February 2025

 

In the summer of 1970, a friend and I were planning a weekend trip to the Yosemite area to do some hiking and camping. The friend cancelled at the last minute, but I still wanted to go. I took off after work on a Friday afternoon and around midnight found a place along the highway to lay my sleeping bag. Somewhere along the way I decided to climb Mt. Conness, a 12,590 ft. peak on the Sierra Crest north of Tioga Pass, so in the morning I continued on to Saddlebag Lake and started hiking. I had no idea about the best way to approach the climb so I went up past some small lakes and onto the good sized glacier. The steep snow was kind of scary without an ice axe, but when I got across it, I encountered the bergschrund, the crevice that is commonly found at the head of a mountain glacier. It appeared to be a formidable obstacle, but I found a snow bridge that I was able to carefully cross. About then I took the photo that I used for this painting. Once across, I was able to scramble up the cliff and make it to the summit. It was a very exciting and memorable climb, and today I felt like painting something to remember it by.

Maureen has an app on her phone that tells her when whales have been spotted along the coast. One day last August, she was alerted to whale sightings in Pacifica, so we drove over there to see. We walked out on the pier where we had seen whales once before, but only saw a couple of distant spouts. But it's an interesting place because of all the people out there fishing. They are a very diverse crowd all having a good time. I took a couple of photos with my phone and one became this painting.

Here's another one from our rides/hikes on the trail to the water tower. I guess that's because we do it so often and it's a pretty trail. Most of my views are of the rear end of the horses and riders because I walk slowly and I'm usually following behind. This was a scene where I just noticed the beautiful lighting and quickly snapped a photo. I tried to emphasize that in the painting.

In July, 1999, my friend Gerald and I did a 5-day backpacking trip out of Twin Lakes, near Bridgeport. Much of our route was off-trail and some of it was more climbing than hiking. Matterhorn Pass, the col between Matterhorn Peak and Whorl Mountain, was one of the hardest parts. This was the third time I had been over it, and it was still a bit scary. This painting is from a photo that I shot of Gerald scrambling down the east side.