| Happy 40th birthday to the Wilderness Act! Forty years ago, on September 3, 1964, the Wilderness Act was signed into law. Since then, more than 105 million acres of America's spectacular natural heritage have been protected as Wilderness by Congress for future generations. Which Wilderness Areas have you visited? Which one is closest to you? Which is your favorite? It's hard for me to choose a favorite, but one Wilderness area which definitely speaks to me is the John Muir Wilderness in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests of California. It is the largest Wilderness Area in California and it runs along about 100 miles of the Pacific Crest on its eastern side. Elevations range from 4,000' to 14,494' at Mt. Whitney. My parents bought a house up on the South Fork of Bishop Creek shortly before I was born and here we lived, just a mile or two away from the border of the John Muir Wilderness. My family spent a lot of time camping and hiking in the mountains and kayaking in the lakes. My mother said when I got a little older I used to spend a lot of time drawing the mountains that surrounded us. I have a few of these drawings saved in a scrapbook. I believe those mountains shaped me as a person more than I'll ever know. The Wilderness Areas in the Sierra from Yosemite south to the South Sierra Wilderness comprise the 2nd largest block of wilderness in the Lower 48. There are then no roads that cross the Sierra from Tioga Pass in the north to Sherman Pass in the south. These passes are open in the summertime, but in the winter you have to go all the way north to Tahoe or south to Lake Isabella to cross. I love that sitting in California is this huge block of mountains that you cannot drive through. To see it, you must hike or go by horseback. Now I live about 15 miles southwest of the Golden Trout Wilderness at the southern end of this block and I have just started exploring it. The nice thing about the Golden Trout is it isn't nearly as well-known and popular as the John Muir. It is nearly as big, however, and exhibits nearly the same elevational gradient (4,800' to 12,432'). And of course its rivers and streams contain Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita, the "fish from heaven", the California Golden Trout. Other Wilderness Areas I've hiked in (not including National Park Wilderness areas): Jennie Lakes, CA Ansel Adams, CA John Muir, CA (and here, and here) Desolation, CA Granite Chief, CA Golden Trout, CA (and here, and here) Dome Land, CA Kiavah, CA San Gorgonio, CA Salmon-Huckleberry, OR Steens Mountain, OR Platte River, WY Savage Run, WY Teton, WY Lost Creek, CO West Elk, CO Mt. Zirkel, CO Rawah, CO Comanche Peak, CO Mt. Evans, CO Never Summer, CO Dark Canyon, UT Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs, UT Pemigawasset, NH Big Branch, VT |
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| Golden Trout Wilderness Sunset |