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| Cathedral Peak and Tenaya Lake from Hawkshead Point © Bob Hare 2012 |
Poem-Journal: September 19, 2010, Yosemite National Park, California, 9,200' Elevation
Hawkshead Point
Last night’s
freeze was hard and the last High Sierra Camp
closes
today
Grey clouds
are scudding in from the west
So I’m
heading down to my valley winter home
But I can do
one last climb if I drive home in the dark
Pulling past
Olmsted Point
I sidle off
Tioga Road and get my gear ready
I look up at a
granite point like a hawk’s head
that
I named last year
When you name
something
you pull it
out from the background
and look at
it as something significant for the first time
I want to see
Cathedral Peak with the Hawk’s eyes
No name, no
trail
The way I
like it
Skirting two
ponds and stepping over logs
I climb up a
draw--bedrock shelf by bedrock shelf
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| Western White Pine on route to Hawkshead Point © Bob Hare 2012 |
I flank
around west to mount the Hawk’s tail
And climb up
on his broad granite back
Clearing the
treetops
Cathedral
Peak rises majestically into view
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| Cathedral Peak and Tenaya Lake from Hawkshead Erratic Field © Bob Hare 2012 |
But the temperature
is plummeting
And the wind
is becoming fierce
As I top out
I put on my watchcap and all my layers
But I’m still
cold
I frame my
shots shivering and study the clouds in all directions
Clouds are
blowing in from the west and dissipating in the east
Just beyond
Cathedral Peak they dry out
Tioga Pass
and Conness are in blue sky and sun
The Central
Valley is bathed in late Summer sunshine
So I expect
the clouds to pass over me and bring me sun
But when I
really look I realize the clouds are forming just west of me.
Sun all
around but not over me
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| Hunkering Down Erratic on Hawkshead Point © Bob Hare 2012 |
I eat my
sandwich and hunker down behind a large precariously perched erratic.
Still three cold
hours to alpenglow
When I awake
the clouds are gone
and Tenaya
Lake is in shadow.
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| Cathedral and Tenaya Peaks in Alpenglow from Hawkshead Point © Bob Hare 2012 |
The shadows climb the peaks all around until only Conness
The
Cathedral
Tenaya
And Clark
are left in pink light
Then Tenaya
and Cathedral wink out
And then the
alpenglow moves up into the heavens
To strike
errant clouds and the aluminum bodies of jets
The shadow of
the Earth rises to the east heralding the first bright planets and stars
Suddenly I
feel very alone and vulnerable
An ancient
human memory stirs deep in my brain
The wyrd feeling of a dying sun in a
freezing wilderness moves me to quickly pack up
and get down
off the Hawk while there’s still twilight
I knew in my
head I really didn’t need to rush. I had a flashlight.
But my body
wanted warmth, shelter, and company. This must be what moves animals to prepare so
furiously for winter.
A stumble in
my hurry warned me to…Slow down
Now carefully
but still quickly back down the Hawk’s back
Past the
erratics
Turning east
down his tail
Ducking south
back under the treetops
Growing
darkness in the ravine
Picking my
way carefully down the rock shelves
Crossing the
creek through the brush
Over the logs
past the ponds
Car sounds
and headlights
My headlamp
unused
One hour up
to Hawkshead, twenty minutes down
Find my keys,
start the car, head home to family and friends for the winter
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| Hawkshead Point from Upper Olmsted Point Ridge © Bob Hare 2012 |
May all Beings be well, happy, and free! Yours in Peace, Bob
Note: Unless attributed to other sources all text, poems, photographs and artwork in this blog and other blogs entitled "Wilderness Adventures with Bob Hare" are copyrighted © 2012 by Bob Hare. The phrase "Wilderness Adventures with Bob Hare" is a trademark ™ of Bob Hare.
