September 18 - Where the Pavement Ends

It's been several years of on-and-off dayhiking east, across the Central Valley and into the Sierras on trails and roads, and, after quite a long time on the Mosquito Ridge Road, the pavement ended today at about 7:30pm. From here, there will probably be several more gravel road hikes, then the trail to Crest, after which will reach same by the Lake Tahoe side -- additionally two long stretches need to be filled in between Drivers Flat and Foresthill.



Before that, it was beginning the orchestration of The Gospel According to St.Matthew: XII. The Would-Be Followers; paper grading al fresco at Bootlegger's Old Town Tavern over calimari, Dead Guy Ale, and



Auburn's prospects;


Foresthill Road



over the Bridge; and beyond to



French Meadows Reservoir.



There's enough light to walk from near the first campground,



past rocky prominences, by the



crossing of the



upper Middle Fork of



American River before the



straight way is lost in



darkness.



Returning below Chipmunk Ridge to complete the instrumentalizing of Would-Be Followers.

August 28 - Dance of the Straussian Sierras

Off to the Sierra on a surprisingly cloud-filled, humid day,



via Davis for a quick study of "Salomes Tanz" (a.k.a. "Dance of the Seven Veils") from Richard Strauss's Salome, then



lunch at Tio Pepe's in Auburn, beginning to grade the 70 Quiz 1's of the Music History Class (including identification-description of the RS Also Sprach Zarathustra, plus dances from Algeria and the Yuroks ["Women's Brush"]).



By now, fairly late in the day, but time enough to reach French Meadows Reservoir's



echoic Canyons ringing with chant, at the



overlook,



for a walk from the dam's



southeastern flank along



Mosquito Ridge Road to the Chipmunk Ridge Jeep Road



and beyond to an even fainter intersection, where the setting sun crashes into



rocks and



moonlight, beginning the orchestration of John and Salome: V. Salome's Dance upon return.

August 8 - Golden Times

Out to Coloma -- first stop the



John...sorry!...James Marshall Monument, with the accidental prospector pointing downslope to



the gold discovery site (north -- to the left -- of the store at bottom center),



then down the trail



to the Visitor's



Center,



over to the Mill replica



on the edge of the South Fork American River



and downstream, discovering the actual find locale.



Beyond, we steer north towards



Pilot Hill and Cool



then into Auburn Ravine, near the Confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American, below the tallest-in-California/third-tallest-in-the-U.S. Foresthill Bridge.


Late lunch in



Auburn



directioning



returnwise



valleywise, where Harriet (after the first Solidarity rehearsal) joins us for more merriment, before retiring to a couple more pages of orchestration re Job: VII. Empty Words.

January 19 - The Nevada Party

Much of the Donner party met their evolution by a namesake lake in the eastern Sierra. Would they have had our technology and weather, as we sail along a reverse course through the Sacramento Valley,


up to Auburn,



past the hydraulic-scarred hills of Gold Run (the last vestiges of mild-climate California),



into the open splendors of Emigrant and



Yuba Gaps,


beyond Cisco Grove sledding,



and Rainbow Lodge dining (in the winter?),


to Donner Summit (as opposed to Pass), where the snows of this winter are ominously gentle,



reflecting Russianly off trees and



barriers,



near the crossing of the Pacific Crest Trail.



From here at Castle Peak,



it's a plummet down the Donner Canyon Grade looking back towards the Trail's rocky precipices



and ahead to the line of snowsheds of the old Central Pacific,



to where Truckee Meadows spead out



near the Boca turnoff (seemingly innocent now, but often the coldest area of the contiguous U.S. in the overnight of summer months).



Down Truckee Canyon --



past Farad's spindly pines



craggy turrets,



and rickety aquaducts --



the naked desert opens up at Verdi (hardly composer Joe Green!),



near the rocky suburbs and



arrogant puny high rises of Reno,



to where we meet Megan and Mike,



for Megan's birthday celebration,



as the skies glow.



Somehow there's time to watch a program on multiverses (Megan's fascinating selection -- how close, with multiple stanzas in certain vocal compositions....) and to finish up the second movement of



Sex and the Orchestra upon return....