Susie The Airedale: My Trail Companion Part I

Dale Matson

Sharon With Brown and Puppie Susie

Sharon and I selected Susie at Fort Sage Kennels in Doyle California about eight years ago. Our first Airedale, Brown came from there also. She made it back over Donner Pass pretty well, which was the first travel test. Brown was sick the entire time and never did get accustomed to car travel. By the time Susie arrived, he was getting pretty long in the tooth and tried to ignore her as much as possible. She was unimpressed with his massive size and challenged him at every turn. He “mentored” her in the house rules and she was a quick study. Everybody loved Brown but Susie….not so much. She has some redeeming features such as her willingness to stay on lead when I jog. She is low maintenance but insistent about getting her way.

Susie Swimming In The Dinkey Lakes Wilderness

Cooling Off Before Trip Back At Florence Lake

Waiting For The Water Taxi At Edison Lake

She has kept in shape over the years by running with me twice a week in addition to her daily walks. She is a swimmer while her older brother Brown avoided water and her younger brother Duke avoids water at all costs. She has been my “go to” trail companion on many trips into the Sierra National Forest. Dogs are not allowed on the trails of the National Parks.

I Paid The Lower Rate For Susie's Passage On The Ferry 

If she is inside during the loading process, she will simply sit by the door into the garage and dart out in an unguarded moment. I have learned that when I am ready to leave for a hike, I put her outside because each item I take to my vehicle is another clue that she will be going with me.

 Susie At Nellie Lake With Sharon And A Friend

Susie At Kaiser Peak

Moonlight Hike To Kaiser Peak

As I reviewed my photographs, I was amazed how much travel she has done with us in general and me in particular. This is written at a time when she is now long in the tooth and no longer capable of mountain hikes. Our longest hike together was 18 miles round trip from Florence Lake to Kings Canyon and back as a day hike. Thank God there were lots of creeks along the way for water and cooling. This piece is a trip down memory lane in photographs.

Balsam Forebay Shaver Lake CA

Dale Matson

A few years ago Sharon and I were skiing out of the Coyote Snow Park on the Eagle Trail to the Shaver Lake overlook. Much to our surprise, we not only arrived at a view of Shaver Lake, we saw a small lake above Shaver.

Shaver Lake

Shaver Forebay

It is not on my Garmin Topo map set. We determined later that it was the Shaver Lake Forebay and it is accessible off highway 168. Although it is mentioned on Wikipedia, there is little information about it there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsam_Forebay.

Art Sallee recalls the story of a couple of folks that were lost one night and headed down toward the light from a bathroom near the lake from the overlook. They were post holing through deep snow when the Fresno County Search and Rescue (SAR) team found them. Lights can be further away than you might think they are.

Trail To Forebay

Forebay

The trailhead begins at the Balsam Meadow Snow Park and it is roughly a mile to the forebay from there. Our loop hike was about 2.5 miles.

Partial route downloaded from Suunto Ambit

The purpose of the forebay is to store Shaver Lake water pumped into it during the night when there is a reduction in demand for electricity for release back into Shaver Lake via a tunnel during the day to make additional electricity. It is reported to be 95% efficient. Southern California Edison is responsible for a great deal of recreational opportunities because of the construction of several lakes for generating electricity and the access roads to them.

Osprey Nest

Osprey And Nest At Forebay From April 2008

Additionally, it is a nice, little known lake for picnicking, swimming, fishing or bird watching. I don't have a current photograph of an Osprey but one has nested there for years on various spar trees above the dam. We did see an Osprey take a fish out of the forebay and fly away with it.

We recently took a mother’s day hike with the kids and grandkids to, around and back from the forebay. The earlier in the day you go, the higher the water and the more difficult it will be to walk around the lake. The elevation is about 6,500’. It is also a good first ski of the winter season with a relatively flat trail.   

Forebay 12-06-16

Mother’s Day

Dale Matson

1-2-3 and lift. That is the story of our relationship. It is cooperation, negotiation and accomplishment. It is love in the morning with a kiss at the end our daily walk with the dogs. It is a prayer holding hands at a meal. Swimming in the Copper River pool together.

It is your laughter with the dogs at play in the snow. It is the dependable meet ups on the trail and the quiet back scratches at bedtime. You are crewing for everyone in the journey of life; helping them carry their load.

This day was made for you. You are receiving the dividends of a life invested in raising your sons. It is love extended and love returned. It is a family expanded because love has no bounds.

It is a day where grandmother is an honored title too. You have made the time and been intentional about participating in the lives of your grandchildren. You are surrounded in your house by photographs of them smiling at you like fragrant flowers from vases.

Everyone is included. No one can be left out. It would not be the family thing to do. It is who you are. Hospitality is holy to you.

So much of the growing pains of parenting are gone, replaced by the physical pains of aging. That does not stop you from filling those two green waste cans regularly.

With each grandchild comes a new and deeper patina on your personality. The time in the pool and the time in the stroller is good time. Coordinating schedules to get events on the Susie Zoo calendar. All of this is to provide a time with family at a meal.

And there are the tennis stories too, of matches won and lost, played on tired legs and sore knees that extended into a meal with the gals.

There are the birthday meals with friends of many years that bring you up to date with the lives of so many women you care about. Now there are the lunches with sons too, having them all to yourself, not having to share them with others.

You have daughters now. They are the wives of your sons and you help free up their time, give them a respite from the children and offer help in their yards.

As for me, we do spend lots of time together. Our Costco runs with a yogurt chaser are a weekly delight. The daily rituals are well worn and firmly entrenched.Sometimes we break the routine and stop for a yogurt at an actual yogurt shop. Where does the time go so fast? There are the overnights where we sleep on the ground and get chased into our tent by storms. Watch those aluminum trekking poles around me dear!

Yes Mother’s Day is a day made special order for you. God would not want it any other way.

Love,

Dale

My Backpacking Cameras

Dale Matson

Click On Photographs To Enlarge

The Sphinx Kings Canyon National Park

Taken with Sony DSC- HXV50

If only there was a perfect camera and lens for backpacking. If only we had a mule to carry our gear. Because I carry my own gear and travel alone, I have carried various cameras over the years. Early, I favored an Olympus water and shock resistant camera. I learned this after dropping a camera in the water. Unfortunately the water and shock resistant cameras do no take the quality photographs I need. 

As years passed, I realized that photographs with even “good” point and shoot cameras diminished the beauty of an area considerably.My most important criteria are that the camera be compact, portable, light, have a good sensor and a good lens for the tasks at hand. Weight and portability are huge considerations. There is no “One” camera that satisfies all of my needs. Backup is essential and I always carry two cameras. That being said, I still want minimal weight and access.

Both of my cameras are carried on my utility belt for quick access. There is a tendency to leave a camera carried in your backpack IN your backpack rather than taking the pack off every time you want to take a photograph. Additionally some shots, especially wildlife doesn’t wait for very long. Neither of my cameras is waterproof, so I keep a zip lock freezer bag in the camera pouch in case of rain.

Generally, there are two kinds of photographs one will encounter backpacking in the mountains. Mountain landscapes require a wide-angle lens that will work in low light. Wildlife requires a steady shot zoom lens and the longer the zoom, the better. I do not carry a tripod because of the additional weight.

Sony DSC-HX50V

So what kind of cameras do I use to fit these needs. My zoom lens camera is a Sony HX50V. The 30X magnification is better than having to carry around a 600mm lens.  The sensor is adequate. It can take shots of animals that I cannot see without aided vision. The screen is not good in bright light but for distance and ease of use, it is great. The camera, battery and soft carry case weigh in at 11 ounces. Additionally this camera offers gps readings and location tags on the photographs.

Sony A7

Pinnacles National Park

(photograph taken with Sony A7)

My landscape camera is a Sony A7 with a 35mm f2.8 lens. This small Zeiss lens allows me to keep the camera on my belt with a total weight of 1 pound 10 ounces for camera, battery and case. (I do carry spare batteries for both cameras) In my experience, this is one of the finest full frame cameras this small available now. So often in the past, there has simply been too big a view in the mountains. This is especially true from the mountain passes.

I’m sure there are others who are less concerned about photographs and simply take their cell phones for photographs. In groups of backpackers one could make arrangements for some to carry one kind of camera and others to carry a different camera. As someone who is generally alone, this is my compromise for weight and quality. the combined weight of both cameras is less weight than the average 400mm lens. Both cameras take nice quality movies and panorama shots too. I suppose if I had the eye of a genuine photographer, the pictures would even be better! 

Taken 01-28-15 With A7R