Mather Pass and the First Purple Candle

View looking South on the John Muir Trail to

Mather Pass

(the wide "V" in the upper center)

Turkey Tetrazzini Pete and I approached Mather Pass from Deer Meadows on August 2nd, 1988. Mather Pass is the king of pain in the ass passes. Hiking up and over it is exhausting and demoralizing. You can see the pass hours and miles before you are within spittin' distance. You put your head down, you take small steps, you gasp for air, you realize you are thirsty and your lips are really chapped, then you look up. The pass is just as elusive and far away as it was an hour ago. It never seems to get any closer. All you can do is methodically place one foot in front of the other, adjust the weight of your pack and try and distract yourself with the granite debris at your feet or some fanciful daydream about life back home.

On that morning I only wanted the pass to appear closer. I wanted some sign of progress, some sign of hope, a dove with a flower in its beak, a bearded sage like John Muir or Moses descending from the pass and reassuring us that we would indeed reach our goal.

Pete and I marched on in silence all morning, though occasionally he would remind me that we were now formally participating in the Bataan Death March, Part 2, and that he was not having an enjoyable experience in the mountains.

That Pete, God love 'im! This was the trip where Pete left his toothbrush at home ("I didn't know you brushed your teeth when you went backpacking," he explained), and he brought a 16 ounce bottle of sterile saline solution for his contact lens. (This was in the days before ultralight backpacking).

Eventually, after a series of false passes, false hope, and general fussiness and some choice expletives from Pete, we approached the final 100 yards to the pass...

On this first Sunday of Advent I'm reminded of that day Pete and I shared 21 years ago. Advent provides an opportunity for us to reflect on waiting. The Jews waited countless years for the arrival of Jesus. Now we wait for the second coming of Christ, and we also wait for Christ to enter our daily lives in our steps, our interactions and our quiet moments. While we wait we simply need to be attentive, and we simply need to keep walking. Then we discover that the view is much better than expected.