Personal Favorites: Call of the Mountains

Chapter 1 - Our Mountains
When I first moved to Southern California some thirty-six years ago it was easy to get lost driving among housing tracts and vineyards. I soon learned, however, that if the weather was clear I needed only to take a bearing on the mountains and they would guide me home. That was my first awareness of the three ranges that surround us.

An 8,500-foot ridgeline rises 7,000 feet just outside my front door. Even when obscured by fog - or smog - this mighty span lifts my spirits. It steadfastly reminds me that the mountains endure, patiently beckoning us to their sanctuaries.

On clear days Southern California's highest peaks are visible in the San Jacinto, San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains. Urban sprawl, however, has begun to threaten their beauty, habitat and watershed. Los Angeles County is growing every 10 years by more than a half-million people, and growth rates are escalating in adjacent Riverside and San Bernardino Counties as well. Most of these counties' residents live within an hour's drive of pristine, wild places, many that are vulnerable to unchecked development. So, with my husband, Farley, as chief photographer and colleague, I set out 18 months ago to remind us of their wonder, champion their beauty and inspire their preservation.

From years of outings, predominately hiking, I thought I knew the three ranges. But our many mountain weekends took us to new areas and surprised us with fresh understanding of even the most familiar haunts.

Compelling moments kept our commitment fueled. Two large deer bounded gracefully from Round Valley's underbrush, so close that we almost touched. A young woman exulted in a mountain "high" as she summated 10,834-foot San Jacinto Peak for the first time. A flaming red sunset viewed from San Gorgonio Pass bonded us spiritually with an older man who lived nearby and stepped outside to marvel at its glory with us. "I've been watching sunsets here for 46 years, and I never get tired of it. It's always wonderful," he smiled, naming the peaks as they receded, one by one, into the afterglow. The open field that provided our vantage point, he added proudly, would soon become a public park, keeping these sunset vistas possible in the future.

Weekend after weekend I met people basking in similar moments - and people responding to the mountains' call.

I believe that our responses are crucial for future generations, that they too can know the mountains' wonder and beauty.


	www.stephenspress.com