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Sean and Kelly wed in Portland a couple of weeks ago, but I have been silent on the subject, awaiting pictures to be posted which depict not the bride and groom, but me, looking sharp and dapper in my Hugo Boss suit. Skip ahead with me, instead, to last weekend; I backpacked overnight at Ten Lakes in Yosemite, where I sunbathed on a rock, made friends with a deer, and watched the sunset bathe the lakeside cliffs in red.

“What is the weather supposed to be like?” I asked the woman who had just printed my wilderness permit.

“The same as always,” she said in a tone inexplicably laced with lamentation, “It never rains.”

I nodded, suspicious of her claim. My summer in New Mexico had taught me that there is always a storm in the afternoon, often with accompanying pyrotechnics. One of my few California hikes had been to the Lost Coast, where it rained with the constancy of Niagra Falls. Her words proved true, however, and I enjoyed the most mild and pleasant weather of any outdoor experience. No rain gear nor warm nighttime clothes were necessary.

With a full pack, I hiked the 8 miles to the furthest and largest of the ten lakes. I was pleased to learn that the women who were swimming in the lake when I arrived were camping elsewhere. I had the lake to myself. I pitched my tent in a prime spot and ambled cautiously down to the water wearing only my shorts. I waded in the clear, shallow water amongst the large tadpoles, stepping one at a time on the flat rocks which layered the bottom of the lake, less than a foot beneath the surface. The warm sun illuminated the submerged sand and made the water temperature pleasantly cool.

I climbed atop a boulder that decorated the small outcropping of land that I had designated my personal peninsula. I let the afternoon rays dry my legs and reflect off of my pale skin, blinding hawks and chipmunks, alike. Satisfied, I leapt down and returned to my tent to fetch my shoes. The deer was waiting for me.

It was a doe (a deer, a female deer), or a buck cruelly gypped of his male birthright. It froze at the sound of my approach and we stared at each other. She broke the gaze first, dropping her head down to graze. I wondered if the animal would understand human body language, and so I turned away in a feint of disinterest. Convinced I was no threat, the doe returned later that evening, braver this time, coming within a few feet of me. She appraised me and lingered with me for a few minutes on my peninsula as the sun began to disappear behind the pines.

I ate dinner on my boulder: hot chicken noodle soup in a bag. After an exhausting day, it was a delicacy. The eastern edge of the lake was rimmed by towering cliffs. While I hungrily devoured my painstakingly timed meal, I watched the steep face of rocks and shrubs turn bright yellow, then orange, and then a fiery red before the darkness of night finally consumed them.

I awoke in the daylight, unaware of the time, and leisurely fired up my stove for some morning tea. Everything looked different, shining with light of a quality and angle unlike the afternoon before. I watched a chipmunk run down the shore into the lake, only to immediately leap back out again: wet but not soaked. A power shower? I smiled and turned away from the water to find the doe waiting for me.

“Hi,” I said. “Hello.” I felt the heat of the tea conducting through the mug handle and burning my fingers, but I ignored it, acutely aware of the precious fragility of the moment. But the lithe creature was not there for greetings, but to say goodbye. She tilted her head slightly, one ear focused on me while the other swiveled toward some sound beyond my hearing, and meandered down to the peninsula for some breakfast and a drink of water. Then she bounded off into the woods, quickly vanishing among the shadows and branches.

I sighed and perfunctorily packed my gear. Then I, too, swallowed some dried fruit, took a swig from my Nalgene, and trudged off, away from the lake and the cliffs and along the path home.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.