Plateau

The reward for passing through the valley of boulders was the most beautiful section of the hike. Jack and Gary camped here during their trip, as did Father, my Uncle Doug, and cousins Laurie and Traci in their bid for the top two summer's ago. They ended up being turned back by too much snow, and no crampons. All of these pictures were taken during the September trip. The weather was perfect and we lingered taking pictures, doing yoga, and enjoying the surroundings.

Left: Yoga at 9,000 feet. Right: Father enjoys his favorite part of the hike

Father's Native American roots combined with his Western capitalistic ideals coalesce in a strange manner. He loves this area of the Matterhorn so much that he talked out loud about how nice it would be to purchase it, build a cabin, and live there when he retires.

This is also the site of Kerouac's famous bolder, where he and Snyder spent the night:

We forded a lovely little creek, shallow as your hand, pearl pure lucid water, and got to the huge rock. Here were old charred logs where other mountainclimbers had camped...The rock we were camped against was a marvel. It was thirty feet high and thirty feet at base, a perfect square almost, and twisted trees arched over it and peeked down on us. From the base it went outward, forming a concave, so if rain came we'd be partially covered. Jack Kerouac, Dharma Bums

View Progress\Dharma Bums Excerpt

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