And in Reflection . . .

The ending of the trip came a bit too suddenly for me, as I had woken up that morning in the intense alpine solitude of Guitar Lake. My first thought was that it was entirely unnatural to be ending the trip, and that my first desire was to go down into Bishop, reprovision, get some Tevas and hit the trail again. This was truly a milestone, in that the allure of clean clothes, cold beer, a warm bed and Mexican food did not have their usual effect on me. I could have easily turned around and walked back to Yosemite.

This had been a special time. We lived for three weeks in constant, stunning natural beauty. We met wonderful people, and enjoyed the company of hundreds of like-minded souls we met on the trail. There were no bears, and though I'm happy to have avoided the encounters, I wish we had a few good bear stories to tell: "I wrenched my Clif Bar out of the savage's teeth and swallowed it whole - ha-ha-ha-haaaa!"

One of my favorite moments of the whole experience was when, at about 9:00 the night we came out, we walked into the long-awaited Mexican restaurant in Bishop. I was wearing more or less the same thing I'd worn the whole trip (a dirty shirt, dirty boots and dirty shorts), but suddenly, under the bright lights of the restaurant, in full view of several dozen couples out on their Friday night date, I felt like complete scum. And I loved it.

Eternal thanks to the Egg Lady, Canteen Man, Ranger Rick, Rich and Matt for the hash browns and hacky sack, Mother Nature for the good show, Kate for the great chow, Limmer Boots (200 miles and no blisters), the couple with the llamas, Russ and Kate at the MTR, fate - for making all the transportation go just perfectly on the way out, EWA for meeting me in Reno, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District for its good name, Dr. Pete for the free medical advice and last but not least, Bart - for your wonderful companionship and for putting up with the feet and the knees, and Ginie, Conor, Galen and Barlo for understanding how badly Daddy needed this trip.

The last three weeks were dedicated to John Muir. You rock.