San Bernardino

On Sunday, my parents took me on a hike into the San Bernardino mountains. I pushed for an earlier start time to come back home by early afternoon.

Dad misinterpreted my desire to start early as a desire to hike longer. We left the house at 7 am, started hiking at 9 am, and headed back home at 6 pm.

I had a good laugh seeing all my parents gear, thinking it was all show and minimal substance - adjustable hiking poles, bandanas, hiking boots, and three korean sushi rolls each. My dad gave me a cream colored dress shirt to wear because it sorta looked like outdoor wear and a pair of sneakers. I picked up some branches along the way to use as poles. They've been hiking trails on weekends for the past two years and they know what they're doing.

Along the way, we met a 70+ forest ranger. In 1973, she hiked from Canada to Mexico along what's called the Pacific Crest Trail. It took her 169 days and 16 food boxes. She went by herself. She saw a mountain lion and 4 rattlesnakes along the way. One time she was standing right above a rattlesnake, but it was so cold that the snake couldn't coil to strike her. She was all smiles as she was telling us this. I should have taken her picture. It was a crazy smile.

In junior high, I went on a week-long outdoor camp. That's where I discovered that lodgepole pines smell like butterscotch. I passed this info to my mom and she started smelling the trees back down the trail.

Her efforts payed off because she found one tree (below) that was the motherlode of butterscotch to the olfactory senses. I like this picture because this tree was about 25 feet from the trail.
I also like this anecdote about lodgpole pines:

Michael, at first, thought he smelled pee. Brandon suggested he might try sniffing the tree a little further up the trunk.