2023-02-02, 09:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 2023-02-02, 09:16 PM by MojaveGeek.)
That's a cool part of park. Quiet. The Talc Hills do look like they've been mined, or at least explored, extensively. For talc? I guess there's money in that but those tunnels you showed have nothing to do with talc so probably gold fever? I see the "ruins" on the topo. I've been on Jubilee peak but not into that wild area you were in. Thanks for the pix, I'm armchair traveling with pleasure, watching temps go down to a forecast -30 F windchill tomorrow night. I may not get far out of the house tomorrow, definitely won't get my daily bike ride in 
I was very fortunate in that I got my 5 years before the mast in when I was 19-24. It was completely free time. You talk about highs and lows... man I saw it all from wonderful hospitality in off grid villages to some pretty sick and lonely days, almost burning down my tent in the Himalayas (would not have survived that night) and later getting up close and personal with Everest. Especially hitch hiking - just really exposed to whatever the world will throw at you. From cops in Kenya threatening to beat me if I was still at the side of the road when they returned to truck drivers in India sharing their food and beds. There was no Internet then, or guidebooks outside of Europe, "budget travel" meant making a story up as you went along, but I'd never have traded those experiences for any amount of money.
Then I came back and got a real job.. big gap in my resume but so what? I lucked into a great academic job which gave me a lot of freedom and time off, and also supported a bunch of travel. And, eventually, a couple of kids. Teaching a kid to love and appreciate the outdoors and be happy with solitude and roughing it is itself very rewarding.
I was very fortunate in that I got my 5 years before the mast in when I was 19-24. It was completely free time. You talk about highs and lows... man I saw it all from wonderful hospitality in off grid villages to some pretty sick and lonely days, almost burning down my tent in the Himalayas (would not have survived that night) and later getting up close and personal with Everest. Especially hitch hiking - just really exposed to whatever the world will throw at you. From cops in Kenya threatening to beat me if I was still at the side of the road when they returned to truck drivers in India sharing their food and beds. There was no Internet then, or guidebooks outside of Europe, "budget travel" meant making a story up as you went along, but I'd never have traded those experiences for any amount of money.
Then I came back and got a real job.. big gap in my resume but so what? I lucked into a great academic job which gave me a lot of freedom and time off, and also supported a bunch of travel. And, eventually, a couple of kids. Teaching a kid to love and appreciate the outdoors and be happy with solitude and roughing it is itself very rewarding.