May 1

at Mendota Pool. I’m considering diving in, but I know that up the creek is the old Quicksilver mines, and even though there are fish, I’m hesitant. Twenty years ago I would have stripped and dove off the pier, now that I’m over the hill, I have an excuse, And then there is the light, still high in the sky, but that wont last and I’m not even close to Spanish Lake and Ranger Tom said it was a few miles along the ridge past that and just keep going and keep going and then you’ll come to this gate and you’ll have to park, and then walk in 3.5 miles. And I ask, ‘3.5 miles?’ because he seemed pretty exact and he is a ranger, and he says: ‘Yep’ so I know I have a ways to go and there really isn’t time to take a swim, only pictures. I don’t think this fish pond was here when Joaquin was, but the creek is the same and there’s a spring called Clear Water and another called Bitter Water, and that tells you something. I’m going to have to call Tom at the BLM office and ask him about Mendota Pool, and how safe it is. For now, I’m doing about the same thing Joaquin was doing a hundred and fifty years ago – except I’m in a Volvo, that isn’t four wheel drive, and he was on a horse – but we’re both following the water