For a taste of reality just get to the summit of your favorite mountain ( >10k preferrably ) and take a look. You will get a strong sense of your place in the world. I did... my life will never be the same again. I can't wait to be there again; a tiny human on the face of a tiny planet in a tiny solar system in an obscure corner of an insignificant galaxy... well... you get my meaning. If you want to learn to appreciate... go to Mammoth or Squaw or Stowe or Everest... you will laugh at the hugeness of how small you are.

My perspective is from Mammoth Mountain. I have changed this year for the better. I will change more as I continue to visit my "Paradise on Earth". You should do the same... my humble opinion.

I've seen wet snow down to the town in early August before. It was when i was living in bishop and i saw a neat storm to the northeast. Thinking there might be a good thunderstorm and noticing that it looked a bit different from the normal summer storms, i decided to drive after it. Up by convict lake i noticed some white streamers of precipitation against the mountains which i thought was odd, but assumed was probably just hail. But anyway upon arrival to Mammoth there was snow all the way down to 7000 feet. It was wet and melting fast but up by the lakes there was an inch or two still there. The difference between the freezing air and the summer-warmed lakes was causing all kinds of steam to rise up off the water... it was really amazing. But the moral of the story is.. NEVER go into the high sierra without being prepared for snow. I've seen snow falling higher up just about any time of the year.. july 4, august, you name it. They have also had rain falling up to 12,000 feet in janurary... warm rain falling on 20 feet of snow makes a hell of a flood. And sometimes a thunderstorm will come over a ridge and literally change the weather from warm and sunny to half inch hail and crazy lightning in about 5 minutes Mountain weather is crazy.. be ready for anything.

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