Slowtrain back to the Sierras: I'm beginning to see the light!

This winter has been a winter filled with work. I've been making progress towards my goal of earning a master's degree in writing/English, and it's been almost as hard as the reports I'd heard about "the rigors of graduate school" stated before I started. Although there have been hard times, and definitely a few times when I stopped to wonder why I was working so hard for so little in the first place. I've stayed pretty much on course through it so far. But, at every step, I've needed and tried my best to continue the parts of my life that have meant the most to me until now, including relationships with friends, with the outdoors, and a pro-active lifestyle within my community in general.
Alas, there hasn't been much time for art, but I need art, and I've been dancing and writing creatively and living creatively all I can, and that's what I call my art. I want to participate in my community--but, unfortunately, my work load doesn't allow for much public service in the schedule. So I've been getting to know my friends better, finding better ways to be a good friend myself, and just spending time outdoors joining in with activities that develop relationships to the land around us. I've also been gearing up for triathlon season, even while my work/homework time is crunching in on the sleep hours so far.
I've had my golden moments, though, and they've kept me going. I've met many beautiful people, and knowing them has kept me going too. Over this past spring break from Oregon State University at the end of March, we flocked south to bathe in the desert sun and worship granite oracles for a week to remind us of what treasures the summer always holds.

In January, when it was very cold, a group of us went up to the Santiam Pass for Todd's birthday and played around in the snow. We were able to get in some skiing. I held on to this one when I was giving speeches and grading tests into March!

whoosh! Dana and I on the slopes


...and then it was March. Time to go south to the central-southern California Sierra Nevada mountains! I caught a ride with a local gal named Heather in her snazzy-fuel-efficient car. When we drove down hwy 395 in California past Mono lake, it was my first there since the great Sierra bike trip of 2006. It was great to see the place again and think of memories of Yosemite. I decided I'd really like to go back again this summer if I can, and it looks like there'll be friends going down. I cemented my decision later in the trip, when I got a taste of some classic California crack climbs in the Owens River Gorge.

Kicking Bristle cones was a popular pastime on the way south.

Aaaah. First sight of the Sierra.

Venturing into the Owens River Gorge-Canyon

I ran through the gorge on the most beautiful of days, 75 degrees and sunny, and I also ran up a few sport climbs that others set up. I scoped out a couple of cracks, but most were bolted up. I still felt great when I got to the top of this lovely face 10b in the shade in the North Gorge.

On the long, sunshine-filled walk home, two climbers from across the gorge who'd seen us on the other side stopped and offered us a halfway-walk-up brew. We talked about the climbs, camping in "the pit" (climber's camp in Bishop) and waved g'day. It was nice to meet other visitors with such nice manners.

For a couple of nights Heather, her brother and I camped out above the Owens Gorge away from the pit with a few of their friends. They had a rad disk golf course set up on the side of the ridge and we played until sundown before campfire time.

There was some kind of mining going on in the 19th century in the Owens River Gorge, so there are remnants like piping, bridges over the small river, and these doors in the side of the cliff. Little is known about what was mined there, according to the local climbers' guidebook, it was "something unknown." Anyhow, this wreckage is also one of the key reasons the gorge has been a chosen sport climbing development spot--since there is already so much human impact in the area, a few bolts don't matter as much as the connection of climbers with the land, the reasoning goes... It seems that I agree. I had a great time in the gorge.

Hello! Good morning! So much camping and no mirror in sight. What's a girl to do? Sometimes I'd take a picture in my tent in the morning just to survey the "another-day-without-a-shower" damage. Nice earrings though.

One of the parts I love about trips like this is the freedom to not know what's coming next, and the feeling of ease in sliding from one mode to the next, next day, next group project, next moment. After a couple of days climbing in the gorge with Heather and co., I caught a ride back down to the pit. I'd been in contact with some more friends down in Bishop from Corvallis, most of whom where bouldering. Cris and Javier, my friends who are studying at OSU from Ecuador, had been at Owens for a couple of days too, along with a student friend from U of O in Eugene, and they had an extra spot in their car. We had a great time bouldering, checking out the area, and visiting the hot springs together for the rest of the week.

Cristina bouldering at "the Happys" near Bishop, CA

Me: a "happys" attempt

Ariel from Corvallis met up with us to climb too!

Next up: Remote free hot springs location! Snow driving necessary! Oops! A friend in a van ahead of us couldn't hack it! We spent a couple of hours digging him out.

Cris enjoying the beauty of the day. Where could be better to get stuck for a little while and have some friends make a project of digging you out? Even if we were stuck, we were still on vacation in one of the most beautiful places ever. We had an astonishingly good time. Then, we spent all evening at the hotsprings and then went out to eat for a special treat. Mmmm.

The next day, the crew was ready to venture out again. We went to the famous local bouldering destination "the Buttermilks" this time, saw some amazing rock formations and met up with another crew of OSU friends who'd been on backpacking duty in Death Valley for the previous week.

Frasier from Eugene on a wicked hard boulder problem

You can see Cristina on top of that rock!

There she is!

In general, I tackled the smaller stuff...but I won!

And Betsy and Josh definitely conquered all with their splendid guitar-mandolin-vocals combination.

Splendid beauty beyond words...
then it was time for the 12-hour drive back to the damp and school/work-filled Northwest again. So Cris and I piled in with Matt and Rob, and settled in for the long haul. It was a good ride. And, even though I'm back in Oregon again now, and it's definitely raining and I can feel the difference deeply between this place and the granite cliffs of the Sierra, I've soaked up my fill of sunshine to keep me going for a little while, I know that summer's coming, and I now have the renewed imprint of the feeling of what summertime is and what it has the potential to be. I will bound over mountainsides, when the time comes. There is time for this and there will be a time for that too, I have to believe. Until that time, I'm working towards my school goals. Even though sometimes the work and studying seem to swallow my life up whole, I know that the way to the other side of school isn't around it, but through it. So I'll go on through. But I'll also keep remembering the sunshine of the desert and the freedom of the hills, who I am within a Doug Fir grove, and what life looks like on the open road. That much, I'll do for now, and I know that soon I will be where I belong once again.