Sierra-sick

Been thinking a lot about the sierra. If we go back to San Francisco we will be able to get back into the sierra. We have to make a decision about buying ski passes this week – which would be the first concrete step towards a bay area life.
I miss the sierra badly. I feel home-sick for the mountains - big craggy granite and high altitude meadows - glacial runoff and crystaline lakes. My friend Joe, whom I met in the sierra is headed back there for a ten day solo trip. Wish I could join him. I always feel that some essential part of my soul is cleansed and renewed when I go to the Sierra. I came across a quote from John Muir that sums it up:

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer,.Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail.

I will be headed to Mozambique next week with Alexis, his sister Isabelle and her partner Toby. I hope it will be a good substitute. It's always fun to see them, and I am excited to continue exploring Southern Africa. Africa is beautiful, Zimbabwe is beautiful, but there is always a part of me that feels out of place. This landscape has never felt like home the way high moutains do.