Being Away: Three Nights in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness as the Pandemic Raged
I don't know the exact moment the pandemic and all of the nonsense that is reality of 2020 fully dissolved away for the first time, but a good guess is when Comet Neowise was not just visible but immediately apparent in the sky over Cliff Lake on the first night I spent in the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness . Along with a great friend, I was standing on the shore of the lake, headlamp turned off and marveling at the sky and the quiet . For the moment, it was just about the highest ground I'd ever stood on (about 9,300') though we would push just beyond 10,000' on the trip. So, it was a moment that, even in normal times, would have been notable. In 2020, it was nothing short of an escape.