Questions, Questions, Questions

Note: I have edited this as of August 22, 2026.

As of August 21, 2026 after twenty years, this blog is officially at its end. I will come back from time to time if I feel the need to edit the blog or this FAQ. If I feel the need to direct you to new projects I will either mention it here in this FAQ or in the final blog post. While there are a bunch of things I mention in the blog as things I would come back to in the future and never finished, I do consider it the blog finished.

I thought I would take some of the common questions I have gotten over the years so I can link people to this rather than me say the same thing over and over. Some of these aren’t really questions, but things that have been stated to me that I usually respond to. A few are just my own for the sake of clarification.

1)”How long have you been doing this?”

The blog has been around since 2006. I had an earlier Youtube account around the same time that I ran various tests with earlier videos on, but is no longer around.

However, I have been doing something like this for most of my life. I have always been into hiking, so a lot of what you see here goes way back in time for me. In the past 20 years I have gone a lot further into the backcountry than I did as a kid. So, a lot of what you see is just years of experience in areas that I have known in some ways going back over 40 years.

The movie locations tend to be a lot more recent. In the past 15+ years I started getting more specific on certain spots. Now I had been to places like the Alabama Hills or Iverson Ranch going back to the 1980’s, but it was a case of just passing through to see the area with family. I knew about movies being filmed there, but it was not something I cared too much about.

I believe it was the early 1990’s that I saw Comanche Station and The Tall T on vhs or tv that sort of began the interest. “Hey, that’s Mt. Whitney in the background. You know it might be fun to try to find where that is sometime,” but even then I was not as hardcore about this as I have become.

It was sometime in the late 1990’s that I posted about the site of High Plains Drifter the first time online on a primitive website I had created. That site died a long time ago, but even then I did not turn into the person you know on this blog. It was only with creating this blog and Youtube that I decided to start emphasizing this area of my experiences.

2)”What’s the main purpose of the blog?”

Originally, it was designed to be something I could link to my friends and family. I got kind of tired of sending the same e-mail with variations over the months and years. So, I thought it would be easier just to link whatever I did and send a shorter e-mail. Of course, being a public blog others see this as well which is fine.

The only thing there is you have to remember is some things I talk about or refer to might only make sense to people that know me in the real world. There have been a few things I have posted on here or via video that was designed for certain family or friends. One time I did this and I had one person get really bent out of shape telling me how much a waste of time it was for him. I have no clue who that person was, and I didn’t have the heart to tell the guy what I did was not for him.

As I have reached more people I have sort of modified the purpose of the blog some. So the following is getting more to what I have in mind these days:

I cover places that I like and are a little out of the ordinary. I give you some of what is out there to stimulate your interest so you can go off and do you own thing at wherever you may live. Wherever you live there has to be something of interest that you can find. Be it history, nature, animals, etc.

The idea is not that you need to go to the places I talk about on here. Some people have the opportunity to do this, but I would feel let down if that is what people felt they needed to do in order to appreciate the blog or these places. The world is a big place and there are lots of things that you can find that I have no idea about. On any topic, I try to give enough to stimulate your interest, but I don’t reveal everything I possibly know. I have a lot of background research that tends not to show up on here. What I give is enough and if you care more about a subject then, depending on what it is, you can follow the links or sources I provide.

3)“How do you find these locations?”

Most of the blog has been dedicated to answering this question. I usually try to give the various techniques and principles I use when discussing them. Generally, I start with the background, then mid-ground, and then whatever is right in front of me. Taking lots of pictures so that I can come back home and study. It is always nice to know I can go back at another time.

Google Earth is making things a lot easier than in the old days. I don’t use it for everything since it has its limits, but it is good to get the general feel of the area. Although, in some cases like hiking, I try not to use it too much just to enjoy the surprise of not knowing what I will find.

I tend not to use the internet before going anywhere. It is usually after I come home, or right before I post something on here, that I will do a few searches to see what people have come up with. There are good sites out there for things, but I tend to look for specifics so a lot of what is out there wouldn’t really help me for what I do.

As an aside, there are some locations I will never reveal. Some of you out there have told me about them and wanted them kept private for various reasons. I’m fine with that and as a matter of honor will keep it that way. I would say 90% of the time it deals with issues regarding private property which I am pretty sensitive to anyways.

4)“You must have read this book (magazine) by this author”.

Actually, I don’t read many books about this sort of thing. When it comes to movie locations I have a total of three books:

Holland, Dave. On location in Lone Pine: a pictorial guide to movies shot in and around California's Alabama Hills. Granada Hills: Holland House, 1990.

Medved, Harry., and Bruce Akiyama. Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer's Guide to Exploring Southern California's Great Outdoors. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006.

Schmidt, Richard. A Field Guide to Motion Picture Locations at Red Rock Canyon. Montrose: Canyon Two Publications, 2002.

Those are helpful, and I will get them out once in a while if I need some inspiration or have forgotten something. The issue though is, to get really specific on things I really need to be there out in the field to figure these things out.

Now on the other hand, if we are talking more about history or some backcountry hike, then I do spend a lot of time doing background research. I have been known to go into the darkest and dirtiest parts of university libraries. These types of sources are the ones you will not find online.

Since this blog is meant to be family friendly for just about all ages I tend not to talk about every resource I use. If I were doing a more graduate level university thesis style then I would probably list just about everything. I tend to list a few popular sources if you want to go a little further. I should give a standard disclaimer that these types of sources I don’t always agree with, could have bad information, not up on the latest history and just tell common stories or legends, etc. Those are the ones you usually start with then you can go on from there.

5)”You could almost write a book”.

I could, but I won’t. This blog is enough for what I am trying to do. I have a lot more background research and other experiences that do not always show up on this blog. Refer to the purpose of the blog in the second question above.

6)“Can you give me directions to…(and can you give me a personal tour)?”

In the past I have listed GPS coordinates in most of my blog entries. I NO LONGER GIVE OUT GPS COORDINATES as of January, 2022 in this blog entry. These days I have somewhat regretted doing that based on going back to some places and seeing trash or hearing reports of vandalism. Which doesn't mean people are seeing something on the blog and doing that, but it is annoying. In the news over the past few months some thieves basically destroyed some Indian artifacts outside of Bishop, CA I had intended to go to at some point for the blog. I won’t be doing that because of this.

I would ask you not ask me for directions to wherever you want to go. Part of the point of this blog is to show the adventure one can have without knowing everything about where you are going. While I do not want anyone to go into the backcountry unprepared it is another thing to have every detail spelled out for someone so he does not have to do any work.

While I am at it. Only take from these locations what you have brought in. Yes, I have encountered people that think going to places like this means it’s artifact hunting time. Great, ruin it for everyone else. Take pictures or videos and leave any artifact be.

Another thing, every once in while I get people that want to meet me somewhere for a personal tour. While it might seem like I can just take off everywhere at anytime it is not like that for me at all. I can't just do these sorts of things for free. You get enough information on here if you want to find some place. Refer to question #2 again, and have an adventurous spirit!

Note as of August, 2026: I ask again, please DO NOT ask me specific directions to any site I have shown on here. This is one of the major reasons I have stopped doing this blog. When I started this blog twenty years ago the issues of people overcrowding isolated areas was not even on the radar. Too many people are showing up to areas they know nothing about and ruining the experience for others. I have a lots of other areas I wish that I could share, but it just does not work that way anymore. Over advertising and treating areas like it were a theme park is one of the saddest things I have seen in the past decade and half. 

7) “You know you can get more views by…”

Don’t care. While view totals do tell me something, I really don’t care how many people see a blog entry or watch a video. Kind of like the way I do location hunts, I like the idea that people that are trying to find something have to do a little more work to find my stuff.

From experience I know there are certain things I could do to bring a lot more people in, but for me it is not really worth it. Since this is just a hobby and not for profit I tend not to worry about this. If only a handful of people see or like something I do so be it.

I will say the odd thing is there are some things I do that get more attention than I thought they would and other things I thought tons of people would want to see and it ends up being a “flop“. There was a series of videos I did once that I put a lot of time into and one video that I hardly put anything into that was pretty much a throw away video that I did not care about. The video I put the least amount of effort into ended up blowing the rest of the other videos away in regards to views.

8)“I like this, but not that…”

You probably won’t like everything I do and there are tons of other websites you can go to satisfy whatever need you have, or you can create your own site. The only thing I think I would say is do not expect me to be too one dimensional on here. I have certain things I like to cover, but I like to go into other topics at times. I like to integrate various things and show the connections with other things. If you expect me to just cover one thing all the time then you are probably wasting your time here.

9)“This is misspelled…grammar…could be better stated, etc.”

Actually very few mention anything like this to me, but I wanted to say something. In the past few years I started to use a laptop I would post from before I would go to bed. This laptop is very easy to make these types of mistakes because of how the hands go over the keyboard and mouse. So, even after proof reading, I still usually have mistakes I would miss. It would end up taking me a few days after re-reading what I posted to make further edits to change wording, etc. I am sure there are still mistakes on here I have not caught, but usually do my best to change things over the next few days after a blog is written up. Look at it as more of a rough draft when it first goes up that eventually gets edited. This is really a style over substance issue to me and very few have called me out over it. So, my apologies and thanks.

10)”How often will you be posting to the blog?”

As of August 21, 2026 no more. It is done, finished, and the end. If I ever feel the need to show new projects I will update the final blog post about where those will take place, but as of right now I am completely done with this blog.

11)”Can I use your pictures or video on my site?”

Anything I post you can use for your own personal non-profit interests. You really don’t even have to reference me as the source if you do not want to (unless I have watermarked the picture with my name, but in that case it is already stated so nothing would need to be done). It is up to you. Yeah, if you claim to have taken the pictures I did then I might be bothered by that from a moral perspective and wonder what is wrong with you, but I probably won't do anything other than think "your" an idiot. ;)

If you do use the pictures I have taken for something that is for profit or has advertisements, then it would be nice if you mention me as the source.

The only thing about videos is you can download anyone you want with the various programs that are out there so you don’t have to watch them online, but I ask you not to re-upload them on Youtube (or any other video site). Some people have others do that for multiple exposures, but for me I think it is best to just link the video.

12)”Will you link to my site?”

I have had lots and lots of people over the years want me to advertise their sites. As a general rule don’t expect me to do it. It is a little complicated as to why I am this way about this, and I don’t really want to go into it here. If I have plugged your site before or talked about some location on this blog in the past you are connected with then that is enough.

Likewise, I don’t expect anyone to link my site. If you want to that is great, and I thank you. If you don’t want to then that is great too!  

13)“Anything else you want to say?”

I don’t see myself as “broadcasting” in using this media to do what I have been doing. It’s more like someone coming into my house or around the campfire telling a few stories. Sometimes I think people see blogs, websites, videos online to be something much more than they should be. These are nice diversions, good for a some information, but are not the real world. I’m definitely bothered by the idea that people think that gaining “friends” on social networking sites equals the real thing.

The internet is becoming a little too much of “state the obvious” about 50,000 times. It didn’t feel this way to me during the 1990’s. I blame the social media for this, but commercials, television, news are becoming more like this too. So, I hope that I have offered some originality in what I have done on here to counter this type of way the world is becoming.

14)What is your e-mail address?

I have had to add this one on as of Feb. 2014. Long story short, an older computer has been hit with a few viruses/malware. This in turn caused some mass spamming to any e-mails connected with it even though they did not originate from me. I have had this happen a few times in the past year, so enough is enough. You can go to my profile link on the right for the link. Otherwise, it is the following email:

thegreatsilence(you know the sign that goes here)mail.com

The Dark Silence

I was re-watching two westerns recently which I wanted to briefly mention on here. Btw, I don’t really watch that many westerns these days. I have to be in the right mood to do that. That mood came during this past week.

I was mentioning in a few blogs back about the meaning for the term “silence” on here. I gave the general concept I have been using as my theme throughout the blog. I said something briefly, which I have mentioned before, in that one must remember “nature does not play by rules.” Meaning, nature can be very destructive and unpredictable. Even if one is well prepared random events can happen even for the most experienced mountain man.

Just recently out near an area I have hiked before there was a guy with friends who got lost. When I heard the story on the news I immediately said my above quote. Why in the world would people go hiking in the evening, in an area you do not know about, and on a very cold day (not to mention a freezing night). He was lucky. They found him, and all he came away with was hypothermia.

The western I was watching again was Charles Bronson’s Chato’s Land. I was able to see the “uncut” version that has an extra 15 seconds. There was an issue with the way the horses were used that some countries cut out. When I originally saw this movie I was not super impressed. It seemed like a typical revenge story with the Apache Chato (Bronson) getting revenge on a posse led Jack Palance (and by a bunch of well known actors).

While a lot of the analysis of this movie has connected it with the issues of the Vietnam War, which does make sense, after my recent viewing I started to think it connected with the darker version of nature that I mentioned above. The posse with Jack Palance is after Chato to avenge the death of a local he killed in town. The viewer of the movie knows the act was clearly in self-defense, but it is not clear the posse does.

Anyways, the posse is led out into rocky, sandy desert setting. As the movie goes on, Chato starts picking them off from the distance. There comes a point about an hour into the movie that Jack Palance makes a comparison about how the white men view the land they are in compared to the Apache. They start realizing that Chato has used the land to his advantage against them.

While I don’t like to overanalyze western movies because I think the simple explanations of what the writer/director are doing is the best, but I like the idea that Chato is actually part of nature the posse finds themselves in. That he represents the environment itself. When the characters start to realize they have walked into nature’s trap it is too late.

It is interesting that Bronson only had two lines of English in this movie and a few lines of Apache that are not subtitled for the viewer. He is very much a silent character in this movie. As an aside, he had a very ripped body for an actor his age in this movie. Just amazing shape.

So, if you have seen this movie or not, you might want to watch it with this interpretation in mind. Whether you have experience or not, are alert or not, have good moral character or not, the wilderness out there does not care. When heading out into the backcountry it is a calculated risk. Part of the fun of it for me is the unknown, but I do want to be able to return home as well.

The other western that I thought of as a good companion piece is The Stalking Moon with Gregory Peck. Both movies in my view have some flaws to them and this one more so. The Stalking Moon has some good moments in it, but I think it could have been better. Still, some of the ideas in both movies can be easily compared with each other.

For Dobe and Huell

I just wanted to acknowledge the deaths of two important individuals that have had some influence on this blog. I have mentioned both men sometime in the past, but I thought it is important to say at least something now.

Harry Carey Jr. died at the end of last month. He was in a lot of old westerns and can usually be remembered being in the crew with John Wayne and John Ford in various movies they did. He had appearances in tons of other movies and tv shows. He is one of the actors I always looked for has having an appearance as a different character in the Have Gun, Will Travel series. My favorite role he had is probably in the 3 Godfathers.

I saw him a few years back at the Lone Pine Film Festival. I was waiting in line with his book, and they were about to take him away to something else. I said, “One more?” The lady in charge agreed and let me get the final autograph. As he was signing my name, I wanted to say at least something to him. I kind of knew the answer beforehand, but I just wanted him to say it. I asked about the status of Comanche Stallion was going. It was a movie John Ford had considered, but never did. Carey Jr. intended to put together this movie as one of the last things in his career. He told me that it was still in the pre-production stage. Then said the problem that project had was due to lack of funds. I also saw him as part of a panel on John Wayne at the same festival. I pretty sure I have video footage of part of that, but I just remember him commenting how beautiful there area around Lone Pine always is.

Huell Howser died around two weeks ago. If I remember correctly, I first encountered Huell on tv sometime in the 1980’s. I can’t remember what it was, but it was some really oddball topic he covered. Every once in a while I would turn on the tv and he would be on the local KCET showing off some area I had never heard of. I have to admit that I was never really into everything he covered, but there was always somewhere he would go on the California’s Gold show that I was glued to the screen the whole time he did it. For many years I would constantly check the schedule to see what places he would go to.

I never met him, but do know people that did. Most of them said he was very friendly like you would expect. I did get the idea from these people that he was private about some things too. There are some things I have always wondered, but maybe at the same time it’s none of my business. I mean, Huell was in the marines when he was younger. I remember him saying in an interview, in good humor while a guy was mocking one of his famous sayings in a typical Huell accent, that in the marines he learned how to kill a man in three seconds.

In any case, Huell was definitely an influence on this blog in how I go about doing things. The whole notion of just going out, finding places, and trying to figure out anything you can about them was something that has always stuck with me. I don’t know if I have mentioned this story on here, but there is one area I went and meant to show on here at some point some years back. The day I went it rained so I didn’t think the pictures and video would tell the best story on that place. I just told myself I would come back next year on a better day. Well, a few months later Huell had an episode on that place. I had to laugh because it was just an off the wall thing that I didn’t think he would ever cover.

Apparently there was some sort of remembrance for him last week at the Griffith Observatory. In my view, the best way to remember him is just taking a trip “out there”, going hiking somewhere, etc. Not necessary going somewhere he talked about on the show, but just exploring nature, the historical past, or finding something new. That I will do.

Thanks guys!

Harry Carey Article:
 http://scvnews.com/2012/12/28/actor-saugus-native-harry-carey-jr-dies-at-91/

Huell Hower Archives:

http://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: Overwhelming Silence 7/7)

“It was beautiful. The pinkness vanished and then it was all purple dusk and the roar of the silence was like a wash of diamond waves going through the liquid porches of our ears, enough to soothe a man a thousand years.”(Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Group, 1986, P.71)

Time to wrap this one up with a few pictures looking down.

That’s a lake one encounters if the more direct class 3 route is taken.

One slip and it is all over with. One of the quotes that Kerouac constantly uses in the book is, “Its impossible to fall off mountains.” Well, in the real world I am not totally sure that is true, and do not really want to found out. Although I think I know what he was saying, but I would suggest he did not get high enough…or maybe he was too high. ;)

This is looking down back at the pass where the small lake/pond is. So, after all this, it is time to head back down there. Overall, the hike is in the 12-14 hour range. Total elevation gained is around 5,500 ft. to get to the top (12, 279ft.) in about 5 miles.

 “When you get to the top of the mountain, keep climbing.”(Ibid.)

It’s been some years since I did the whole thing. In the past couple of years there was always something preventing me from doing it again. One year I spent a lot of time getting in mental and physical shape for it only to have the Yosemite controlled fire that got out of control ruin everything. Other times I just lacked the motivation or ending up being sick. At this point, I am rather content with what I did with it. These days it is not as important to me as it once was. If I never get back to some of those places I showed then I can live with it. But, all it takes is me waking up one day under the right conditions and saying, “Let’s do it!”

So, this mountain and hike is really the meaning behind everything I have tried to do on this blog throughout the years. The whole notion of getting away from the noise and taking in the quiet. There is a little too much talk in the world at times. As I like to say when nothing is getting done, “Less talk, more action.”

This series for me represents another transition phase. Some things are behind me, but not so far behind that you can’t see them anymore. There was a certain look and feel I liked this blog to have for the longest time based on theme I was giving it. It's time for some change. It will be nothing major. Maybe just changing a few colors.

There are one or two other things I want to say before the end of the month, so I will be back soon.

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: Summit Views 6/7)

“I felt like telling Japhy everything I thought but I knew it didn’t matter and more over he knew it anyway and silence is the golden mountain.” (Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Group, 1986, Pgs. 72)

Looking toward the south. Whorl Mountain is the prominent peak just south of here.

In the middle all the way in the background is Mt. Dana. All the way over where the clouds are if you just look diagonally a little left is where Mt. Lyell is. Almost halfway in between the two is Mt. Conness. I have never climbed Mt. Lyell and probably never will, but I did get in range to view its glacier this last summer. I hope to have something up on that this year.

Looking more to the east now. That should be Turquoise Lake.

Looking back in the direction I started. One can actually see where one parks, but I would have to move around from where I was at. The prominent rock in front of me is what you see down below and is what gives it the “Matterhorn” type of look from below. You can see Bridgeport Lake and the Sweetwater Mountains in the distance.

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: Summit Views 5/7)

“So we unpacked our packs and laid things out and smoked and had a good time. Now the mountains were getting that pink tinge, I mean the rocks, they were just solid rock covered with the atoms of dust accumulated there since beginningless time. In fact I was afraid of those jagged monstrosities all around and over our heads.
'They're so silent!' I said.
'Yeah man, you know to me a mountain is a Buddha. Think of the patience, hundreds of thousands of years just sitting there bein perfectly perfectly silent and like praying for all living creatures in that silence and just waiting for us to stop all our frettin and foolin.'“(Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Group, 1986, Pgs. 66-67)

The final scramble to the summit.

In the range of about 5-7 hours from the trailhead, one gets to the summit. The actual summit is not very big at all. It is just a bunch of jagged rocks with one rock sticking out a little higher than the others. Technically speaking, you probably can only get one or two people on top of it at one time. One has to be somewhat careful here as the drop offs are rather dramatic and instant death. There was one rock that I remember was rather loose when I stood on it.

This is looking toward the north along Sawtooth Ridge. It turns out the point I stood on in this picture is the highpoint. That rock just off to the right in the front is what you see down below, but the highest point is behind it.

Moving counter-clockwise you can see Peeler Lake down below and then Tower Peak in the background.

Counter-clockwise again, you can see Finger Peaks and what is called Slide Canyon...see the slide on the mountainside?

Starting to look more of the south side. The heart of Yosemite is in the background on the left side. I’ll finish up the views in the next blog.

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: The Final Ascent 4/7)

“We finally got to the foot of the Matterhorn where there was a most beautiful small lake unknown to the eyes of most men in this world, seen by only a handful of mountain climbers, a small lake at eleven thousand some odd feet with snow on the edges of it and beautiful flowers and a beautiful meadow, an alpine meadow, flat and dreamy upon with I immediately threw myself and took my shoes off.”(Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. (New York: Penguin Group, 1986, P. 80)

This is looking back at the pass. There is usually snow here during the summer, and it forms a small pond. Turning left one can finally see the final ascent that needs to be made to the top.

There is still around a thousand feet to go. When you are there it seems a lot closer than it is. A lot of work is left to be done. The point in the middle at the top is Matterhorn Peak from “the backside”. Not as interesting to look at as the front of it.

“Japhy started up walking very rapidly and then even running sometimes where the climb had to be to the right or left along ridges of scree. Scree is long landslides of rocks sand and, very difficult to scramble through, always little avalanches going on.”(Ibid., P.81)

After all you have been through, this part of the climb is both mentally and physically challenging because of the scree. Every two steps up on the ascent you end up sliding back one step or both.

This shows the easiest class two route to take. If one is comfortable with a little more technical climb then one can go directly up.

Looking toward the south into Yosemite. Some other mountains I have climbed are in this picture. I will mention them later. I like to refer to this rock you see as “The Thing”. Notice the mouth, nose, and closed eye on its partial face?

Right before you get to the top you can finally see some of the other side. This is what Sawtooth Ridge looks like from this point of view. I'll cover the summit in the next two blogs.

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: Horseshoe Pass 3/7)

“As we got higher we got more tired and now like two true mountain climbers we weren’t talking anymore and didn’t have to talk and were glad, in fact Japhy mentioned that, turning to me after a half-hour’s silence, ‘This is the way I like it, when you get going there’s just no need to talk, as if we were animals and just communicated by silent telepathy.’”(Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. (New York: Penguin Group, 1986, p.62)

In the last blog you saw this peak, and for quite some time while hiking this particular route it is your destination. Once you are at the base of it you then take a right (west) which heads up the final section to Horseshoe Pass. Keep in mind I am showing you the easiest class 2 route. There is a more direct approach where you climb straight up closer to the front of Matterhorn Peak. In the route I am showing you here it is more like going around it and coming up the backside of it. From reading the book and consulting a few others it seems like this is the route Kerouac and friends took.

“I sat down the best I could on another rock and we both said nothing and meditated. Only I meditated with my eyes closed. The silence was an intense roar. From where we were, the sound of the creek, the gurgle and slapping talk of the creek, was blocked off by rocks.” (Ibid., p. 70)

Again, there are use trails, but it gets to the point that in some cases just climbing up the rocks anyway you can is the best. Like the quote in the last blog, you get to the point you just start to hop along the rocks. The times I have done this I have also had to cross snow patches at this point on the way. I would say another 45 minutes to an hour gets one...

...to the pass. I usually turn around here, relax, and see where I came from. Then I turn around and prepare for the next part.

Horseshoe Pass. It is a big snow pit here. That little opening there at the middle top is what needs to be reached. In theory, you can climb up higher to the right side of the picture if you want to evade snow. In the past, I have just crossed the snow. It can be a little scary here climbing on this type of snow. It's around the three and half to four hour mark of the hike so the legs get a little tired, and you don't want to make a mistake.

Yosemite! After all you have been through things really open up here. Extremely quiet and beautiful. This is a reward in itself. Very much like the experience of characters in the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit where after much work in a journey they go through a pass and encounter something spectacular compared to where they just were. This is real though. For the longest time the type of talus rock is all you see, but then a nice looking summer green meadow shows up! Trees in the distance!

Although, as I have said to a person while getting here, it is like reaching the finals of any sport. You still have the hardest job to do in order to win the whole thing…let’s go! I’ll continue the final ascent in the next blog.

As an aside, one time coming here after not seeing a soul the whole morning, there was a German couple camped out up here just beyond the pass. I just said "hi" to them as I headed up the mountainside. I think they took off not too long after that. I got the idea they came here from Yosemite and not from the direction I am showing you. It is always a little odd to see anyone out this far into the backcountry when you have gone so long without seeing anyone, but it does happen.

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: Horseshoe Canyon 2/7)

"’The secret of this kind of climbing,” said Japhy, ‘is like Zen. Don’t think. Just dance along. It’s the easiest thing in the world, actually easier than walking on flat ground which is monotonous. The cute little problems present themselves at each step and yet you never hesitate and you find yourself on some other boulder you picked out for no special reason at all, just like Zen.’” (Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Group, 1986, Pgs. 64-65)

This is the base of the “false pass” or first headwall that must be climbed. As you can see there is a trail, but then it becomes more of a scramble up rocks. The rocks are not fun at first, but like the quote above, you do get used to them and start to just get “in the zone” with them.

Looking back. This is really the first time that you can see a lot of elevation has been climbed over this long canyon.

Looking off to the left of from the last picture of Horseshoe Canyon. Avalanches do happen back here during the winter.

It takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes to continue along in the canyon. This is looking back.

At this point one continues a little further and the drainage continues off to the right. That is where I will continue next time. A few years ago a family was skiing back here in May. One of the teenagers got stuck so his father tried to climb to where he was to help him out. The father then fell to his death. Nature does not play by rules!

The Great Silence (AKA Matterhorn Peak: The Beginning 1/7)

(GPS: N38° 05.570 W119° 22.865)

“’Well that’s right,’ I said. ‘The whole purpose of mountain climbing to me isn’t just to show off you can get to the top, it’s getting out to this wild country.’” (Kerouac, Jack. Dharma Bums. New York: Penguin Group, 1986, p.81)

This begins a series of blogs I hope to have done in the next week or two. It is one I have put off and off over the years in the hope that I would come up with better pictures and video about it. That has not happened. A lot of that has to do with fires, bad weather, health, and just not having the inspiration.

This one is important for me to do though. Since it does deal with the origins and reasons this blog exists, I think it is time for me to do something regarding it. So, what I am going to do is use some older pictures I have taken at different times over the years to cover it.

Matterhorn Peak borders the northeastern side of Yosemite. It is the highest point (12, 278 ft.) on what is known as Sawtooth Ridge. Personally, I consider it the northern end of the High Sierra with the southern end just south of Mt. Langley.

It gets its name from the famous Switzerland mountain, but it only has that look from the north side (which you can see at the picture I have at the top of the blog). From the south side, as you will see eventually, it is not that impressive. So, in some ways the mountain is misnamed.

In 1958, Jack Kerouac wrote a book called, Dharma Bums, in which part of it contains his account, using fictional characters, of his attempted climb of Matterhorn Peak. Jack was a beat generation author of that era, and a lot of the book deals with his understanding of Buddhism in the 1950s. While I am not a Buddhist, after I read the book I knew exactly what he was referring to while climbing this mountain. It’s because of this book that I refer to this particular mountain as The Great Silence. In the past when I did this hike I started really early in the morning when it was dark. In reality I would say the first 1/3 of this hike I have done while it was still dark out. So, you will see pictures I have done of this hike during other times of the day.

This is where I would normally park. You can see Matterhorn Peak way off in the distance. The trailhead is about 5 minutes away, and from there you start a switch backing trail that takes about 45 minutes or so to get past Horseshoe Falls. At that point the trail flattens out somewhat for the next 10-15 minutes. You continue right next to a stream as you pass a few meadows. At this point one enters Hoover Wilderness.

There are two things wrong about this picture. One, this sign is no longer here and is actually right as you pass the switchbacks a little further back. Two, I used to think of this area as a jungle since walking on the trail one encountered a lot of overgrowth as the picture shows. It is not like this anymore since the people in charge of the trail have cut out of lot of this. It is a lot easier to pass quickly and safer too since there were some small pits you could walk into.

While you can see trails from here on out, they really are “use” trails. There are a lot more obstacles to cover as one goes along. You start encountered more walking on rocks than dirt at times. What you see ahead is known as the “false pass”. That headwall looks like you will pass into Yosemite, but it is not like that at all. Meanwhile, if you continue looking more to the right side of the above picture you can see the Matterhorn towering above.

Look familiar?

The End of the Season (Christmas Edition)

(GPS: N37° 50.145 W119° 9.345)

Merry Christmas!

I have a lot to say here so I put this blog into three parts for easier reading.

I thought I would share a few things I did a few weeks ago as the Sierra quickly went from fall to winter conditions. The following is from my very last days there for the year. The heavy snow did not come until a week later, but during the time I was there the weather was really nice. One of the areas that was still easy to access was Parker Lake.

Part 1: The Parker Lake Hike

After a short dirt road drive off the June Lake Loop one goes to the trailhead parking for Parker Lake. There is some uphill on this hike, but nothing too dramatic. You can see some snow along the trail:

Then things flattened out for the rest of the hike. I encountered the stream that runs out of the lake, and then the trail goes through a forest of trees. Lots of leafless trees as fall colors were long gone by now:

I would say it takes about 45 minutes to get to the lake. You don’t actually get to see the full lake until you have cleared the forest right at the lake. I was somewhat surprised to see this:

It was completely iced over. The elevation is only in the 8,300 ft. range, but I didn’t think this lake would get this way at this time of the year. One thing I noticed is the sun does not hit the lake very long during this period. The sun barely goes over the mountain side and was already down during the early afternoon I took these pictures. While I would not consider the area I was at very cold, it definitely had a winter cool with it. It was rather pleasant, but quiet at the same time.

I went around the lake some more. One can continue around the lake to Parker Pass which gets you to the Mono Pass trail in Yosemite I have covered before. At about this time I heard a strange sound that sounded like a Star Wars gun laser sound. It kept happening. I then realized a man and woman had reached the lake and were throwing rocks on it. The rocks were bouncing off the lake ice and making that sound by bouncing along. I tried to do it a few times myself. I then realized why there were so many rocks on the lake.

 

Part 2: The Bobcat

One morning this creature came walking along the road by our place. Normally, we get lots of deer, squirrels, birds, and some bears, but to see a bobcat is rare in my experience there. Neighbors have told us of bobcats, but I never had seen one here. I ran down to the road and as soon I got there he turned around. I took a few pictures from the distance, but as soon as I took a step he took off. I lost him.

 

The next morning I decided to head into the forest a few miles away. I thought my chances of seeing the bobcat again were extremely low, but I was going to scout the area very carefully. After around an hour I finally saw something walking quickly away that was bigger than squirrels, but not as big as a deer so I knew I had what I was looking for.

 

I followed it to a stream and thought I would get a good video at this point. However, to my surprise, I saw it jump really high over the stream. I then thought I lost it for good because I had to backtrack to a bridge over the stream. I just didn’t want to get wet that morning or I would have been more daring about that.

 

I kept scanning the forest in the direction I saw it go. About seven minutes later I saw it running. I had finally caught up with it while it was resting, and I started to walk very slowly. I wanted to use the camcorder because I knew I could zoom in closer than my regular camera. Over the next few minutes I got as close as I could. On the final step I was going to make before I changed over to my camera it ran off.

 

I started to follow it and the bobcat went over a bunch of rocks that put it on higher ground. When I reached the rocks and looked around I started laughing. I remember a prayer I had the night before asking for one more chance to see this animal before I left the following day. Realizing that had come to pass, not wanted to give the cat any more grief by continuing to follow it around, and needing to get back to start packing up I took off.

 

All in all, it was really fun and slightly creepy trying to hunt this creature down. It was a quiet morning, and, apart from the animals, I was all alone out in the forest.

 

I put up a couple of videos tonight. The first one shows the Parker Lake hike and some of the bobcat. At the beginning I put in some old footage my dad took on his hike to this lake in 1989. I was not on that trip, but I thought it would be a good experiment and sentimental for some of the relatives I have that will see it.

 

The End of the Season (Youtube Version)

  

Last summer I finally went and did a video of the place Django Unchained has a scene at. Since the movie comes out today…

 

“Chained!” (Youtube Version)

  

Finally, two mountain lions were found in Oregon about a year and half ago. Apparently, their mother was killed. They were sent to a special zoo in Rosamond, CA that takes care of wild cats. A few months after that the brother and sister were sent to a local zoo in Orange County near me. So, this is Santiago and Modjeska in a short training session and then they were given Christmas presents to open:

 

Mountain Lion Christmas (Youtube Version)

  

Part 3: Violence and the Christmas Holiday Season

 

This will be the last blog of the year for me, and there are a couple of other things I wanted to mention. Things have been really scary in the real world out there. As you know there have been a bunch of fatal shootings that have made the news in the U.S. with the shooting in the Connecticut getting the most coverage. We just had one over the summer I had commented on at the time, but the sad truth is no matter what we do there will always be more evil out there so these things will continue to happen.

 

A few days before the Connecticut shooting there were helicopters flying over the local university. I went out to see what I could see only to come back inside to watch the event on television. Some thieves escaped into the university to avoid the police. The students there were locked down in the classrooms until late that night. It started at around 3pm and I think the last helicopter left sometime after 1am. One or two were captured, but a few of them got away. No one was hurt though.

 

Then, a few days after the Connecticut shooting I was sitting at the computer editing some of the videos and listening to the news about all that. I was thinking to myself about what I would do if that were to happen around here. Well, little did I know that a few hours later there would be a sniper with an assault rifle in the very room I was in. I don’t want to go into all the details because it is very sad, but a neighbor of mine decided that this was his final day of life. So, the police and SWAT teams were called in. One of them was in my backyard, but the other was up stairs in this room by the window with a good view of the neighbor’s backyard. My neighbor killed himself before law enforcement had entered his place. I should say that he had no intention of killing anyone other than himself, but it was still a scary situation. I had just seen him the night before in his kitchen which I can see from my kitchen. Everything seemed like any other night. He was a good neighbor, and I never had any issues with him. God bless his soul.

 

It seems like you hear more about these tragic events during the holiday season when things just get really depressing for some people. The state of the world, the recent election in the U.S., and economy in general has produced a lot of negative emotions. There is a lot to be down about.

 

On the one hand we are told that Christmas and the rest of the holidays are for being with family. Yet, there are many people that are not going to have family members with them this year. I can’t imagine how any of these living family members that have just lost their parents or kids could sing the song “Joy to the World” this time of year.

 

Yet, on the other hand, if the meaning to the words in that Christmas song have any purpose at all then they need to be sung no matter what the state we are in. They point to something beyond our current state of emotional well being. If there is any song for those broken hearted people then it is that one.

 

Enough from me this year. I kept the blog down to an all time low of 12 blog entries which is actually a good thing. I intend to keep it like this in the future, but will probably have a slightly bigger count next year. I will say more about this sometime in January.

"On Earth All Along"

 (GPS: N34° 00.075 W118° 48.490)

Happy Halloween!

For the full effect of what I was trying to do in this video I suggest you watch it first before scrolling down:

The following three paragraphs are “spoiler space”. To get to the main event of this blog (and the video), skip the next three paragraphs…

There are a few things I was trying to do in this video before I got to the main part of it. If you have been reading this blog for the past few months then the first part of the video is just a quick overview of some things I have said on the blog. That wasn’t really for you blog readers, but just to catch people up on the Youtube channel that don’t read the blog about some of my side-interests.

This video marks the 100th video for that channel. I have certainly done a lot more videos than that if I were to count everything I have uploaded since 2006. My previous channel was really close to that amount before I shut it down. However, this is the first channel I have had on Youtube that hit the 100 video mark. I have taken some videos down in the past, some videos are private, and some videos I could take down in the future, but I am letting this one represent the 100th public video. It was somewhat of a goal early on to hit the triple digits with videos, but not as important for me anymore. These days I just want to focus on quality, but you will have to forgive me if I throw-up some screwball videos once in a while. ;)

This is the first time that channel’s viewers are able to see a video from the newest camcorder. Depending on your computer hardware and connection you might be able to max out the settings on Youtube and see what it is like. Although for most people I would just recommend keeping the smaller screen. Do whatever works for you. I still will be uploading older videos from my old camcorder, but in the future you will see more from the new one.

Alright, enough spoiler space, hopefully you watched the video above so let’s get to the Twilight Zone moment here. The ending location of the original Planet of the Apes movie is rather well known. There are lots of things in print and online about it. One thing that has always bothered me about this spot is if you go to Point Dume (actually, Pirates Cove in Malibu) it doesn’t really look like the same spot as where the movie took place. While there is no doubt that the ending took place here, I haven’t found anything that is a little more specific as to what was going on here. So, if all goes well I hope that you will be able to see exactly what they did here, and I hope this is my little contribution to this well known location. Let’s backtrack a few minutes earlier in the movie:

As Charlton Heston and Nova (Linda Harrison) ride off on the beach, you see Cornelius (Roddy McDowell), Zira (Kim Hunter), the other chimpanzee, and Dr. Zaius debating about why Zaius wants to destroy the mine in the background with human artifacts in it. Now this shot was very clearly done at Pirates Cove. Just look to the right side of the cliff and you see that silver/white tainted rock. While there are other features to match up, that one is the easiest. You should be able to match this up with the one below:

Now if you look at the movie picture of the Statue of Liberty and compare it to my picture above things do not match up as easily. When I first saw pictures of Pirates Cove many years ago I was really bothered by this. Was this really the location? I did not doubt the people that said this was the spot, but I wanted to find a way to verify it independently.

Let’s go with the easy identification first, which I think is kind of amazing. If you look out into the ocean side to the right and look at those rocks they are all the same! My angle is off because that single rock is not lined up with the two close together in the background. So, it is matter of moving more to the left (and probably forward too) to get them to line up in my picture. You can see this in the video too if you look for it.

Of course, this is not the Alabama Hills, and I took into consideration that the salt water ocean and erosion could easily change the look of the cliffside rock formation over the years, especially something filmed over 40 years ago. While things have changed, it is just a matter of looking a little closer at the cliff side.

The first well known clue is that the Statue of Liberty was painted into the movie by an artist. I will link to a video below that discusses this. That helps, but didn’t really solve the problem for me. One might think that the Statue of Liberty was just to the right of where that cliff base touches the water. In fact, most of what I have seen in online tributes to the movie’s location do just this, but that is not right.

In the original movie picture, I circled some of the key features. Interesting enough, the three boulder rocks you see on the left side appear to be covering something up. I think those were added in so you would not be able to tell that this was a place seen just a few minutes earlier. If they weren’t there it would make it a little easier to see this.

I zoomed in on my picture and circled the same spots in it. The angle is slightly different in my picture, as I pointed out earlier I would have to move a little more to the left, but this is it. This one is more difficult in comparing so if you have an interest in this I would encourage you to click the pictures and save them so you can zoom in on the original size to compare. Use something like Photoshop so you can open up the photos in order to zoom and compare at the same time. Hopefully, you can see some of the small crevices and notches in the rocks.

So, the Statue of Liberty was actually inserted in between those circles into the cliffside itself. Hopefully, this animated GIF will work to show you the idea:

Here is the video on Youtube called “Behind the Planet of the Apes: ‘Creating the Statue of Liberty Ending’"  that talks about how they did it. One thing that I should add is it appears they also shot part of it on the beach right before you enter Pirates Cove. At 1:23 in the video they show what they were building as a set for the shot looking down on Charleton Heston from behind the Statue of Liberty. So, that part doesn’t appear to have been shot inside Pirates Cove. That would be the Westward Beach (which borders Zuma Beach) side you have to cross to get to Pirates Cove.

Sometime in the future I intend to show another well known Planet of the Apes location.

Why I Hate Yosemite and What is Killing the Internet

Actually, I don’t really hate Yosemite, nor do I believe that the internet is going to be dying. I’ve been reflecting over the past year on why I have burned out on a lot of things I used to like about being online. I think I have a better understanding now than I did a few years ago. Some of you that I have corresponded with by e-mail already know where this is going.

About a month ago I was at the summer home and my brother wanted to do some hikes in Yosemite. The last time I went inside the park, not just crossing over a mountain side or pass, I was not very happy about how that turned out which I blogged about at the time. Some years have passed since then, but the memories remain, and I did not like how we were treated there. Some of the hikes we did will come out at some point on here, but we did take a day to go into the valley. You get seven days when you acquire a pass at one of the gates so we wanted to take advantage of that on one of those days.

When we first got into the valley it was rather dry, warm, and mostly brown looking. The main waterfalls were practically all, if not completely, dry. We ended up taking a bus tour to Glacier Point. Looking back it might have been a better idea to drive ourselves, but I wanted to give my brother a break and not drive another hour.

Well, right away after we ordered our tickets there was some confusion as to what bus we were supposed to be on. We knew where to go, but the ticket agency and the bus drivers were not in sync on this. They kept telling us different things. As I went into this crowded bus we were forced to sit separately, I started to develop a bad mood, and realized this was probably not a good idea. The bus driver started talking to all of us on the bus, but I quickly realized this crowd was not lively at all. I kind of felt bad for the bus driver because it felt like no one wanted to be in that bus. In any case, off we went.

He told us some history, the origins of Yosemite, and other stories. I followed what he was saying, but I could understand if someone was bored with what was said. I got to see a little, but not as much as I would have liked from that seat in the back. Blah, blah, blah, etc. We finally got to Glacier Point.

We got there early that morning so the sun was not completely overhead. There had been some smoke due to lightning strikes so there was some haze in the air. In fact, there was smoke from a strike near the Mist Trail just outside the lower right side of my picture when we were there. Had we been there a few hours later my pictures would look different. I wasn’t trying to duplicate Ansel Adams here with the black and white look. Although I knew based on his pictures in Yosemite, what I had would look a lot better this way than with color. So, this is why I did a few tweaks in photoshop.

Now I have to admit the internet does not need more pictures like the ones I am posting on here. It is a great view, and I will give you that, but pictures like this have become what I call “token” shots. It is such a tourist spot that millions of people have come by here to take pictures of this. The uniqueness is not there that I like to strive for on this blog.

I can’t tell you how many times in the past year or two I have been standing next to a stranger as they say how they are going to post this on facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. People are flooding the internet with a lot of the same stuff over and over. It started to hit me more and more in the past two years that the online-world has become a little too cookie-cutter for me. The creativity is not out there like it used to be. I’ve just gotten to the point where nothing really surprises me anymore. Everything is a little too predictable with people stating the obvious 50,000 times. Like any genre, be it the movie western or types of music, the more it oversaturates the market it eventually gets to the point where people have to move on to something else.

It was always bothering me why sites like Youtube kept changing (and still do) their features every six months to a year against the wishes of the users. I think part of the problem is the concern the public is going to get bored and look for the next fad. 

All of this is reminder of why I have enjoyed hiking in the quiet areas of the back country. When I was in Yosemite Valley I felt like I was walking through Wal-Mart. Too many people! I feel bad for the people that come from other countries and think this is where they have to go. I don’t think they are getting a true Sierra wilderness experience.

So, when we came out of Yosemite Valley (and Glacier Point) I did not have that feeling of satisfaction I do hiking out somewhere in the Eastern Sierra. On that tour bus you can go up to Glacier Point and walk down back to the valley. We thought about it, but just decided to come back on the bus so we could spend more time in the valley before we left. There was a young lady with friends who said that was boring and that she was going to “hike” back down to the valley. She did not say that to us directly, but if she did I would have ripped her a new one for that. Down-hiking a few thousand feet back to the valley is not what I would call a hike. The real hike would have been coming up from below. Then again, most of the hikes inside of Yosemite I do not really think are that impressive, but I did get one in that I liked. Of course, I love the stuff that just borders Yosemite on the east side which is totally different than what I am referring to.

So, those are my main thoughts on the current state of things. Take it for whatever it is worth.

Let me give an update on a few things:
1)I really meant to have a few more videos up this summer. I started editing before the summer began, but never uploaded any. They are done, and are ready to go. Most are just old footage from the old camcorder; mostly remakes of things I have done before. Be sure to check the Youtube channel in the next few weeks for this since I will not update them on this blog. I will announce them on Twitter though.

2)Vimeo shot themselves in the foot with me. My paid subscription ends tomorrow. I don’t like how they have changed the video viewing to a full screen. The only way I could use it like I used to would be to embed it on here for each video, and I am not doing that. If they make the necessary changes then I will purchase another year from them, but at this point my money goes elsewhere. So, as much as I hate to say this, you are probably better off going to my Youtube channels right now.

3)I have started going to a few new and old movie and hike locations with the new camcorder. At some point I will start mixing in the new camcorder videos, but at the same time still upload some of the older footage at times.

4)Again, don’t expect me to come up with blogs every week like I have done in the past. Blogs will come, but at a slower pace which will keep me refreshed. At some point I will open up the comments on new blogs again, but I am not in a hurry on that. One thing I am not sure everyone realizes is that I get tons of e-mails. Not just from the blog, but the more I blog the more I get. Sometimes I think people see something I did 1-2 years ago on here and e-mail me as if I just put it up last week. It gets worse the older in the archives people go. Other times I feel like I created a second job for myself that I do for free.

That should cover it. I feel much, much better than I did a couple of months ago. Whatever I had took about five to six months of my life from me. This summer was just about getting back into reasonable shape. So, I was not as hardcore in what I did, but it was fun.

When you have time be sure to check these out:

Blue Whale Breaching Competition

The Day of the Fin Whale

The Devil's Doorway (The Iverson Ranch Series)

(GPS: N34 16.525 W118 36.600)

Like I lot of places I have covered on this blog in the past, this is another one that I had hoped to have up a long time ago, but never did. My trips to Iverson Ranch go much further back than this blog, but back in those days I was not as "hardcore" about hunting these places down as I have become over the years. This is one of those spots that I was always trying to get good pictures and footage of, but never did.

How come? The lighting I had was never really that good during the time of the year I would go. I would get there early so there would be too much shade or the sun would not be overhead. One time I shot okay video there, but then a month or two later I got a new camcorder so I would just tell myself I would go back for better footage. Then the next time I would go and the wind would be really bad with garbage cans falling over on the streets. I was tempted to post that footage just to show the crazyness of it. Even with this "latest footage" from a year or two back I just sat on it thinking I might go back to Iverson again. Well, enough is enough, lets just do it now.

So, walking down one of the side streets with all the condos around one can see this big rock ahead. It has been seen in old b-movies, but you have to look for it. I've got a story about the condo on the left, but I'll get to that in a moment. The key here is to walk to the end of the street you see and turn right.This is known as the Devil's Doorway. It is an arch hat still exists today, and both sides have been used in lots of old b-westerns and serials. This next photo is from Buster Keaton's Three Ages silent movie. Here Buster Keaton's character runs over the top of the big rock avoiding the other caveman.Here is how it looks these days. If you look carefully through the archway you will notice a condo on the other side. In the Days of Jesse James, Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, and others went through the arch to avoid being chased.Gene Autry used it to slip away in Oh! Susanna.Looking directly through it. Lots of other examples could be listed of movies and serials that used it. I show a few others in the video.

Before I post the video links I thought I would tell the story about what happened as I was doing the video of this area the last time I was there. I made the trip, and the first thing I did was walk right to this spot. With no hesitation I started making the video. I knew what needed to be done and what needed to be said as I am usually well prepared when making videos of places I have been to before. Within about 30 seconds of me doing the first take a dog started barking, and the garage door about 15 feet behind me went up! The guy who lived there pulled out with his car, and offered to sell me the rocks if I could find a way to transport them. We both agreed that might be a little tough. He was a friendly guy, but it kind of spooked me. That's one of those things that I have always explained about why I don't enjoy going to Iverson Ranch as much as other places: everything is a little cramped and you quite literally have your back against people's property. I added some of that footage with the dog barking and the garage door going up at the end of the video for fun. You wouldn't know it from watching it as I completely shut up at that time, but that is what happened.

The Devil's Doorway (Youtube Version)