Mount Baldy

I wish I could remember who I was talking with when he mentioned Mount Baldy. We were talking about something or other and hiking in Southern California, Mount Wilson was likely in the conversation, too. Definitely something about the San Gabriel Mountains, and a non-zero chance we were talking about skiing in Southern California, since the mountain is the highest peak of the San Gabriel Mountains, as well as the highest point in L.A. (the county).

When we were chatting, there was a slight bit of discomfort in the back of my mind. I couldn't place its source until well after the conversation when I realized that, while I had been talking about Mount Baldy, California, I was really talking about Mount Baldy, Indiana. As in Mount Baldy located in the Dunes.

It's an easy mistake to make, what with one being snow skiing, the other being sand skiing. Both have hiking, too, what with one being actual mountain, the other being rolling sand hills.

The Dunes are one of those backdrops of a life that influence well beyond the time spent there. I hope that living dune stays alive, what with a couple hundred years of people tromping on it, doing their best to kill it slowly.

I think I just spent an hour trying to find my pictures of my trip to the Dunes with Jessica and Gaby. No luck. So, here, have one by Clint that took FOREVER to load.