My wife Margaret and I are getting older and older; we wanted to see how difficult the ascent to Shepherd Pass was at age 60. Really it seemed fine! On the way we met a solo lady hiker near the top of Shepherd on a rainy afternoon. At age 75, she seemed to be strong after a 7,000 feet climb! She had plans to makes ascents of many peaks far out in the Great Western Divide. Amazing. We visited several lake basins including one just below Diamond Mesa, and continued over to a location we had last visited in 1981. All these years later we have remembered the beauty of this area. As I always mention in my workshops, bad weather equals good photography. This image is from a stormy morning, looking across the Upper Kern River, and the John Muir Taril to the Kaweahs. Many Sierra lovers consider this area to be the most beautiful area of the entire range.
