[pct-l] Irresponsible March 1st (a week late) Sierra Entry Prediction

[Scott Williams]

I spent many Easter breaks with my dad in those mountains because the
Sierra was still deep in snow in April.  One of my favorite times, however,
had been a week with 8 juvenile delinquents in the San Rafael Wilderness in
back of Santa Ynez way back in the late 70's.  This was early in my career
as a Probation Officer.  We crossed Hurricane Deck in a snow storm and
ended holed up in the old ranger cabin at South Fork, with its nice wood
stove, for several days.  The last of the California Condors was still
flying around before the big roundup, and those kids had the time of their
lives.  There was nobody to rob and they couldn't even burn the place down
because it was February and they were so scared of the woods they wouldn't
leave my side.  It was totally fun, and as a young Group Counselor, I
couldn't believe I was getting paid to go backpacking.

A few years ago at Christmas time, one of those kids, now in his 40's was
standing across the apple bin at Safeway and recognized me.  "Mr. Williams,
it's me, Randy."  Then he leaned over to his grown son and says, "This is
the guy I've always told you about who took me backpacking!"  He was so
excited and happy and looked over at me again,  "Don't you remember me?  I
had the hemorrhoids on that trip."  That brought it all back.  His trail
name had been Hem, and he had been in pain for days, but he still loved it
and it had clearly made its way into his childhood mythos.  He had told the
stories of that trip to his own kid over the years.  He had come from a
terribly abusive and dysfunctional family, but was doing well in his
adulthood, or at least looked like he was.  But that trip was clearly
important to him, and may have been a high point in his life at that time.

I have such fond memories of the mountains in back of Santa Barbara,
especially in the rare snowstorm.

Shroomer





On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 6:07 PM, Lindsey Sommer <lgsommer at gmail.com> wrote:

> Definitely snow in the mountains around the LA area too! San Gabriel's had
> a nice dusting.
>
> On Mar 8, 2013, at 5:59 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <
> diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:
>
> > FYI the mountains of Santa Barbara had snow today. It ain't over. (If
> > you don't know, Santa Barbara mountains are 3000-4000ft and don't
> > often get snow.)
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