Autumn Interlude: By Hike & By Bike in the Eastern Sierra

 I had been awake for a while - listening to the rain falling on the tent, a little thunder, a little lightning, the bear pushing on the door of the bear box, mostly though, it was due to someone's car alarm (do you really need to activate those in a campground?). It had been raining for a couple hours, at least, coming and going in squalls. I was strategizing the mornings' final packing up - the tent would have to be rolled up wet, but could be dried out the next day, at home. The sky outside was lightening up but there was no rush to rise, no matter how you looked at it, wet now was still going to be wet in another hour, or more; it did seem to be falling differently though, the pattering had become more of a plopping. Snow! Again, the October trip to June Lake would involve some snowfall. Cool. It was the last day, the day to return home, so after a hot breakfast in town, it could snow all it wants - we need it after all.

This autumn interlude was filled with mountain biking, sandwiched between two days for hiking and two days for transit. Day one of hiking took us to the site of the Dunderberg Mill, a four-stamp ore processing mill dating as far back as the 1870s and along hillsides of aspen and pine. Day three's hike was to Bennettville ghost town and mine, and along a trail leading into the Hall Natural Area, past numerous small lakes, with the hulking form of Mt. Conness forever in the near distance. Mountain biking was along familiar roads to the north of Oh Ridge campground, as well as the east side of Highway 395, via the tunnel, through sagebrush prairies, pine forests, and to ancient volcanic formations. Most of the trails to the east are really sand and pumice roads, criss-cross the area and are, practically, more easily traversed by motorized atv. Though some of the route is the designated Panorama Mountain Bike Trail, that sand does not always make pedaling a thing of ease, force multiple stop, to empty the shoes, and most certainly contribute to increased wear on a bicycle tires' tread. Never-the-less, when done in the name of exploration, it is all worth the effort. Never stop exploring.

Life is not meant to be rushed through