A journey well shared is a journey well enjoyed. – Unknown

I often meet a lot of people when I travel. Despite my enthusiasm for solo voyages, I do relish the opportunity to be social, even on trips into the wilderness. During my time in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I met many friendly hikers along the trails and often paused to have long conversations (while still maintaining our 6 feet distance). We discussed culture, gear, food, past adventures, and future bucket-list destinations. Yes, the outdoor community in the West is vibrant and full of interesting characters.

Especially in Bishop, California.

With a population hovering around 3,800, Bishop serves as a quirky hub of outdoor recreation and home (or part-time home) of many interesting people. It was in Bishop that I met some kindred spirits at Hostel California, a colorful and cozy place that boasts access to crash pads, bikes, and like-minded wanderers. Bishop is located at a lower elevation than the surrounding mountains, so the temperatures were high despite my hopeless wishing that there would be a brief break in the heat. I had stopped specifically in Bishop to go bouldering, a form of climbing that doesn’t involve ropes, but close-to-the-ground rock with pads to cushion one’s fall. Yes, I could have gone by myself, rising early in the morning to drive out to The Happies, but when a new friend offered to meet me out there, I was ecstatic.

When I first pulled into the parking lot, it didn’t look like much. It took a short 10-minute walk up a sandy slope to see the boulders nestled within a narrow canyon. As mentioned online, “The Happy Boulders offer highly concentrated world-class volcanic bouldering with hundreds of worthy problems ranging from simple to ridiculous.” Right from the get-go I found the simple and the ridiculous. My new friend and I followed the guide book towards the easier problems, rotating along with the shade and laughing at some of the difficult starts. We scurried up some boulders and tore up the skin on our hands on others. Desert salamanders made their presence known, perched on rocks while watching our ill-attempts as well as our successes.

It was so much fun, I was disappointed in my finger strength when I finally reached my limit. The sun was getting higher in the sky, a sign that it was time to seek out air conditioning, or at least a place with a shady breeze. Returning to Hostel California, I met some more people, made additional friends, and delighted in the fact that these fellow adventurous spirits were so like me in many ways:

Kind towards nature and others.

Appreciative of the Great Outdoors.

Eager to see new places and try new things.