The Cover Photo Is Kearsarge Pass Looking West
Often my civilian and
clerical lives merge. As a cleric there is a kind of prophetic mindset. By this
I don’t mean future telling as much as stating what is obvious but hidden. I
don’t mean this in a critical sense either because it is all too easy to
distort the prophetic role into that of a critic or simply a grumbler. The
older we become, the easier it is to do this. At my age one has to be
intentionally positive.
It is obvious to me, that most of the world,
including Fresno County California residents, is not aware of the beauty that
lies hidden in the mountains and wilderness of Fresno County. Much of this
beauty is found along the wilderness trails of eastern Fresno County. We have
become a nation that drives to beautiful places. The places I am referring to
are not accessible by automobile. John Muir understood the importance and the
need for humans to spend time in the wilderness. There is a twofold effect of
immersing oneself in the wilderness. We need to be freed from the distract white noise of civilized living and once again attune to and reacquaint
ourselves with the primitive sounds and smells of the wilderness. Once we have ‘acclimatized’,
we have eyes to see and ears to hear once again. We are not blocking things out.
We are taking things in.
I wrote this book to
share what I have discovered in Fresno County California with those who are not
familiar with her rugged beauty. It may seem odd to some that the combination
of rock, trees and water can be so varied and wondrously beautiful. The primary
purpose of this piece is to pass on beauty that is difficult to access and
rarely shared in color in a digital format or black and white on the printed
page. It would be too costly to produce a color version in paperback.
I am thankful that my
health and fitness level allow me at the age of sixty nine, to continue to take
on the effort required to find and experience the mountain passes that I am
sharing. There is an emotional lift to reaching these high places where most
will linger to chat with other mountain pilgrims. This work then is both
educational and a sharing of the beauty that I have been able to capture in
photographs. I hope others will be attracted by the beauty and see first-hand
for themselves. I have offered suggested routes which are rough guidelines that
are not intended to take the place of detailed maps. A wilderness permit from
the agency that controls the entry point is required for all wilderness travel
that requires an overnight stay. For
those of you who are unable to travel the trails, this is an opportunity to see
the beauty from your chair. Someday it will be the same for me.
“The mountains are
calling and I must go.” John Muir.
Fr. Dale Matson September
2013
the book is available on Kindle now in color and will be available in paperback sometime this week.
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