Mariposa: Yosemite's Secret

The dirt pull-off was halfway up Bouillon Mountain. I squeezed our Escalade into it, and my now ex-husband Willie and I walked down the steep drop-off to a giant boulder: Turkey Plucker. Its name comes from Ben Groger, the climber who first scaled it. (I’m told his family name translated in German is a fowl phrase.) Weaving around clusters of poison oak, we made our way to the foot of the boulder, the setting sun flashing tangerines across the sky. Turkey Plucker stood 25 feet high and climbing holds were dusted with chalk where previous climbers had gone before us. Moss grew on its sides, and Bouillon Mountain rose up behind it—a mix of oak trees and dried-up pasture grass. In the opposite direction, hills rolled into mountains dotted with stands of pine and oak, then leveled out into the endless beige of Bear Valley. I’d never climbed a real boulder before, but Chris was there to teach me. (Click here to continue reading…”