RunningBarb

After the thrill of Yosemite we were off to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The two lie above and below each other and are connected by a common road. Why they are considered two parks I don’t know. But now RunningBarb could check off two more parks that I have visited.

Both parks are home to tens of thousands Sequoia trees. Sure are big. The largest one is the “General Sherman” (lots of these trees have people names) and holds enough wood to build 120 houses. Its height is 275 feet, almost twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Its diameter at the base is 36 feet. That’s the length of two and a half Honda Civics. The volume of this tree is equivalent to that of 15 adult blue whales. Looking up at these trees all day gave me a neck-ache. And I could barely even see the tops. The superlatives – “huge, gigantic, gargantuan, enormous, immense” – don’t even begin to capture the size. In fact, maybe we need a new word: “Sequoiaish.”

In these parks, and in Yosemite as well, you can’t go five steps without reading or hearing the word “fire.”

Fire is necessary for the trees to reproduce. Sequoias create a number of cones containing seeds, and the cones need fire to dry them out and allow them to spread said seeds on the forest floor. Fire also destroys shrubs and brush around the base of Sequoias, opening up areas for the seeds to germinate and flourish. In addition, fire loosens the soil, allowing seeds to fall into the earth and absorb the moisture that would have been consumed by the plants that otherwise would have been growing there.

The signs of fire are all around, from burned swaths of mountainsides to black dust seemingly smeared on individual trunks. I thought of the many California wildfires that destroy homes and communities. Seems like we need a better way to live in harmony with Mother Earth.

After a couple of days in Sequoia we journeyed on up to Kings Canyon. I was curious about who this guy King was – after all, everyone knows we have No Kings in the United States – and I learned that the canyon was named after the Kings River. Which begs the question of whom the Kings River is named for. From Wikipedia I learned that a Spanish explorer, Gabriel Moraga, called it “El Rio de los Santos Reyes (“River of the Holy Kings,” i.e. the Three Magi), later shortened to Rio Reyes, Rio de los Reyes or other variations thereof.” Go figure.

While Sequoia trees are tall, Kings Canyon is deep – 8,200 feet so at its deepest points. Kings Canyon has two main visitor areas: Grant Grove, which is close to the park entrance, and Cedar Grove, which is farther away and much less visited, therefore calmer and quieter. Our campground reservations were at the Cedar Grove section, not because RunningBarb is so clever (experts might disagree), but because that was the only campsite available when I was ready to book one. It turned out to be a great choice. While on a hike one day we managed to spot four bears snacking in Zumwalt Meadow. Another time we hiked up to Cedar Grove Overlook in the foggy mist, and while we did not see much of the promised Cedar Grove, we did spot a hummingbird that flitted on by. Plus the fog and silence were dreamlike. 

Rangers we spoke to at Kings Canyon had some good-natured complaints about Yosemite. “Our canyon is deeper than theirs.” “Half Dome – where’s the other half?” I saw their point about Yosemite being the better known and more visited destination. While Kings Canyon receives 700 to 800 thousand visitors per year, Yosemite gets four million. Even Sequoia has double that of Kings Canyon, at 1.5 million annually. 

I was glad that others were busy chasing the sights at other parks. I agree that Kings Canyon is under-appreciated. But not by me. 

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Our next stop was Yosemite National Park. There are five entrances to the park, four on the west side and one on the east. Since we were coming from the east naturally that would be the closest one to use. But normally that entry does not open until July since it is at high elevation and covered with snow until then. In fact, most of the main road is impassable until late in the season. However, this year there was a dearth of the white stuff in the Sierra Mountains. This is bad, because snow on the mountains later results in water down below. No snow means less H2O is available. 

At the same time, no snow also meant that the road was open, so we got to travel through the park from one side to the other, viewing all the different environments Yosemite offers. We entered at the Tioga Pass entrance at 9945 feet of elevation, moseyed through Tuolumne Meadows, one of the largest high-elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada, stopped for a picnic at beautiful Tenaya Lake, took a short hike from Olmstead Point, and eventually exited on the west to our camping home for the next few days.

The most prominent features of Yosemite are the domes: Basket Dome, Daff Dome, Doda Dome, Domey Dome Dome, etc. They are giant, and I do mean giant, slabs of granite formed from geologic activity about a bazillion years ago. It’s fun to imagine the earth stretching and shaking to give birth to these babies. These stone walls make rock climbing here very popular. You may recall Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of El Capitan. RunningBarb did not attempt such a feat. This time.

Another ubiquitous feature of Yosemite is the name John Muir. John Muir this, John Muir that, blah blah blah. I knew he was instrumental in getting Yosemite designated a national park, and he was also the founder of the Sierra Club. I didn’t know much else, but by happy coincidence I went to a park ranger talk on a “topic of [the ranger’s] choice,” and that topic turned out to be John Muir. Does RunningBarb live a charmed life or what?

Muir went backpacking over mountains and into forests with little more than the clothes on his back. Spending weeks in the woods at a time you might think he picked up a few hunting skills and ate himself some nice fat fish or a succulent squirrel. But no, he brought along his generation’s version of a Cliff bar, which was hardtack. That’s it. Actually, a Cliff bar tastes better. A lot better, to be honest. And, okay, I guess he ate a few berries here and there, but this careful-don’t-break-your-tooth meal was his go-to. And he didn’t drop in at his local REI to forage for a hyper light tent or a toasty roasty sleeping bag. That man was austere. Ranger Bob acknowledged that the National Park Service would never give him a backcountry permit today. 

While in the park book shop, I picked up a book called “Meditations of John Muir.” This book showed me how Muir found holiness in nature. Here is one of his contemplations:

The most famous and accessible of these cañon valleys, and also the one that presents their most striking and sublime features on the grandest scale, is the Yosemite, situated in the basin of the Merced River at an elevation of 4000 feet above the level of the sea. It is about seven miles long, half a mile to a mile wide, and nearly a mile deep in the solid granite flank of the range. The walls are made up of rocks, mountains in size, partly separated from each other by side cañons, and they are so sheer in front, and so compactly and harmoniously arranged on a level floor, that the Valley, comprehensively seen, looks like an immense hall or temple lighted from above.

But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them. Awful in stern, immovable majesty, how softly these rocks are adorned, and how fine and reassuring the company they keep: their feet among beautiful groves and meadows, their brows in the sky, a thousand flowers leaning confidingly against their feet, bathed in floods of water, floods of light, while the snow and waterfalls, the winds and avalanches and clouds shine and sing and wreathe about them as the years go by, and myriads of small winged creatures birds, bees, butterflies–give glad animation and help to make all the air into music. Down through the middle of the Valley flows the crystal Merced, River of Mercy, peacefully quiet, reflecting lilies and trees and the onlooking rocks; things frail and fleeting and types of endurance meeting here and blending in countless forms, as if into this one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest treasures, to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with her.

He gives words to the feeling I experience when I am in nature. Awe. You look around, and all you see are miracles. 

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After driving all the way to Fernley, Nevada, we couldn’t just turn around and go home. That wouldn’t make sense, right? Next we made our way to Lake Tahoe. We stayed in South Lake Tahoe, California, which hosts a slew of hotels and restaurants. Plus, you can walk a block down the street to Nevada and gamble your vacation savings away on slots and blackjack! But even with all that, there is the turquoise of the lake, the scent of the pines, and the image of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance. Plus, once you are off the main road you are in the woods where it feels like wilderness.

The day we arrived we took a walk around town to get the lay of the land and to plan our next moves. We saw there was a nice shared use path and wanted to rent bikes to get out on it. Oddly, though, most of the shops only had cruiser type bikes or electric bikes. Really, people? What ever happened to normal biking? But then we found Tahoe Sports Limited, which had what we were looking for. The guy working there, Patrick, set us up with Specialized hybrids well fitted to our body frames. The next day we set out. Wow, it was like pedaling on a cloud. Plus, the actual clouds above us were white and puffy. The air was cool and dry, and the sun warmed us. It was a great day to roll.

We set out on the path along the lake, with the water on the right side and the ponderosa pines on the left. Our first stop was Pope Beach, which is located on United States Department of Agriculture National Forest land. Because we were on bikes we were able to enter for free. I don’t know why I always get a good feeling when I enter a park for no money because I am on a bike. Maybe it seems like validation for doing the right thing. Shouldn’t all of us be on bikes a little more?

The path continued to weave through a forest growing Jeffrey pines, sugar pines, lodgepole pines, and all sort of other piney pines. Soon we were passing through Camp Richardson, a historic hotel and lodging site. Shortly we arrived at the turnoff for Fallen Leaf Road, a route headed to the area known as the Desolation Wilderness. After a few minutes of uphill, Fallen Leaf Lake came into view. As if beautiful Lake Tahoe wasn’t enough, here was another gem to regard. There were many historic cabins and houses wedged into the hill alongside the lake. Idyllic. Continuing on, the road became narrower and pothole-ier. It is closed in winter, but even in the summer I’d rather take that road on a bike rather than in a car. 

After a while we noticed the temperature dropping a bit and the wind picking up. It seemed like a good time to head back. As we pedaled the next few miles it became colder and windier. By the time we were alongside Lake Tahoe, the water looked like an ocean, with six foot waves pounding the shore. A big contrast with the calm paradise we had viewed earlier. By the time the bike shop was in sight the temperature had plunged to 30 degrees, and icy snow was pelleting our faces. That crazy mountain weather!

We returned our bikes to the shop, happy that we had had a good ride, happy that we ended it when we did. The next day we hiked in the Desolation Wilderness, climbing on the other side of Fallen Leaf Lake and passing three additional ones. You really can’t have too much of a lake view, right?

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Mr. K and RunningBarb have been on the road for two weeks now. We drove to Fernley, Nevada, to participate in a Sierra Club service trip. Driving here took a week. The United States sure is big! Fernley is pretty small, with a population of nearly 23,000 residents, it is the seventh most populous city in Nevada. The space here is wide open. A high desert, it experiences around five inches of rainfall per year. Readers of this fascinating blog know that we have been traveling quite a lot during the last few years, with trips to Alaska, the Dakotas and, and the Grand Canyon and Southwest, and who knows where else. We have appreciated so much these beautiful places and benefitted from the work others have done to keep them that way. So we decided to step up and make a contribution of our own.

Our service trip focused on support for the Paiute Native American tribe situated around Pyramid Lake. 

Our service activity consisted mostly of pulling stuff out of the ground. We yanked out tons of pepperweed, an invasive plant. It is a pernicious creature, with tap roots extending up to ten feet deep into the soil. Removing it seemed like an overwhelming task. For as many as we took out, there were far more of its brethren lined up behind it, happy and healthy and ready to spread. Naturally, to make a significant impact on the environment, you have to pull the plants out by their roots. This involves hunching over a specimen, grabbing it as close to the soil as possible, and pulling hard, using your body weight as leverage. Sometimes body weight wasn’t enough, and the thing just wouldn’t budge. It became pretty clear which of us was the tougher one. No matter, with 12 of us pulling and wrestling these bad boys, we cleared a lot. On the second day of extraction the time went a little faster, since it was in a patch next to the water, and the soil was a little softer. By the end of the Day Two we had filled three pick-up truck beds with the nasty stuff. We felt satisfied and rewarded for our work.

Our third day of labor involved repairing a haba, a traditional shelter to block the strong rays of the sun, and pulling (even more!) weeds in the medicine garden next to the Paiute Tribe museum.

Man, if I put that much effort into my yard it would be a Better Homes & Gardens showpiece.

When we weren’t working we were super busy soaking in the goings on in the area. We watched some Paiute traditional dancers who put on a show just for us, stopped by the Marble Bluff Fish Passage and Research Facility, visited the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center (where you can adopt a horse if that is your kind of thing), got up close and personal with Pyramid Lake, hiked a trail on Nature Conservancy property, listened to a lecture and attended a craft fair at the Pyramid Lake Museum, and I don’t know what all. The week’s time seemed to go by slow and fast at the same time. We barely knew what day it was. 

Another benefit of the trip was getting to know the other participants, who came from all over the United States and brought their own skills, interests, and experiences to share. It was gratifying to spend a week with them and the volunteer leaders, who planned and carried out the trip all for no pay. Got that? The volunteer leaders planned and carried out the trip all for no pay. Unbelievable.

We are looking forward to our next Sierra Club adventure.   

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RunningBarb woke up this morning after a long, blissful sleep and felt as though I was in a state of nirvana. Well-rested, refreshed, and drenched in a deep calm. As though nothing was wrong with the world. Or anything else.

During much of my life I ignored sleep, thinking of it as a waste of time. I had Important Things To Do. I was Very Busy. I didn’t have time to spend just lying there. However during my big medical adventures I truly valued sleep to help me heal. I still do.

According to a 2024 post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, getting enough sleep can help you:

• Get sick less often.
• Stay at a healthy weight.
• Reduce stress and improve your mood.
• Improve your heart health and metabolism.
• Lower your risk of chronic conditions like:
  • Type 2 diabetes.
  • Heart disease.
  • High blood pressure.
  • Stroke.
• Lessen the risk of motor vehicle crashes and related injury or death.
• Improve your attention and memory to better perform daily activities.

Sleeping also gives your brain a bath, cleaning out metabolic waste and “junk” proteins. (I don’t know what they are either, but for sure I don’t want junk in my brain.) 

And, of course, there is dreaming. Sleep experts believe that dreaming may:

• Affect morning mood.
• Assist with emotional processing.
• Help you practice emotional response to stressful events.
• Support memory consolidation, helping your brain take memories and organize how they might be used in the future. 

And there is also evidence that napping is a good idea. Works for me!

While all of that sounds very healthy and dry, there is even more to it. According to an American Psychological Association article:

Dreaming is the source of power for shamans, for it is during dreaming that a person may transcend the limitations of what we call “normal” waking states, fly to distant places, render the normally invisible forces behind events visible, and achieve information that may be personally and socially practical.

That sounds pretty cool.

I know not everyone has full control over their sleep schedule. Babies wake up, flights leave early, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do. However, we would be wise to heed the words of Homer in The Odyssey:

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”

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Isn’t Indian food some of the best in the world? The colors: reds, oranges, greens; the variety: dosas, paneers, samosas; the mixture of spices – cinnamon, cardamom, cumin – and, of course, the chile pepper. 

I recently read on NPR about one of the sources of this divine seasoning. In India, almost all chile farmers are women. A labor-intensive job done in scorching heat, growing chiles is mostly a task for members of what used to be called the “gentler” sex. 

According to the article, the work has to be done by women because men “prefer to take on the agricultural jobs that involve finances, such as supervising and selling.” The women also believe that the men just don’t have enough stamina to do the work. The farmers sow the seeds from October to November, then harvest the crop from January to May. They hunch over the low plants for hours each day, their fingers plucking madly, filling a bucket each minute. In the evenings they separate the top quality specimens from those of lesser value. They dry the crop, listening in bed at night for rain, which would destroy the dehydration process. They also grow foods like eggplant, tomatoes, and onions among the chiles, and tend to goats, selling them for meat and peddling their milk and manure. It is a job that seems to give new meaning to the phrase “full-time.” Why do they do it? “[F]or women, chile is a godsend. If we labor hard enough in the fields for those few months, that extra income is enough to keep our homes running for the rest of the year.”

In other words, their business provides them with sufficient income to give them some control over their lives. These women are seriously entrepreneurial and independent.

I eat chiles all the time, the hotter the better. I usually don’t think much about where they come from. Now that I have read about it, I am fascinated to know about one of the sources. The next time I eat a plate of chana masala I will imagine these strong and capable women in their colorful saris coaxing growth out of the land, planning their next crop, and sharing their bounty with the world. 

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You know the term “six degrees of separation?” It refers to the idea that everyone is connected by no more than six people. Maybe my neighbor’s aunt’s dog sitter’s brother’s wife is the personal trainer of the guy whose cubicle is next to mine at work. That sort of thing. 

I am a bike ride leader and secretary for an organization called Washington Women Outdoors (WWO). WWO is a great organization that has been around since 1977, sponsoring cool activities like hiking, camping, paddle boarding, caving, backpacking, and more. If it’s outside, they do it. I participated in my first WWO activity in 1985, rock climbing. That was rock climbing before rock climbing was cool. Since then I have done rock climbing (again and again!), hiking, caving, kayaking, archery, and a lot more. I have met fun and interesting women, many of whom have become friends. I cherish these connections, which have enriched my life.

Not too long ago some of our leaders were going through some files from way back and stumbled upon – well, not stumbled, these women are quite agile – came upon records from the founding of the organization. Turns out the signer of WWO’s articles of incorporation and its first treasurer was Alice Rivlin! Sure, you know who she is – the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 1975 to 1983! (Later she was head of the Office of Management and Budget and Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve.) Imagine: while rolling up her sleeves to file the necessary paperwork for incorporation, set up a board of directors, recruit new members, set up a bookkeeping system, balance the budget, and all the other myriad responsibilities involved in launching a start-up, she still found the time to create the CBO! She developed job descriptions, hired new staff, designed a structural hierarchy, and pretty much determined how the office was going to fulfill its Congressional mission. All while raising three children.  

WWO grew out of this kind of energy. And today, we still have a lot of accomplished and amazing women running the show. But the even better thing about the organization is that no matter what your ability level there is a place for you. We have trips for all levels, including newbie beginners. Our core values are empowerment, knowledge, and camaraderie. Our vision is: Through WWO activities, all women in the Washington, DC region will have opportunities to experience and appreciate the outdoors within our supportive community.

We describe our activities and let you know what to expect ahead of time so you can choose the events that are right for you. Our rides and hikes have a leader in the front and a sweep in the back, meaning that if even if you are the slowest person in the group someone will stay back and keep you company. And we take the camaraderie part seriously: we want you to feel included.

So check out the website and consider signing up for something. You never know whom you will meet!

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In a previous blog RunningBarb described the Brennan Center for Justice and the information and education it provides. Today I am sharing intel about the National Constitution Center. It bills itself as “the first and only museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.”

It is housed in Philadelphia, which we all know is where the Constitution was written. (Remember fourth grade?) There are galleries dedicated to America’s founding, the First Amendment, the signers of the Constitution, and related topics. But you don’t have to go to Philly to learn stuff. The Center provides a daily blog on Constitutional issues, including summaries of Supreme Court cases, podcasts, which include interviews with interesting movers and shakers, online town hall meetings, and much more. It covers historical events and legal principles and also offers ideas on how to improve our democracy and system of government. 

Viewing the materials of the National Constitution Center is a great way to study the founding document of the United States, learn how it has been interpreted historically, and see how it is applied today. It gives context and a lens through which to view current events. And these days, don’t we need all the help we can get? 

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Let’s talk about news. In the old days you would wait for your newspaper to be delivered on your front lawn and read it every morning. You might listen to the news on the radio or watch it on TV. There was a short list of places to find out what was happening, and the ones that were there seemed pretty reliable.

Today, looking for news information can be head-spinning. Many traditional media outlets have closed or drastically revised how they operate, newer ones with a clear agenda and partisan bent have sprouted up, podcasters disseminating conspiracy theories with no accountability have proliferated, and random dispatches by anonymous posters pop up on social media. How to wade through the morass?

While RunningBarb doesn’t have all the answers, one place I do like to go to hear thoughtful, reasoned analysis is the Brennan Center for Justice. Based at the New York University School of Law and nonpartisan, it provides information on a wide range of timely topics, including voting and elections, money in politics, the courts, criminal justice, government power, the U.S. Constitution, and more. It has a team of legal experts who clearly explain issues, problems, and possible solutions in the pursuit of better government and strengthening democracy. They publish “explainers” to help the public better understand the matters that we are reading and learning about. For example, this week the Supreme Court heard arguments on birthright citizenship. What is birthright citizenship, and how has it been interpreted by the courts over the years? The Brennan Center clarifies this for us. 

It also hosts webinars on a wide range of topics, sends out newsletters, and publishes tons of material on its website to help us make sense of what is going on. In addition, it highlights state actions, many of which don’t make it to the national news. All of this is done in a way that focusses on solutions.

I think being in touch with the Brennan Center is a great way to educate myself in a way that is manageable. While there is a lot of bad news going around, learning from the experts at the Brennan Center allows me to take a step back, makes me feel (somewhat) hopeful, and inspires me to do my part to protect our democracy. 

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RunningBarb is the second of four children. My brother Phil is the oldest. As I was growing up I often thought my real name was “Phil’s sister.” Phil was always involved in sports, adventures, and entrepreneurship. When he was twelve he ran a paper route. (History lesson here: Back in the day boys used to deliver the daily newspaper from their bikes.) By the time he was 18 he had started a landscaping business, which he managed until he retired. Now he lives in Wyoming and maintains hiking trails in national forests. Obviously not a slouch.

One night a few years ago, as he and his wife, Cherie, were enjoying the evening, they heard a huge crash outside. Then the lights went out. Right away he knew that a car had hit the light pole in front of the house. (This is how he thinks. He knows how to identify when something breaks, and even better, how to fix it.) He looked out the window and saw a smashed car crunched at a 45 degree angle up against the pole. He observed little flames under the car, like a low setting for your stove if you were warming up dinner.

Immediately he grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran out. He jumped over his front fence to get to the car. (Sports, right?) By then – it couldn’t have been any more than 15 seconds – the entire car was engulfed in fire. A teenager had crawled out of the passenger’s side window and was now pacing the area outside the heat. “I killed my friend!” he sobbed. Apparently he had been engaging in some daredevil brinksmanship with another driver, and this was the result. 

Phil looked into the car and didn’t see anyone. Then he heard screaming. He heard pounding. It was the sound of the other guy kicking the floor and trying to escape. By then Phil had emptied the fire extinguisher and was calling to the boy, whose name was Levi, to move closer to him. Phil started to grab him and spotted what looked like a black rope around his neck. He moved it away, thinking, “What the heck . . .” Then he realized it was the melted seat belt. He pulled Levi out of the strap and continued tugging, calling “Come on, come on, come on!” The driver came over to help and together they dragged Levi’s 200 plus pound frame out to safety. It was not pretty. Levi had sustained severe burns all over his body and eventually spent more than a year in the hospital.

A few minutes later the emergency medical technicians arrived. 

For this act of courage the Medford, New Jersey Police Department awarded Phil its Civilian Service Award. 

Though he didn’t feel it at the time, he sustained burns on his hand while moving the charred seat belt. 

Phil says that when he saw the car ablaze he never thought “I can’t do that.” It was more like “I’d better do that, because I am not sure who else will.” He did not hesitate.

Phil lost his son in an accident in 2014. In 2022 he saved the life of another parent’s child. 

His actions that night represent love in action.

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