Our Hiking Arrangement

Over the better part of fifty years, Bob and I went on long walks. Probably most people call them "hikes," but there wasn't anything fancy about them. We usually carried a couple of water containers. Bob generally brought a book or a tract on the area we were about to cover. Since they had names like Keet Seel and Sutter’s Buttes  (the nation's shortest mountain range). Beaches -- and the east end of the San Bernardino Range -- were on our considerable list of destinations.


I always toted a camera. Neither of us ever wore walking shoes, whatever they are, and usually some lotion. We didn't call ourselves hikers. We just went for walks... some of them far enough, like 45 miles. Yes, we packed food on those.
One reason, I'm sure, that Bob enjoyed our trips was the preparation. We'd get out topographical maps, rangers' notes, and any yarn we could dig out from any previous sojourner.

One night at Bob’s house, we were in his kitchen examining maps, when Bob looked up and said to his wife, "Taz, do you remember last month we were looking over topo maps of the Sierras?  I can’t find it here."




She stared at him for a long moment. Then she turned and went to the far wall, pulled a cookbook off the shelf, and brought it to him. At the table, she opened it with the maps having been used as a marker.






And there was "the agreement."


I was six feet tall. Bob was about five - five. If there were steep hills involved, we would start together at the base, and I would take my natural strides, which gradually gave me a considerable lead after awhile.  Bob would walk at his natural stride. When the grade switched to down, Bob would find that his legs began to accelerate. Most often we would reach the base nearly together. Of course, if the grade was not particularly steep, we had plenty of conversation, camera clicking, and discussions involving John Muir.

John Muir in Yosemite

Every time, on the way home, we were already working over the next go. 


I recommend friends like that.