The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
One of the big trees behind the house had started to uproot in a storm earlier in the year. We finally had to have it removed. It took some work to get it down safely.
The tree company we hired removed it section by section to avoid hitting the house.
Afterward my father worked on sawing up the sections into manageable chunks that could be chopped into firewood.
Then we split it all and stacked it for firewood for the coming winter.
After almost a week in the deep backcountry of the John Muir Wilderness, we emerged at the trailhead at Courtright Reservoir. Our feet were sore (mine much more than my dad’s) and we were dirty, but very happy. My mom and grandma drove up from Dinkey Creek to pick us up.
Heading across the dam at Courtright. This is the most full the reservoir has been in several years.
It is almost up to the top!
Looking down the canyon from the dam. We finished another great trip into the backcountry and I’m already itching to go back in again.
Post Corral Meadow holds a special place in my heart. Many years, this was the first or last place we camped as we went into or out of the backcountry. Today we were just passing through. The meadow has grown in with trees over the years but the core of the grass remains. Across Post Corral Creek we saw the first people we had encountered in five days of hiking through the wilderness. This is why the John Muir Wilderness is special: you can go places where no other people will go for months or years. You can get away from everything and never see any signs of humans as long as you wish. You can be alone and utterly happy.
