Granite above the tram

You ride the tram up out of the desert and step out into another climate entirely: Jeffrey pines, cool air, granite scattered through the forest like it was dropped there. San Jacinto does that — ninety-something degrees at the bottom, a jacket at the top, in about ten minutes of cable.

We hauled the pads in and spent the afternoon on the boulders. Bouldering is a strange, honest sport: no rope, no summit, just one short problem and the question of whether your body can do exactly this sequence of moves, right now, or not. You fall a lot. You pad the ground and try again.

Same summer as the trail running, and the same lesson underneath it — pick a hard, specific thing, and enjoy the part where it’s difficult. The granite doesn’t negotiate, which is most of the appeal.