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Thursday, September 25, 2014

St. Francis And John Muir



Dale Matson

Click On Photographs To Enlarge
A Statue Of St. Francis Resting At A Wooded Retreat Above Assisi

I will readily admit that I am not an expert on either John Muir or St. Francis. Because of my experiences in the Sierras, I am drawn to the writing of John Muir and because of my vocation; I am interested in St. Francis. Muir was essentially self-taught and did not graduate from college. St. Francis never aspired to the priesthood and remained a deacon until his early death at age 45. After a recent visit to Italy, I was struck by the common ground between these extraordinary men. John Muir could just as easily have written this excerpt from The Canticle Of Brother Sun.

“Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars Formed by you so bright precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind and the airy skies, so cloudy and serene; For every weather, be praised, for it is life-giving.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water So necessary yet so humble, precious and chaste.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire, Who lights up the night, He is beautiful and carefree, robust and fierce.

Be praised, my Lord, for our sister, Mother Earth, who nourishes and watches us while bringing forth abundant fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”

 St. Francis could have written an excerpt from John Muir’s My First Summer In the Sierra.
“Here I could stay tethered forever with just bread and water, nor would I be lonely; loved friends and neighbors, as love for everything increased, would seem all the nearer however the many miles and mountains between us.”

“It would be delightful to be storm bound beneath one of these noble, hospitable, inviting trees, Its broad sheltering arms bent down like a tent, incense rising from the fire made from its dry fallen branches, and a hearty wind chanting overhead.”

Townsley Lake In Yosemite

Both of these men led reform movements aimed at restoring human souls and gaining the ear and respect of men over them. Pope Innocent III supported the mission of St. Francis and Theodore Roosevelt supported John Muir’s efforts.  Both were at home in the woods communing with nature. While some would say that Muir was spiritual not religious, I would note that much of the language used by Muir alluded to the unseen hands that created the beauty around him.

St. Francis led a simple life of poverty but not one of severe asceticism. John Muir’s wilderness travels were outfitted with the bare necessities. Both men rejected the values of their fathers. They were primarily wandering evangelists wanting to reclaim what had been lost.


It is somewhat sad that a humble man like St. Francis who embraced poverty and resisted life in a monastery would be enshrined in an enormous basilica covered with Frescos. It speaks against his legacy not to it.  It is also sad that John Muir’s followers in the Sierra Club have forgotten their anthem, “Faithful Defender Of The People’s Playgrounds.” Do the people still matter?      

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Day Hike To Robinson Lake From Onion Valley Trailhead

Dale Matson

Robinson Lake (10,551’)

36°45’48” N 118° 20’ 24” W (approximate Google Earth places this below Robinson Lake)

Click On Photographs To Enlarge
 Independence Creek Outlet From Robinson Lake

 Trailhead Is Near Here


 Onion Valley Trailhead Parking Below



 Robinson Lake



Independence Creek Inlet to Robinson Lake
 Above Robinson Lake
 If Only I Had Climbed To That Ledge!
 Owens Valley

Telephoto Looking West

Robinson Lake is to the southeast of Kearsarge Pass in Inyo County and is about 1.5 miles from the trailhead in Onion Valley Campground near campsite 8. There is about 1,220’ of elevation gain outbound to Robinson Lake on a trail that is sometimes sketchy. Outbound, I mistakenly found myself going around the lake on a trail that led along the eastside above the lake and had to descend through a boulder field to get back down to the south end of the lake. On the return, I found that there was a better trail around the west side of the lake.

There are probably two main reasons folks go to Robinson Lake. It is a short hike with not too much ascent even though it is steep. The second reason is that Robinson Lake is a stop along the way to a shortcut to Center Basin over University Pass. I ran into some young day hikers that were headed that way the morning I set out to Center Basin going the long way over Kearsarge Pass. If only, if only I was younger, I would have tagged along and could have done an overnight loop hike coming out via the JMT.

I did the Robinson Lake hike in the afternoon after picking up my wilderness permit for the Center Basin overnight that would begin the following morning. I was partly interested in at least seeing where the University Pass gap would appear above me. All I knew was that it was southeast of University Peak. Even though University Pass is named, it is not noted on the map. I had intended to climb high enough on my hike to see it but it would require climbing off trail above Robinson Lake following Independence Creek. I ascended the creek on the northwest side and climbed up to another ledge. I was running out of time and didn’t climb to the next ledge, which would have given me a full view.

I didn’t want to tire myself for the next two days so reluctantly; I headed back down to the trailhead. My entire hike was about 5 miles round trip with about 2,000’ of gain. Round trip, it was about 3.5 hours (2 hours up and 1.5 hours down). Had someone been willing to hike over University Pass with me, I would have given it a try but alone at my age was too much of a risk. A young experienced solo backpacker Gregory Muck had gone missing and his photograph was in the permit station at Lone Pine when I picked up my permit. I later learned that he had fallen to his death in the Gardiner Basin area north of me.


I do not believe this hike by itself is worth the four plus hour drive over Tehachapi from Fresno but in conjunction with other hikes including Kearsarge Pass, it would be an excellent “add on”. Additionally, the Onion Valley Campground (9,000’ plus) would be a great base camp for additional hikes.    

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Seeking God In The Beauty Of The Mountains


Dale Matson

McClure Meadow
Click On Photograph To Enlarge

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4 (NASB)

Benedict Groeschel, OFM Cap.  (Priest, Psychologist and Friar) maintains that most of us seek God in one of four ways (Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development, 1993 Crossroad, N.Y.). He used the saints of the church as examples to illustrate his point. The call of St. Catherine of Genoa was to Unity, St. Francis saw God as the Good, St. Thomas Aquinas saw God as True. St Augustine saw God as Beauty.

St. Augustine had the following to say about beauty. “But what is it that  I love when  I love you? Not the beauty of any bodily thing, nor  the  order of  any  seasons,  not  the  brightness of light  that rejoices  the  eye,  nor  the  sweet  melodies  of  all songs,  nor  the  sweet fragrance of flowers  and  ointments and  spices;  not  manna or  honey, not the limbs that carnal love embraces. None of these things do I love in loving my God.  Yet in a sense I do  love  light  and   melody  and fragrance and  food  and  embrace when  I love my God - the light and the  voice and  the  fragrance and  the  food  and  embrace of  the  soul. When that light shines upon my soul which no place can contain, that voice which no time can take from me, I breathe that fragrance which no wind scatters, I eat the food which is not lessened by eating, and I lie in the embrace which satiety never comes to sunder. This it is that I love, when I love my God.

Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved Thee! For behold Thou wert within me, and I outside; and I sought Thee outside and   in my unloveliness fell upon   those lovely things that Thou hast made. Thou wert with me and I was not with Thee. I was kept  from  Thee by those  things, yet had  they  not been  in Thee, they would  not  have  been  at all. Thou didst  call and  cry to me and  break  open  my deafness; and  Thou didst  send  forth Thy  beams and  shine  upon  me and  chase  away my blindness; Thou didst  breathe fragrance upon  me,  and  I drew  in  my breath and  do  now  pant  for Thee; I tasted  Thee and  now hunger and  thirst  for Thee. Thou didst touch me, and I have burned for Thy peace.” Confessions

These mountain places are where I fellowship with God too for it was He who made these things and us also.  It can at times be as intimate an occasion for me as when I proclaim the words of the Great Thanksgiving during the Holy Eucharist.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Wildlife Research

Dale Matson





Click On Photographs To Enlarge

I was backpacking near Reflection Lake and took a photograph of a deer with two tracking collars. Why would there be a need for two collars? 

From: "Gammons, Daniel" <daniel_gammons@nps.gov>
Date: Friday, September 5, 2014 at 11:29 AM
To: Dale Matson <dematson@comcast.net>
Cc: NPS SEKI Interpretation <seki_interpretation@nps.gov>
Subject: Fwd: From NPS.gov: Deer with two tracking collars

Mr. Matson,

Each radio collar serves a different purpose--one is a GPS (Global Positioning System) collar and the other is a VHF (Very High Frequency) collar.  The GPS collars collect spatial data through the satellite system, which is used to study space use and migration patterns.  These collars have a relatively short lifespan, lasting only a year or two.  The VHF collars have the advantage of a much longer battery life, lasting several years, but they do not collect any data themselves.  Their primary purpose is to indicate to a remote observer, who can listen to the signal produced by the collar with a receiver (similar to listening to the radio) whether the deer remains alive or not.  The VHF collars have a tip-switch in them with a ball-bearing that rolls back and forth.  If that ball-bearing stops moving, the signal transmitted by the collar changes, indicating that the collar is no longer moving.  Researchers can then locate the collar to determine whether it simply came off the animal or if the animal is dead.

These deer were originally radio-collared by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Owens Valley, but their annual migration brings them upslope into Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Sincerely,

Daniel Gammons
Wildlife Biologist
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271
(559) 565-3124
daniel_gammons@nps.gov


Daniel,
I appreciate the prompt reply and the rationale for the two collars. It seems to me that if the deer migrate that far, the VHF would no longer reach the remote observer. Additionally, I would suggest (and hope the technology is available) that when the GPS collar is no longer functional that the collars could have an 'on board' mechanism to release the collar from the neck of the deer. I am not a member of an animal rights group but believe scientific investigation should be as humane as possible. I have attached a photograph of the deer.
Thanks,
Dale Matson

Mr. Matson,

You are correct in that there is a limited distance at which VHF signals can be detected remotely.  This is overcome by listening for signals from aircraft.  At several thousand feet in elevation above the signal, it can be detected from many miles away.  The GPS collars are programmed to be automatically released after 1 year of data collection or just before the battery dies, whichever comes first. 

Thanks very much for the photograph.  Out of about 100 deer that were radio-collared last spring, only 5 received both VHF and GPS collars.  In a way, you were lucky to see one.  The reason only a small number received GPS collars is because since deer travel in social groups, fine scale location data will be quite similar between animals, while survival rates will vary (which is why all of them have VHF collars).

Sincerely,


Daniel Gammons
Wildlife Biologist
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271
(559) 565-3124
daniel_gammons@nps.gov



Daniel,
Thanks again for your response. Your information has made me more understanding and sympathetic to the process. As someone who conducted research with humans, I needed informed consent and realize the importance of humane treatment of the subject in data gathering. Thanks for the work that you do.
Pax,

Dale Matson

Note: I appreciate the quick response I received from Daniel Gammons and his respectful willingness to explain in detail the rationale for the two collars even though it was the CDFW that installed the collars on the deer.