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Sometime early in the summer Grandma Mary called to let me know that she would be visiting her sisters in Napa Valley in mid-August and that I should plan to visit and bring a friend. Done; I love trips to Napa Valley. So, I asked Mary (from Vanuatu and Hawaii) to join since we still had yet to meet on the mainland.

Mary and I set out on Highway 1 for the long and beautiful road trip to San Francisco, where we spent the first night with Sara, one of Mary’s friends from the Peace Corps. (She had a knack for telling some pretty amazing stories about life in Vanuatu…)

After a whirlwind tour of San Francisco the next day, we drove to my great aunt’s ranch in Napa Valley. Here we spent the next two days laying around the pool, wine tasting, and going to church where we ended up shaking hands with Nancy Pelosi during passing of the peace.

The drive home went much faster, and like many Californian trips we decided to wrap it up with a celebratory stop at In-N-Out burger. Animal fries are so good.

Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,496 ft. Most hikes to Whitney start at the Whitney Portal, which results in a roundtrip hike of about 22 miles with an elevation gain of over 6,100 ft. It’s extremely popular during the summer months, and because of that Inyo National Forest has implemented the Whitney Lottery to decide who gets a permit and when.

Back in June 2007, Paul, Jimmy, Marc, and I hiked Mt. Whitney for the first time. Just for kicks, I entered the lottery once again this year. Luckily, my ‘09 permit application was chosen, and even more luckily, the permit was awarded for the first choice of dates (a weekend in early August). Ben, Andrew, and Jimmy joined the adventure this time, and our three day, two night hike took us through some very picturesque mountain scenery.

Although the Whitney Portal is good, Jimmy and I agreed that now after having done the hike twice, any future trips to Mt. Whitney will have to be on a trail less trodden. Alternatively, there are many other 14,000+ ft. peaks that see many less visitors. The options are wide open for next summer…

At the end of July and a week after the Horsemanship trip, John and Greg traveled to California to join Jimmy and me in an epic backpacking hike across Yosemite National Park: 4 days, 3 nights, and 30 miles from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley via the Vogelsang Pass. The views and experiences were amazing, and the photos below are only the beginning of what was another great summer adventure.

As fun as it was, the Mustangs trip isn’t the main business of Rock Creek Pack Station. As the name implies, Rock Creek primarily operates pack trips throughout the Sierra Nevada, which vary in length from 3-10 days.

When I enrolled for the Mustangs course, I happened across one such pack trip – Mountain Horsemanship: Veterinary Care and Horsepacking in the Wilderness. The description sold me on another horse class:

This seven-day pack trip covers the essentials of horsepacking with the Golden Trout Wilderness of the High Sierra’s as your laboratory… You’ll learn about packing equipment, fitting saddles, making loads, hitches, leading strings of mules, back-country shoeing, veterinary skills… and more…

We rode into the Golden Trout Wilderness making camps at Ramshaw Meadow, Little Whitney Meadow, and Big Whitney Meadow. During the days we would either pack the mules and ride to the next camp, or ride the horses to a nearby landmark and have lunch.

In total, there were four packers and seven students. Kaelin, our cook, prepared delicious breakfasts and dinners; Phil and Clay took care of the animals and taught us about hitch tying and horse shoeing; and Sean helped Phil and Clay with camp setup and teardown.

By definition, the wilderness is far from civilization – quite literally, you’re on your own. Mountain Horsemanship was arguably my longest and deepest wilderness experience to date; apart from seeing people on the first and last days, the only other people we saw were 6 hikers who came through our camp in Little Whitney Meadow on a trans-Sierra hike. Packing your entire camp with mules, however, allows for a certain amount of luxury… From past hiking trips I could sympathize with one of the hikers when he said how nice it would be to sit in a chair – it was very nice.

The summer adventures continued after Joshua Tree with a return to the Pizona wilderness in June to participate in Mustangs: A Living Legacy. I say return since some friends and I joined the trip in 2006, and given the success of that trip, we decided it was time to return three years later. Jimmy and I made the trip this year, and once again, we weren’t disappointed!

The four-day field class was taught by Craig London of Rock Creek Pack Station. Food, saddle, and a horse were included in the tuition, and after a short refresher, I was back in the saddle in no time. On a daily basis we rode out of our camp at Pizona to the surrounding countryside in search of mustangs. Unfortunately, many of the mustangs had moved out of the mountains to the valleys due to a drought, but we were lucky enough to find and observe the lone stallion that remained.

After a full day of riding, we would return to camp to get cleaned up, eat appetizers, explore the surrounding area on foot, and relax before dinner. After dinner, Craig would fire up the generator that powered his projector so he could give a presentation on the state of wild horses in the West. This provided the perfect opportunity to test out my new digital SLR, a Canon Rebel XSi. Enjoy the photos!