<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So, Shig, we're going to get going on the second half of this interview. And we were talking about, a little bit about the hiking, and I think the way we ended up at the last hour was you talked about how this one artist died while he was up there, probably doing some artwork. But I'm curious, I want to go back and talk about the gear that you had. Because you're right, today I hike, and we have these nice backpacks with small tents, small sleeping bags, really light cooking gear. And if you're up there for a few days, you have to be somewhat prepared. Can you describe all the things that you brought up to the mountains?

SM: Well, actually, I don't remember taking any tent or anything like that. Well, there used to be a cave that was a kind of narrow, long cave, you know, in the rocks there, and we used to sleep there. And that was a few hundred feet below the lake where we used to fish, and we used to come down there and sleep, and then go back up there to fish. And we mostly slept inside the cave there.

TI: And so for, and so you mentioned sleeping bags, so you had sleeping bags. And then cooking gear...

SM: Yeah, uh-huh.

TI: Now, how would you carry all of this stuff to walk up there?

SM: Well, I don't remember how we packed ourselves. But we took some, you know, rice and a pan, well, the frying pan, and some, a little oil to fry the fish. And especially above ten thousand feet, when you cook rice, you got to put that much water, that much rice and that much water, otherwise it all evaporates because of the high altitude. There's no pressure there.

TI: Oh, so when you start boiling the water, the water evaporates much faster at that altitude.

SM: Yeah, well, it don't get as hot. [Laughs] You could almost stick your finger in the boiling water up there.

TI: And so you would come back to this cave, and that was kind of like your sleeping area.

SM: Yeah, uh-huh. We used to build a fire there. There's no trees in that area, but there's a lot of brushes along the creek there. And we used to use those things for fire.

TI: And generally, when you went up there, how many would go with you? I mean, how large a group was it?

SM: Well, the time I went, there were eight of us. But, you know, there were others that went solo, or some people went with two or three.

TI: And when you returned, were people pretty curious when they found out you were up there? Did a lot of people ask you questions about what it was like?

SM: Not too much, you know. They knew we were all going out there, you know.

TI: And so was it, though, kind of a well-known secret? I mean, did most people in camp, or most of your friends know that you were up there?

SM: Oh, yeah, yeah.

TI: And while you were gone, was your absence ever noted? I mean, would people or a teacher or somebody say, "Where's Shig?"

SM: There were designated people that used to keep count of the occupants of the block. But, you know, those things were, weren't enforced strictly.

TI: So for the most part, people, I mean, you weren't really missed.

SM: No, no.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.