Nature is my refuge

  Nature is my refuge. For me, Mt. Shasta likely more than any other single place is where I still find a refuge that suits me personally.

My father and mother took me there at 2 months of age and had me blessed then by the leader of the religion my parents were in then. At age 5 my father and several male friends drove with me up the then dirt road with many rocks in it (which tore out the whole muffler system of this man's new car by the way all the way to the exhaust manifold of his new 1953 Chevrolet then (to share with you just how bad the road was then).

But, now you can drive up the 10 miles or so from Lake Siskiyou on a perfectly paved road with no rocks on it at all most times of the year as long as the snow is plowed during the winters.

Lake Siskiyou did not exist by the way until the late 1960s or early 1970s by the way. It used to just be a Sacramento River crossing of a bridge on a road and that's all. But now it's a kayaking and power boat paradise for many. But you cannot water ski because the lake isn't big enough for that. You go to Shasta Lake and Dam for that about 40 miles away.

So, skiing remotely I like a lot but I'm getting older now so downhill skiing is taking over mountaineering skiing because as that becomes more dangerous as I age I have to make sure I survive my adventures more because I'm 70 already.

But, nature whether it be mountains or oceans or deserts have always been my refuge and living in California I'm always close to all three.

By God's Grace