Margaret and I are in our sixties now. Memories beckon from "before kids" of more than a decade of climbing, and trips all over the Sierra involving endless trail-less terrain to the hardest-to-reach places. We went in the backcountry every year with the kids, but Margaret and I haven't done a serious old-style line together in a long time. So we planned and got in shape for a nine-day cross-country journey into the heart of Kings Canyon, returning to some of our all-time favorite basins. Our time together was magical! We planned a couple of shorter hiking days and had time to meditate, enjoy the beauty, and to reminisce about old times together. It's impossible for me to find the words to describe my love and admiration watching my wife still hiking these hard lines, but mostly her ability to navigate the trail-less terrain, the endless loose talus, and climbing the rocky passes and cols along the way.
