day and enjoyed a chilly(mac) morning breakfast. We packed up and breezed our way back down the trail, arriving at our car just before midday. I’ve found that the only way to end a backpacking trip is to hop in a river or in the ocean before making the drive home. This time, we shared a few laughs in the Kern River and celebrated a weekend well spent in the Mountains. Until next time fellas…