Hike Mt. Shasta

I hope everyone had a blessed Independence Day. It is sobering to think that our republic has survived 2 and a half centuries, weathering many terrible crises but always pushing toward the realization of its founding principles. While imperfect and imperfectly in pursuit of those ideals, America is still the greatest and freest place on earth. May it remain so.

As we often do, my family took time to escape the crowds that descend on Mount Shasta (and being immersed in them for 15 hours while volunteering at the 4th of July Walk/Run) and head up to the Pacific Crest Trail for a hike out to one of the magnificent vista points. We kept it short today but it was still satisfying to hike this spectacular section of trail.

Seeing the incredible scenery and the vast expanses of wilderness makes me all the more grateful that American has become a civilization capable of preserving its wilderness character. I am reminded of the epigraph at the beginning of Lonesome Dove:

“All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.”

I hope we have the fortitude to preserve these things henceforth.

After a wonderful meal, we finished the day taking in the fireworks over Lake Siskiyou. It was a great day commemorating a great event. God bless America.