John Hubbard turned 95 yesterday. John, my father in law, has been an important figure in my life: I love him dearly. Recently, I stumbled over something I wrote about him one Christmas:

...when I look back upon the wonderful gifts with which I’ve been graced, my thoughts always turn to those wonderful hikes that John Hubbard led us on in Yosemite. He knew the land so well, and had stories, it seemed, about every bend in the trail, or tall tree or unusual outcrop. ‘Book’ told us how, as a young man, he would throw his things onto a square of canvas, and, after taking the bus to Yosemite, would heave the sack over his shoulder and walk for a week in the back country.

He told us of his trips with lifelong hiking companion, friend Phil Rezos, and perils that had encountered and overcome. He showed us the trick of beating the mosquitoes by moving to higher terrain. He led us on a spectacular hike to Iceberg Lake, and taught us to love most the trips where we weathered a storm.

It was heaven for a guy raised without a father. John Getze (my stepson, John's grandson) and I often, when we’re talking, go back to these hikes, and what we saw, and what we learned. These hikes, like John Hubbard himself, are a gift that will be with us always.

Comments 1:46:27 PM    

Chris Gulker's view from Silicon Valley - in words and pictures