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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 25, 2012 - 01:45am PT
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The Yosemite Lodge cafeteria had coffee urns and cups, there were hand dryers installed to take the place of towels, and there was no Four Seasons Restaurant; but there were a coffee shop and a Circus Room Restaurant and Circus Room bar. No longer.
There was a great rainy-day hang in the Lodge lounge. No longer there.
There was a Standard gas station at Camp4 where they sold white gas. No longer there.
There's no more Four Seasons, either.
The "new improved" road to TM was finished at a cost of $7 million inside the park in 1961. The Lee Vining grade was re-constructed from '65-70 at a cost of $6,600,000.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Sep 25, 2012 - 01:48am PT
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Back then, the campground was free and virtually always open (at least A and B loop in early season). If your car could make it in to a site, it was free for claiming despite no water, toilets, etc. Once in early season we parked on the road and hiked our stuff to a dry site free of snow. Bears scratched the car windows trying to look in. The slab at the store still had 5 foot drifts.
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jopay
climber
so.il
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Sep 25, 2012 - 07:39am PT
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I think for many as oft has been said was the assassination of JFK, the end of the innocence, prior to that was fast cars and some great feel good music. After bumping into the walls of a couple community colleges I worked the summer of 66 at Caterpillar Tractor waiting for the inevitable letter saying your friends and neighbors have chosen you to serve their country, and I did get said letter, and for me there was never any question, growing up in a small Southern Illinois town I never considered anything but serving, in fact a friend joined the Marines on a two year program , but they only had so many of those a month. I ended up joining the US Army for three years, spent 27 months in Germany which could be a book. The friend was badly wounded in Vietnam but survived. Those were the days my friend.
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can't say
Social climber
Pasadena CA
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Sep 25, 2012 - 08:25am PT
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hippy art from one of the free throw away rags of the time
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 06:55pm PT
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Lets see...being a 18 yr old kid from Merced in 1968, Yosemite was my San Francisco and Stonemans bridge was my Haight Street. Became a full hippie by smoking my first joint under said bridge. Met two freaks in a van named Thor and Raoul, scored a handful of Purple Double Domes and tripped with my buddies for the first time among the cascades above Happy Isles. And it was a Full Dose. Just like the movies. I recall the rocks were spongy and looked like persian rugs.
Lots of other groovy stuff happened over the summer(s). Missed the Stoneman Meadows riot...ironically, I was in SF that weekend.
Got busted by ranger Bob Cahill for pot, locked up in the Yosemite jail, sent to Mariposa for grilling, then two nights in Merced juvi. Bummer. But I did get a job as a Merced city garbage man from my probation officer, so all was cool. Great job.
Not too long after that, I ran into de Flames, was taught to tie a figure eight, and the rest is history.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 07:58pm PT
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I hope your garbageman 'roids are history, too.
I had my dock on the bay out on TI, looking at the old strumpet and her gaudy bridges. And then I could turn around and see my future over in the East Bay, the old maid, no there to be had there.
And wishing I was up in the mountains, finding some honorable work. And climbing. Even trees would have been good.
Or I had the choice of Big Sur, Henry Miller country, and the love children following my stay with the swabbies.
I took the humble post of frying burgers and then hired on with Ma Curry at the Lodge. And acid was best done in the Lower Falls Amphitheater at night. The vibes are majestic.
Try this at home, but only if ya want to.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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These guys were looking for
this which some dudes left in the lake during a training run somewhere between 1900 and 1960 (therefore not OT)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 08:03pm PT
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New York City had a good year in 1964.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 08:20pm PT
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The Alaska Earthquake, Anchorage, March 27, 1964.Yikes!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 08:25pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 8, 2012 - 09:43pm PT
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 9, 2012 - 01:53pm PT
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Rainbow Bridge, covered up in the sixties. Fitzroy, revealed to the world by the Fun Hogs Expedition, could apparently fit inside the bridge's arch.
They tried to get us to believe the US capitol could, too.
Not enough GOOD acid. Too much BAD acid.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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A couple of '60's events with a (sometimes attenuated) tie-in to Yosemite. In August of 1962, President Kennedy spent the night in the Ahwahnee. His motorcade went over the Stoneman bridge and then across the east side of Ahwahnee Meadow on the road that no longer exists. I remember waiting there, listening to his helicopter land, and seeing him drive past us in the "Bubble-Top" limousine.
The day of the moon landing, I was climbing on the Apron in the morning, and quit early so we could get back to Fresno to watch the landing. Unfortunately, my water pump went out about a half-mile before Chinquapin. I made it to the late, great, station there, was towed back to the garage in the Valley, got a new water pump installed ($20.00 total, parts and labor, and on a Sunday, no less!), and was back home in time to hear and see Armstrong take his famous steps.
Good times, for sure.
John
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 9, 2012 - 03:02pm PT
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John, very good memory, for such a old fart. The sweet sixties are as much a myth as any decade. It's our turn to face the music, the questions of "How could yu idiots have imagined that..." etc. from the youngsters who seem to be able to spell without all the letters. It's an amazing world we used to inhabit, all heavy, clunky steel and iron cars and pitons, and now it's all lycra and walkmen and Fires...
--Trent Setter
:O)
Warning, climbing content ahead!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 9, 2012 - 03:20pm PT
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I learned enough in the sixties to know I wanted little to do with great big mountains way down south and lots of snow. I was a rock specialist, a granite dog.Dreams of recapturing my thumb were frequent.The Tioga Pass road from the east and a bit higher elevation.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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As I recall, Volkswagens did not have water pumps in the 60's. The worst thing to replace was a generator. Ouch.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 16, 2013 - 11:06pm PT
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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Apr 16, 2013 - 11:29pm PT
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hadn't seen this one in a while. too busy wondering what I've been listening to I guess
i'm well into my sixties as I write
still have my draft card
i think the progression was 2-S, 1-Y, 4-F
make a list of where you lived in each year of the decade
write down the highlights of your experiences, year-by-year (include a copy of your driver's license photo and the MC you were riding)
be thankful that you weren't huffing glue and didn't get your teeth stuck together to the point that they had to be hammered apart
A few gray Federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose
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