Tom had a nice walk the other day from the Bear Valley Visitors Center.

In all honesty, I’m totally blown away by this hike, the land that it goes through, where it ends up. Although flat and easy, and no marathoner by any stretch of the imagination, it’s still nine or ten miles, and still does require a modicum of stamina and sturdy, reliable body parts, for all the tromping around and scampering about in insatiable bursts every five hundred feet or so of “look-see” forays to explore overlooked nooks and discover underappreciated crannies, can tend to do some tendon damage to already over-stressed lower extremities. Ah, the price to pay for doing what you love to do, what you live for, what you crave like a drug.

Tom notes that he hadn’t been there in 20 years, owing to noisy crowds and overzealous park rangers, but he had a fine time this time. There are some things a crowd can’t kill, like Yosemite Valley and Point Reyes, and some places you have to go back to even if you’ve promised you never would.