Monday Cat Blogging

Ediza (Cat) - Sierra Nevada  1986

If I had continued on the hike, I could have gotten to Lake Ediza. But I've been there before, more than once.

The above photo was taken in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada; the cat was named after Lake Ediza. Below, a nearby apple tree.

Apple Tree - Sierra Nevada  1986

Bubbs Creek Campsite

Bubbs Creek - Sierra Nevada  2005

Campsite - Sierra Nevada  2005

Bubbs Creek, made somewhat famous by the Gary Snyder poem, "Bubbs Creek Haircut."

“Now why you want your hair cut back like that.”

– Well I’m going to the Sierras for a while

Bubbs Creek and on across to upper Kern.

he wriggled his clippers,

“Well I been up there, I built the cabin

up at Cedar Grove. In nineteen five.”

old haircut smell.

out of the memory of smoking pine
The lotion and the spittoon glitter rises
Chair turns and in the double mirror waver
The old man cranks me down and cracks a chuckle

“Your Bubbs Creek haircut, boy.”

- Gary Snyder (from Mountains and Rivers Without End, 1996)

From the notes:

10:30—Trail levels off. The famous Vidette Meadow (9600 ft elevation, I think), although there’s really no meadow to speak of in evidence. And, the equally famous Bubbs Creek. After a really short distance, the trail starts to gain elevation.

12:30 PM—Camp, somewhat randomly picked, & lunch.

2:30—62º. Yes, I had to stop early. A) had reached the point where I had originally planned to stop (maybe), B) didn’t want to go too far in (thinking of the return trip), and C) aching all over! Back, feet, shoulders . . . another too-strenuous hike?

5:25—Sun sets directly behind the famous East Vidette peak. Starts getting cold immediately.

7:00—Into the tent. 52º.

Backpack: 4-1/4 hours.

On the Trail of the Dharma Bums

Horse Creek Trail - Sierra Nevada  2016

Trail taken by Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder as described in Kerouac's The Dharma Bums:

We went on, and I was immensely pleased with the way the trail had a kind of immortal look to it, in the early afternoon now, the way the side of the grassy hill seemed to be clouded with ancient gold dust and the bugs flipped over rocks and the wind sighed in shimmering dances over the hot rocks, and the way the trail would suddenly come into a cool shady part with big trees overhead, and here the light deeper.

In the book Kerouac relates a mountain-climbing adventure that he and Snyder ("Japhy Ryder") undertook in the 50's, climbing, or not climbing, Matterhorn Peak. Highly recommended.

. . . from the archives #42: Apples—Sierra Nevada, 1986

The first printing of Gary Snyder’s poem "Tree Song" took place in 1986. The letterpress broadside printing of the poem by Peter Koch formed one element of a "keepsake" presentation, the other elements being a specially printed envelope, a printed enclosure and a black and white photograph (Dogwood, Forest—Yosemite) by Michael Mundy. The combined project was presented to a combined meeting of the Roxburghe and Zamorano Clubs in October, 1986.

James Linden, the publisher and energizing force behind this project, and I, the photographer, brought a number of letterpressed poems to Mr. Snyder’s residence in the Sierra foothills for his signature.

This was a while ago, you know: it follows that much has faded from memory. But I do remember Snyder’s cat, Ediza (named after Lake Ediza), an apple tree and some apples in a woven bowl.

Photos: Apples—Sierra Nevada, 1986

. . . from the archives #34: Dogwood—Yosemite, 1986

Are we our black, wet roots,
Or do we live by light?

Taken during a spring visit to Yosemite in 1986. From the evidence of the contact sheets, I didn’t take any 35mm photos, relying exclusively on a view camera (with roll-film adaptor) and a Mamiya twin-lens reflex.

Clearly, for this image I used the Mamiya since the uncropped photo is square. The original image is presented below the edited version.

James Linden and I picked this for use in a letterpress "keepsake" edition featuring the poem "Tree Song" by Gary Snyder (lines quoted above). Available now at auctions and suchlike.

Photo: Dogwood—Yosemite, 1986