[pct-l] The Trail is calling...

[StoneDancer1 at aol.com (StoneDancer1@aol.com)]

It?s a beautiful Saturday morning.  Yesterday, after raining all day,  it 
snowed an inch or three,  barely sticking.  Early this  morning, before dawn, the 
moonlight created a faery forest of glinting, silvery  trees.  Sitting in the 
hot tub, I  watched the eastern sky progress from blue-black through deepest 
blue,   gradually lightening to gray, celadon, and finally to a bright  
slivery-gray.  
My  home is at the head of a canyon.  To  the southeast, 300 feet high and 
500 yards away, a ridge keeps the sun from  sight until nearly 9:00 o?clock on 
these short winter days. Higher up, and to  the west, the trees light up in 
that golden light that is the hallmark of the  Sierra Nevada.  And, just a little 
 less than twenty-five miles due west, the summit of Red Peak, eschewing its  
name, juts up like the tip of an iceberg above the intervening ridges. Down  
canyon a mile, where it opens up, mist is beginning to rise up in clouds where 
 the sun is already working its magic. 
Here at 4000 ft, the snow won?t last long.  Most likely it will be gone 
today, so to  all you Children of the Trail, take heart.  Spring is in the air.  I 
feel  certain that if only I were a few thousand feet higher, I could  see it 
on the horizon.  The Trail is  calling.  I think I?ll sort my gear  this 
morning?puruse the Guidebook... make some lists? look at  catalogs?.. 

"No Way" Ray  Echols