CH> Mountains have a backside?

 RW> Yeup. When you're climbing one side, it's the face of the mountain. On
 RW> the other side is the back side of the mountain. And vice versa.

 Okay. Always thought they went by what direction they're facing
relative to where you are climbing. :)
.....

 CH>  Was there a lot of scree?

 RW> In California, there's that, wild grasses and brush, called Mesquite.

 Oh thre's that in Texas a plenty. Mesquite. I may be spelling skree
wrong by the way. I mean the pebbly slopes where nothing but stones
'grow' ... (As in just sontes, nothin' to grab if you slip. This would
be way up past the treeline, but below the snow line if any.
.........

 RW> Being the leader of that pack, I chose the trails made by animals
 RW> through that stuff.

 Best way!
...................................

 RW> Heh...these weren't the Rockies. These were the mountains that
 RW> seperate the coast from the valley.

 Oh yeah the ones I wam mentioning are the mere foothils Okay  :)
 But from the aspect of a flatlander they were Moutain enough for me.

 Oh gosh my brother the Colorado guy.. he's driving us up Mt. Baldy
along a side winding path where the left side of the truck is at the
edge of the path He's laughing at me as I cling to the seat on the
passenger side... We drove up aways then hiked a bit due to a pending
thudnerstorm. It was LOVELY up there.. a little valley in the
mountain.. and and a little lake and and I found this rock! I don't
know what it is but it's like granite. White and beige layers. It ook
it home (Fl) in fact, in my carry on tote.. This was pre 9/11. :) We
were up there when the storm broke. It was fun!
..............................

 RW> My son is a climber. He climbed the mountains (Mt Woodson, only
 RW> 2850ft) to the east of our house for practice before attempting to
 RW> climb Mt Whitney.

 I'm not into climbing but I admire thsoe wh do and who actually SKI
down the upper slopes. My brother showed me a magaine he subscribes
to. "Outdorrs" I think it is. The cover shows a breath taking view of
a mountain ridge... way way way up there ... and along this ridge are
people cross country sking along this very narroow ridge.  It looks
downright scary. lol!  Not for me! They had hiked up there, skied over
the ridge and then hiked/skied back down. IIRC that pic was taken in
the British Columbia Rockies.
..............................
 CH> A view like   that is so stunning who can speak but oh maybe somebody
 CH> who is no longer stunned.... We didn't see any deer but there was a
 CH> Natural spring you could still drink water from at the time.

 RW> I never cared for climbing myself.

 Me either. I have too much a fear of falling. Too much. My bro took
me up Mt. Crested Butte and I froze near the part where you go to the
summit. People were walking by as easily as you please and a hiker was
stading on the side that goes down down down down.. oh like it was
just fine up there on that edge. I had to go back down. I was shaking
like a leaf once we got to the treeline. I want to try again tho...
dang it. I want to do it.. This was in July btw. No Snow and MT. CB is
oh I think 12K feet up. ((OH, we took the ski lift up most of the
way.. Didn't have time to hike up from the bottom.)

One spot I saw snow was the Continetntal Devide up through the
Cottonwood Pass.. :) That was werid. Snow in July..
.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 RW> I carried a deer out of a canyon in Colorado. He wasn't your typical
 RW> California deer, weighing under 60lbs. I had to slice and dice him and
 RW> carry him out in pieces on my back. I forget the altitude, but it
 RW> wasn't all that high and I smoked at the time, but I stopped plenty of
 RW> times to catch a breath. Funny, but I stopped for a smoke a couple of
 RW> times too.

 Smoke would just help take your breath away sooner.. sure get thirsty
up there too. Took water. Makes you hungry too. All that dry thin air.
................

 RW> sure caught a variety of flying bugs.

The flies, they have gotten smarter. The other bugs well .. hmm.

 RW>  RW>> Personally, I think a .22 revolver with snake shot loaded in it
 RW>  RW>> would have been more fun. Hard on the kitchen walls, but a lot
 RW> of  RW>> fun just the same.

 CH>  Why waste ammo when a wet sponge will do?

 RW> See 'fun'...

 Oh.  I thought swamping it with the sponge was fun enouf. :) less
messy too.

 CH> Besides wouldn't that be like using a bazooka to kill an ant?

 RW> Well, I've known people who use mountains to crush them. Leather
 RW> mountains with shoe strings.

   Shoes work good! :)

Cindy

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