The Man Burned Without Us
Somehow, all the hard core Burners I know stayed home from the Burn this year. Even Alan Sailer, who graced Yahoo’s news coverage and showed up on the New York Times on line coverage last year Continue reading
Whereas fishing with a stick on Sotcher Lake and the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River hasn’t worked out too well (for us–the fish are doing fine!), and
whereas we like it here at Reds Meadow Campground so much we’ve decided to stay longer requiring a resupply,
we’re on the shuttle heading for the Town of Mammoth on the eastern side of the sierra crest. Continue reading
DAY 6 AFTER DINNER: Reds Meadow, Inyo National Forest
I am about to take my first sip of mataro, a grape I had never heard of before I bought this wine in April 2008, at the Grateful Palate Imports sale. Since I love the RBJ–that would be Chris Ringland, Bruce, and Johnstone– theologicum grenache/mourverde blend so much, and find it such a deeply satisfying wine, Alex Sabad encouraged me to pick up a bottle of their 2002 Mataro theologicum. And since I understand now that Mataro is another name for mourverde, I guess I do know it…a little!
Since we’re camping and cooking instead of doing hotels and restaurants, and we’re not traveling to Washington state and back like we planned do to $5 a gallon gas prices, we’re living it up by drinking GREAT wine every night; I brought a half case of Aussie wines with us! And if you’ve been following this blog journey in the eastern Sierra, you’ve heard a bit about those wines along the way!
So now let me set the scene: Reds Meadow campground, 7600’ Sierra Nevada. Freshly showered in hot springs water in the an old concrete bathhouse maintained by donations and volunteers. Post dinner of what do we still have cuz we’re still here when we were going to leave today but not too bad combo of italian pesto tortellinis and Indian food (and some classy, yummy Lengs and Cooter 2005 shiraz!!) Continue reading
Day 2: White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, Eastern California
After an easy oatmeal breakfast with coffee and exceptionally delicious treats from the Alabama HIlls Cafe and Hard Rock Legends bakery in Lone Pine (a croissant and even better a Danish made with locally grown fresh peaches), the boys play more ball and I dive back into Mysore yoga challenges with Barbara Henning (You, Me and the Insects). She’s plagued by bugs and heat; here we have no pestering insects and the temperature is perfect. My life is calm while she is learning how to manuever a scooter in crazy traffic…(has a car gone by yet today? Maybe one or two?) She is surrounded by hordes of people and no one she knows; the two people I love best are laughing and playing together. We can’t see or hear another human; there is no one else within miles.
Too soon, we pack up and continue to Schulman Grove. Random patches of wildflowers including various purple and violet penstamen delight us, and soon we’re at the Visitor Center. The Ranger on duty has been there 18 years; my first visit there was 20 years ago when I was on a college environmental studies field quarter with ecologists Dr. Kenneth Norris and Dr. Stephen Gleissmann. There was no visitor center or much information then; now it is a lovely space, a log cabin with windows and light and a wood burning stove for the plentiful cold days, especially in early season, around Memorial Day, when the days are cold and the popular 4 mile long Methusalah trail still has snow on it.
We spread peanut butter and jelly on bread and head up the Bristlecone cabin trail, a new trail built within the last 5 years. The trees may not be that “old” along this part of the trail (maybe a few hundred or a thousand not like the 3-4,000 year old trees on the other side of the mountain), but the child is excited about seeing the old cabins and the mine remnants and that motivates him to keep moving under the hot sun. Continue reading
When I was in college, my environmental lit and writing class taught by Page Stegner (Wallace Stegner’s son) went on a rafting trip through the goosenecks on the San Juan River in the American Southwest. I traveled there with other students in climber Mike Carville’s brand new VW pop-up Westfalia campervan, and we stopped on the way at his dad’s place at Northstar Lake Tahoe which he was developing. That night I had a very vivid and strange dream which included walking in a leather mini-skirt along a trail in the redwoods; Continue reading
July 5, White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, Eastern California served with
porkloin, grilled corn, and 2005 Marquis Philips “Roogle” shiraz, chilled briefly in a bucket of snow
At 10,000’, we’ve left paved road and the Schulman Grove of the Bristlecone Pines in the White Mountains of California’s Inyo National Forest to climb steadily up a well maintained dirt and gravel road. Sagebrush, a calf high shrub, dots the hillsides with soft green, and sends up gray green flower spikes which will bloom yellow by late August. Abundant coral red Indian paintbrush bracts burst in color between the sage while purple lupine lines the road and sends wafts of grape through the window to mingle with whiffs of sage.
We’re headed for the Patriarch Grove at over 11,000’ where, Continue reading
I’m the Wine Predator aka the Art Predator and I will be your guide to stalking, finding, and slurping delightful affordable and drinkable wines!
I love to travel, camp, and eat and drink well, and I will share my adventures in dining and drinking and unusual places! Some of these posts I will import from one of my other blogs, Art Predator.
I’m no wine snob–merely someone who loves wine and writing, and who wants to learn more about wine while writing about it. My wine posts will cover some beginning basics and help us all grow to enjoy wine with more sensitivity and sophistication. I especially love good deals on great wines!
Bring on your questions! If I don’t know the answer, I wil find it!
