I am struck by the coincidence of Ken's post on the WPSMB, in skunkpack's Sierra High Trail topic. Ken links to the Sierra Crest Route book, in which there is a John Muir quote:
"...Accidents in the mountains are less common than in the lowlands, and these mountain mansions are decent, delightful, even divine, places to die in, compared with the doleful chambers of civilization. Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain-passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action. Even the sick should try these so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate they kill, they cure a thousand."
My good friend and drinking buddy "booger" encountered that scout group earlier in the day, and pointed them toward Sandy Meadow as a great place to camp. He is haunted by those two deaths. A couple of the scouts went back three years later, in a memorial gesture, and he accompanied them. Poignant.
I was talking with RJ Secor a few years ago, and he showed me a small spot on the palm of his hand. He said he had been struck by lightning the previous weekend. He was in a chute somewhere, maybe Baldy. The strike bowled him head over heels a couple of times.
All this has gotten my relays clacking again. I believe I'll wander up there tomorrow. NOAA predicts a 30% chance of thunderstorms starting midday, and my timing will put me on the summit about then. Of course, I'll be alert to the conditions, and turn back or hunker down for a while if it seems prudent.
