Sierra Buttes

[aggienaut]

   And now... remember that cliffhanger I left you all on? Well... this post will have cliffs at least! Tomorrow should wrap up this wedding trip and then the next day we'll get to the other side of that cliffhanger! ;D



Sunday, July 15th, Loyalton, California - The day after the wedding about half the family went to a nearby mountain lake and the other half went to go hike to the top of a nearby mountain. I went with the latter. Let's go with more like a photo-essay style here.



   At the top of Sierra Butte there's this rocky outcrop with the really steep stairs seen leading to the top, on which a stout fire watch tower defies the sky itself.








This one is looking up to the watch tower platform itself. My cousins Linnea and Kateri are up there.


Uncle Mike and his son Sylvan strike a pose on a neighboring pinnacle. My cousins Linnea (Mike's daughter) and Kateri lay behind them.


Looking down at the base of the watchtower (which is still atop the rocky outcropping). Various cousins

   After returning from this hike (only 2.5 miles / 1800 feet elevation change between the trailhead and top) we returned to Loyalton, and I believe everyone socialized for the rest of evening? This is a month ago now and my memory is pretty bad. All I know is I darted back to the hotel for an hour to submit my flash fiction submission for that contest. Recall I had to write a romantic comedy involving a chihuahua and a bus stop. In my little story the protagonist goes to the bus stop hoping to get the number of an attractive young lady with large brown eyes whom he knows waits for the same bus, and then a chihuahua shows up interrupting him to his annoyance, but she thinks its cute so he pretends its his, but then he's prevented from boarding the bus because it's "his" dog. I'm pretty happy with it as far as something I cooked up in my head in the midst of a busy wedding weekend and pounded out on the keyboard in half an hour, followed by half an hour of technical difficulties uploading it, finally getting it up with a minute to spare literally.


I thought my brother Tobin was going to take a picture but apparently he took several and gifed them together. such sauce.

Comments

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

The flash fiction story:

George had been hoping to see her. He'd been impatient to see her. He could have taken a later bus, or an earlier bus, but THIS was the bus he knew she took. It would have been maybe more like him to come running up to the bus with thirty seconds to spare, but instead he impatiently waited until the earliest he could reasonably walk down there, arriving half an hour before the bus was due.

Of course she wasn't early herself. He stood there as trucks drove by belching exhaust in his face, and bicyclists nearly hit him as they zipped by on the sidewalk. He started to lean against the fence, but then realized that would leave him looking like an unapproachable slouch if she suddenly came up, so he tried to look more approachable. Then a man in a grey suit jacket approached him0 and struck up a conversation about the weather. The weather! Yes it had been a bit warm and yes some rain would be nice and... this was entirely unacceptable! He couldn't be stuck in a dull conversation about the weather when SHE showed up!

He did his best to exhibit a complete lack of conversation skills. He considered espousing unpopular and unpalatable political opinions to shake his unwelcome conversation partner, but then it occurred to him maybe this man would agree with them and then he'd surely never be free. Finally the conversation petered out after far more noncommittal grunts than it should have taken. He stealthily moved out of conversational range with the man.

Finally, there she was! Knee length slate grey skirt, stylish black shirt with some white stripes, topped with a cute red hat. Dark hair in pigtails. Large brown eyes. All this George surreptitiously observed out of the corner of his eye. She came and stood between George and the man. George looked at his watch. Five minutes until the bus was due. Greg was hesitating about how to start a conversation with her when with sudden fear he realized that other man would likely engage her about the weather! If that were to happen he really couldn't plausibly suddenly show a strong interest in the weather and join the conversation. So he resolved to go for it, and turned to her to just say hi and see what came of it.

He turned to her, caught her eye, she looked at him and he opened his mouth to say hi and... suddenly there was a wild yapping from ground level. He looked down in horror to see a chihuahua had suddenly approached and was yapping at him.

“Oh no!” he said, and was about to remark about what an annoying dog it was when she said
“oh, is that your dog? It's so sweet!!” hardly having time to think beyond what the “correct” answer to please her would be he said
“Oh, yes, yes she is”
“Ohh she's so sweet!” she cooed, patting the little dog. George bent down to pat the dog lovingly as well. In so doing he noticed the dog was male and hoped she didn't notice his gender mix-up.

“Hi, I'm Sharon” she said, holding out her hand.
“Hi, I'm George” he said, warmly shaking it. Just then the bus arrived. This would be perfect, he'd just “borrow” the dog as a conversation piece, and have the whole bus ride to make conversation. She stepped aboard the bus. He followed.

“Can't bring your dog aboard sir” said the surly bus driver.
“What? Oh it's not--” he started to say, but then saw Sarah looking at him with her big brown eyes
“Oh, um, okay.” He stepped off the bus, as the man with the grey jacket pushed past him. The bus departed, leaving him holding the dog. He looked down at it with it's big brown eyes. It didn't have a collar. Well, it's a sweet dog he thought to himself wistfully.

[wantedonvoyage.livejournal.com]

Those pics are dizzying. In a good way.

Great plot line... when first we practice to deceive....

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I was afraid to reread it until just now. Oops her name changes between Sharon and Sarah from one paragraph to the next! And there's that zero hanging in there that probably went with the submitted version. I wonder how forgiving of stupid mistakes like that they'll be :-[]

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

That's a climb and a half! Love the views, even the slightly dizzying ones.
:)
Good little story and that you threw it together so quickly is pretty amazing!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

It was a really cool view from up there!

As to the story, I was afraid to reread it until just now. Oops her name changes between Sharon and Sarah from one paragraph to the next! And there's that zero hanging in there that probably went with the submitted version. I wonder how forgiving of stupid mistakes like that they'll be :-[]

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Heh. I noticed the name change but it didn't really detract from the story.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Surely they'll be a bit forgiving, everyone is writing under the same tight deadline :-/

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Wow, what gorgeous scenery! Thanks for sharing.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah its quite the view from up there!!

[zombiequeen.livejournal.com]

Those views!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Indeeeeed!

[bernadettee.livejournal.com]

Nice and. Great view

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah epic views from up there! Not great for anyone scared of heights!!

[recursivewords.livejournal.com]

Great photos! I have a terrible memory if I leave it more than a day or two after going somewhere or doing something - so huge props for recording this a month after the fact!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah for that reason I started writing out the entries about the trip to the Dominican Republic already even though I knew I wouldn't post them till I was done with this. Wanted to write about it while it was still fresh in mind!

[wpadmirer.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful area. Pat would love it. My left knee and hip would never survive the steps up to the fire tower, unfortunately.

I really like the gif!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

A fair number of people only went as far as the base of the steep stairs due to either not being keen on the dizzying heights or the physical requirements of getting up the ladder. I think they had broken out some champaign and cheese down there someone had lugged up though so they weren't just sitting there envying us! ;D

[meowmensteen]

I think I have vertigo now haha.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha :D

[aerodrome1.livejournal.com]

Wonderful photos, as always!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (:

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

Amazing photos!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (:

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

The mountains are dancing behind you... cool!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Ahaha now I'm picturing that gif set to music lol

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

DO IT!

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Wonderful photos. Is that an Akubra in your hand?
The story is fun.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Verily, tis indeed an akubra!!

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

I seriously need to learn how to photograph from the tops of things and not flatten everything out. These are great.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

It's easy to take pictures from the top of things when one has a precarious pinnacle at hand! (:

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

The Sierra Buttes/Lakes Recreation Area is my favorite hiking region in California. I didn't think there was a fire top on top of the Buttes themselves, though I've never been able to see the top.

I have done the hike from Tamarack Lake to a fire tower in that area. Maybe the same one? About the same distance, but strenuous due to the altitude. All good until it was time to go up and down those stairs, which set my acrophobia off something awful. But I made myself do it. :O

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I wish I was in California and near the Sierras to do more hiking! I was thinking I've done a small part of the John Muir trail but I'd love to do the whole thing!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

That particular area (off of the Gold Lakes Highway) is full of beautiful hikes of varying lengths. I think I've done most of them, but it's been awhile. We've only been back a few times since having kids (true of everywhere I've hiked), so I really miss it.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Maybe one Cristina gets some kind of visa for the States I'll get up there with her (:

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

The chihuahua's big brown eyes in the end really top off this excellent story. Good work!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Oh that's right you haven't read it yet! (: