Today my friends and I went to the Mt. Eddy range of Mountains directly across from Mt. Shasta and the city of Mt. Shasta. In fact, coming down in the dark we saw the lights of the city of Mt. Shasta quite clearly.
Because we got such a late start because we were all so tired still from climbing so much yesterday in the Hail and Snow and Rain up to Cold Creek on the back side of Mt. Shasta where most of the glaciers still are we got a very late start. So, it was about 3 pm at least before we all got in the same place at the same time and all piled into my 4 wheel drive and headed off towards Lake Siskiyou and up a steep dirt road that took us about an hour or more to get to Toad Lake. From Toad Lake the rest of my friends decided (even though it was within an hour or so of sundown) climb up to Porcupine Lake. I decided since I have to drive home to the Bay Area tomorrow I would forego it so I could actually feel safe in driving home. But, the rest of them didn't have to make this drive tomorrow. Just me.
As it was getting dark what I realized is just how many years it has been since I have been so very far from another human being as I watched the sun set there. However, what I found funny is that I still had two bars on my Iphone so I called my wife was happy to hear where I was. I told her the sun was going down and I was alone in the dark waiting for my friends which was an interesting experience. Then after taking a little nap I turned on XM satellite and listened to CNN and BBC and some comedy stations for awhile (remoteness doesn't affect satellite reception just mountains if they are in the way.)
This was a long way when I lived at least 10 miles from the nearest Gas Station or Store and built an A-Frame and lived off the grid for about 5 years without TV (unless the kids wanted to ride their bicycle to generate the electricity for TV. However, some winters in the 1980s brought about 7 feet of snow which was too much for us to stay out there then easily with kids. So, usually when I couldn't put groceries on a bobsled and tow the groceries a couple of miles through the snow to our house we usually rented a place in town for a few months then in the early 1980s.
However, I still remember the peaceful feeling of being far from the Maddening Crowd of the big cities, and home schooling our kids to be nice human beings instead of little terrors. They all have college degrees now and careers and are married and I also am a new Grandad. Things change but on one level they stay the same. I still love the peace of remote and beautiful places. My anger melts into the wilderness and enlightenment comes. My friends and I love the wilderness places around Mt. Shasta even though we all have been all over the world too.
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