Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board In Five Years' Time: Return to the Grand Adventure

It was a simple concept, really: retrace the steps of a trip that led to my falling madly and deeply in love with the Sierra Nevada, brought me to pick up my life and start anew at the foot of these magnificent mountains.

Not so simple a concept: how to convey adequate thanks to all of those who have taken the time to teach me so much over the past five years.

The only thing that felt the same was the pack, resting heavy on my hips and shoulders. I guess I’ll never learn that trick of going light. “What the hell have you got in here, Laura?” Rob demanded as I flopped the Beast on the floor of the Crabtree Ranger Cabin.

A 15 day walkabout, following my route along the High Sierra Trail to the west, north into Kings Canyon via Elizabeth Pass, then back to the Kern via Colby Pass over the Great Western Divide. No resupply, despite the offers of friends to meet me. I needed my time alone, I thought.

I was wrong.

Friendly faces of those I passed on the trail, a few minutes of conversation. Getting a new trail name on day two from another tall, strong woman striding solo through these tall and thin places. Learning the touching story of a mother and son trekking slowly to Precipice Lake: she living her “pipe dream” by putting one foot in front of the other and her son making it come true by hiking his pack half a mile up the trail, then returning for hers. Receiving trail telegrams from good friends half a day ahead, and catching them at Colby Lake, only to be introduced to another Sierra legend and his family as well, then laughing under the full moon late into the night.

Cautiously stepping up loose slopes to reach slabby and broken faces, the occasional cairn to keep me in the right chute. Sand between boulders for sliding back down fast to outrun a storm that never came. Dunking and swimming out into deep, sapphire waters with a gasp and laughter, then melting into afternoon rocks, spreading my hair to dry in the light breezes. Trading glances with a young buck, antlers still in velveteen; watching the baby bear trundle across the rocks and wonder where mama is hiding. Jumping clear of the trail at the rattle of one big snake, then cautiously turning at the warning hiss of the next.

When I returned from this trip five years ago, Ken insisted I was a mountaineer. “All I did was walk a trail, Ken. Mountaineers do SO much more…” I couldn't bring myself to allow that title to be bestowed. I was too new, I had no idea what I was doing.

It was the start of an incredible ride, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

Thank goodness.

My journal is full of notes and pages of wandering thoughts. Slowly, I’ll weave them together into the story of my journey. There are entirely too many pictures from the two cameras I took along (not taking any chances this time).

I gave myself the gift of time, and used it roaming what is now sacred ground for me.

“To lovers of the wild, these mountains are not a hundred miles away. Their spiritual power and the goodness of the sky make them near, as a circle of friends. ... You cannot feel yourself out of doors; plain, sky, and mountains ray beauty which you feel. You bathe in these spirit-beams, turning round and round, as if warming at a camp-fire. Presently you lose consciousness of your own separate existence: you blend with the landscape, and become part and parcel of nature.”
John Muir (1838 - 1914)

As I say at the end of the video, I can’t wait to see what this road has in store for me next.

From the luckiest girl in the world,
Climb Hard. Be Safe.

-L

Laura's Grand Adventure: The Return from Laura Molnar on Vimeo.

Laura,

You ROCK!!! I too have fallen in love with the Sierra Nevada. I'd never been outdoorsy before moving out here from Florida last March, but something about the Sierra spoke to me on my first trip up 395... magical. I partially blame my boyfriend, but I simply can't get enough of the mountains now! Pretty much every weekend is spent in the mountains and I love every second of it!

Keep it up and keep sharing the photos/TRs... love them!

Tiff

What a trip! You covered a lot of very nice country!

It was great meeting you on the trail.

Thanks, Tiff! Have fun exploring out there. The Sierra are full of surprises and incredible places!

John, it was a highlight to get to walk the trail with you and Mark. Since we covered almost the same ground (I WILL put a stroll up the Picket Creek drainage on the list), you saw a lot of the same "nice country" as I. "What are you doing on the west side??" will ring with me for a long time.

-L

Laura, I remember reading your TR from the original trip 5 years ago and many of your other early TRs when you were just finding your legs. Your reports reveal so much about you that I felt I knew you without meeting you. (I think we did finally meet briefly at the Hostel but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's just that I feel I know you.)

I think that is the magic of this BB: a lot of good people swapping stories around a virtual campfire, giving each other support, encouragement, and information (with just the barest minimum of trash talk). I chalk that up to Doug's influence. Thanks.

Laura,

I remember reading your 1st posts back when you were hiking in LA, Thank you for sharing your wonderful video.

You've come a long way baby

Oldhiker

Laura, beautiful. Thanks. Harvey

Perfect quote for you:
Once a mountaineer has climbed so high, for the rest of his life he dreams of returning.
Peter Boardman, Sacred Summits page 173

Thanks, guys. I can't believe it's been 5 years since that first trip. I still remember calling my friend late Thursday night after I got home in an absolute panic because of all the noise around my apartment. That was around August 20, and by November 1 I had moved to B-town.

You know, in planning something for this weekend, I was stymied not because I didn't know where to go, but because I had too many choices to consider!!

And Harvey, here's one for you that I've taken to heart:

"Even though for me the spirit of climbing has always been linked with the insatiable curiosity to learn and grow, I realized that I didn't need to try bigger, longer, or more difficult routes to achieve this end. I could do more with less."

-Lynn Hill, Climbing Free

rock on, babe

It's funny, I remember the conversation with Laura about being a mountaineer.

As so many people do, new to the sport, she thought in terms of a resume of climbing mountains, but I think of it very differently. There are many people who climb mountains, many mountains, even high mountains like Everest, who do not seem to be mountaineers, to me.

It is encompassed by an attitude, rather than a tick list. The byline of The Mountaineers website is "Explore, Learn, Conserve".

Heading out into personally untrod terrain, alone and fully self-sustained, with a conservation perspective....for weeks.....actually DOING IT, embracing all the fears and unknowns involved, accepting the challenges involved and not using them as a reason not to go, but overcoming them all and making it happen. And afterwards, looking back and saying "this is what I want to do, this is what I like"

THAT is what a mountaineer is all about. Tagging summits is inconsequential to that.

I look forward to reading more about this trip!

“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges.” ~Rudyard Kipling

wow Moose - what a glorious trip in many ways

WOW Laura, what a beautiful video presentation.


And the accompanying music was great.


So many fantastic photographs.


We watched it together, and Mrs Tundra told me to pass along "A Job very well done !!"

Absolutely gorgeous!! Do you mind my asking the identity of the music you used on the first portion of the video? It was lovely. I often put music to my slide shows & would like to know the name. Your beautiful photography reminds me of how much we've fallen in love with the Sierras since our 1st climb of Whitney 24 years ago. I thought once I'd done it, I wouldn't need to do it again. Well, I did my 18th climb this past summer, so I've definitely been smitten! I'm not an athlete or a mountaineer by any stretch of the imagination...just an ordinary run-of-the-mill Grandma. But, I can no longer imagine a summer without seeing the Sky Pilots or hunting for an elusive pika,or watching the rising sun turn the peaks to gold. My goal now is to do my 20th climb for my 70th birthday the summer after next. Thanks for the great inspiration!!

Ken, thanks, not just for that, but for being one of my first mentors. I still can't fully comprehend how things have changed since my first outings and adventures. And I think I've found "it"... ;-)

Scottie- Mac, thanks so much to you and Mrs. Tundra. Hope to see you up here on your next adventure!

Randuf, run-of-the-mill? Hardly: see Ken's beautiful comments above. Sounds like you have found "it" as well. All the best for your adventures and returns to the heights, whatever "summit" that may be. Just getting out and being one with your surroundings is a fantastic accomplishment! The music, btw, is from the Forrest Gump soundtrack.

-L

Thanks, Laura, for the music info. It's been so long since I last watched Forrest Gump, I'd forgotten how great the music was!

And, thanks to both you & Ken for making me a "mountaineer", even tho I'll never have the technical skills required by some folks' definition of the term. I guess the t-shirt my grandkids just gave me sums it up: "Do what you like....like what you do". And, I like hiking in the mountains!