Castle Peak, on the summit, separates the South Yuba River and the Truckee River
Footprints, recently
found in Kenya, are estimated to be over 1.5 million years old. They show that hominins had evolved an
essentially modern foot function and bipedal locomotion. Walking is the oldest natural form of movement, it puts you
in touch with the earth and the weather surrounding you. The earliest inhabitants of the north-central
Sierra were prodigious walkers and their artifacts are found on both sides of
the summit.
Aside from its
practicality there is a transcendental dimension to hiking that allows the mind
to unwind. Writer, Brenda
Ueland said, “It is
only on walks that are a little too long, that one has any new ideas.” Buddhist monk Thich Nhat
Hanh is a well-known proponent of walking meditation. Others have written
beautifully on this moving mind-body-earth activity – I recommend Thoreau’s
essay, On Walking and Rebecca
Solnit’s masterful Wanderlust.
July 4th celebration at Sierra City on the North Yuba, n.d.
(photographer unknown)
If you’re
going hiking, the topography from the Sacramento Valley floor to the summit is
varied and something to consider. There are ridges and drainages, some
streams are perennial while others are ephemeral. Other land forms include grasslands, ridges, flats, wetlands, rock outcrops,
riparian corridors, dense forests, brush fields, meadows, low rolling hills, steep
slopes, springs and summits. On the
Yuba River the real
hills begin at Timbuctoo Bend, near Smartsville.
As you travel east there’s a rise in elevation and a drop in average temperature
of 3.5°F for each 1,000-foot gain. Most of the broad ridges, all with ancient
trails, have an east-west orientation. It’s
difficult to walk north-south for any real distance because of steep canyons, rivers
and major creeks. Obviously there is
greater volume of water in the winter and in spring, when the snow melts. Many places have been historically forded
including Ford’s Crossing in Indian Valley on the North Yuba, Emory’s Crossing
on the Middle Yuba and Hoyt’s Crossing on the South Yuba. A canyon slope with a northern aspect is
shadier and cooler and this is evident in the plant species thriving there,
conversely southern aspects are warmer and dryer with vegetation adapted to
those conditions.
The ravages of gold mining have drastically changed the bank morphology,
elevation and water quality of steams below 7,000’. This is a remarkable man-made geological event, “achieved” in only 170
years.
19th Century "Hiking Costumes", n.d.
(photographer unknown)
Hiking is walking
with intent and the intent is usually recreational, as in re-creation or
restoration. Walking is but one word for this process where we lean forward and
will our feet, one in front of the other, to move so we don’t fall forward. There are many shades of meaning for this form
of locomotion as evidenced by words in English alone. Just imagine how many subtle distinctions for
walking were, and are, used by hunting and gathering peoples.
Just for the fun
of it I’ve compiled a batch of walking words and they seem to fit into a few loose
categories. If you’re in a relaxed,
non-achieving mood words like saunter,
mosey, meander, promenade, stroll and wander come to mind. For a more active, yet pleasurable, walk
there are words like stride, tramp, ramble, amble, traipse, trek and
schlepp. The term “Trucking” was
reinvigorated by R. Crumb’s Mr. Natural and further popularized by the Grateful
Dead. “Roam” was the title of a hit single by the
B52s in 1990 where they used the lyric, “Take it hip to hip rock it through the
wilderness”, which reminds us that dancing
and hiking are related. For the more difficult walks we use words like plod, journey, trudge and slog. Then there is “power walking?” Wait a minute, isn’t it all power
walking? To quote John Muir again, “In
every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
South Yuba Trail below Washington
I’m quite
aware that there are people who can’t hike and that all of us will eventually
lose our able-bodied status to age, accident or affliction. That doesn’t mean
that we shouldn’t get outside to enjoy the gifts of nature while advocating
(all of us) for more disability access to public land. Just using all-access
trails gives these trails a constituency that has to be considered by land
managing agencies.
Somewhere
I recently came across a list of reasons to hike that included fitness,
spiritual practice, sensory pleasure, etc. To that list, not that it’s needed, I’d like
to add camaraderie and grieving. Some of our best days on the trail are spent
on adventures with friends, whether we’re jabbering or silent together. As for grieving, when my wife Susan died I was
shattered – I couldn’t focus, lost direction and was consumed by loss. By
frequent hiking, solo and with friends, I eventually let every suppressed mood
and thought bubble to the surface where they assumed proper perspective and I
was redeemed by the magnificence of my surroundings. I still honor her memory, but I’m realigned
and moving forward.
Fordyce Creek, formerly known as the North Branch of the South Yuba
For a lot of
people there is a need for “epic” experiences. Let’s all climb Mt. Whitney or walk the
Pacific Crest Trail, or at least bag all the local peaks. While this is understandable it’s not
essential to have a big name objective for the trip to matter. There is plenty to be said for local nooks and
crannies, for one thing it won’t be crowded with perfectly nice people wearing expensive
gear. At these high-value destinations
the explorer/adventurer shades into the conquer/colonizer and experience can
become commodified. The prestige
oriented perspective tends to devalue the ordinary, subtle or nuanced, which we
have much more of. “For some
people, small beautiful events is what life is all about” (Dr. Who:1982).
“Happy Trails” is a western expression of goodwill to someone
departing. It’s from a song written by
Dale Evans, who along with her husband Roy, starred in “singing cowboy movies”
and had a TV show in the 1950s. The
whole opening line reads “Happy trails to you until we meet again”. Like “Vaya con Dios”, it’s a compact blessing
with hopes for a reunion. It’s
definitely a well-used local idiom, I hear it used several times a month.
The mouth of Dry Creek, a tributary of the lower Yuba River.
