Hey! Half Dome is WIIIIIIIIIIIDE open, yo! Let's hit it!
Let's definitely toss around the proximity and experience phrases.
I, like SO many others, started out with Whitney being my first "big time" mountain. For me, summiting the mountain carried a myriad of emotions, but most importantly, when I looked in all directions, I found myself asking, "What's over there?" And so began the insane roller coaster. One year later, I had uprooted myself entirely and moved to Bishop. I created my proximity.
And with that proximity came a sense of ownership. This range is not only my home, it is my friend. And I've watched as some of my favorite areas -- The WZ, Yosemite Valley -- become "loved to death". But it's not love: it's throwing another trophy on the shelf. And, yeah, watching certain places being reduced to that makes me angry.
Proximity also brings familiarity with those who share living here, and who populate the SAR teams up and down the Sierra. Those who put their own lives at risk in order to try and save those for whom the shit has hit the fan. Perhaps that's one reason why I am so bloody careful all the time: the guys have pretty much looked me in the face and said: We don't want to have to come get you.
Enthusiasm is one thing: and sorry, Cloud9, if you (and the person who posted above you about the same thing) bore the brunt of this due to your example. What *I* read, and took away from, your post, was roughly translated as "I want! I want! I want!" <insert pounding fists on table>
Yes, the government shutdown is stupid. Yes, I can't believe that we've got a Congress with a 90% incumbancy and a 10% approval rating. But does that mean we resort to anarchy (which is kind of what's happening here: Quick! The cats away! Let's PLAY!!)?
So if y'all are up there this weekend, take a second to think what it takes to keep a place like the WZ as awesome as it is coupled with the human impact (and I SWEAR TO GOD if someone brings up the solar toilets here I'm going to reach through the damn computer and...). Take an extra few garbage bags with you. Do your part. Use this time to not only achieve what is a dream for you, but help keep the area a little more pristine for others yet to come.
Own it.
