So in mid-September, 2005, I was backpacking high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I crossed a rugged and remote mountain range called the Kings-Kern Divide. A snowstorm had came up the day before (contrary to NWS predictions) and tried to bar my way. But  there was only a foot or so of snow, so I made it over the Divide. The pass there is 13,190' elevation, the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail. The trail on the south side of Forester Pass is etched into a near-vertical wall of rock. Quite scary, walking on a tiny ledge in the snow. I camped south of the pass for two nights, at 12,100'.

The second evening I was ready for bed, yet I was still watching for the fun of it as the stars came out. Venus was shining brightly in the WSW. Then, left of Venus, in the SSW, a bright column appeared over the clouds and started growing into the sky. It was a rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB, 180 miles away.

The first stage leaves a very thick vapor trail that is so high in the sky the sun is still shining on it. I watched the second stage split off, then the third stage. Then the wind whipped up the contrail, and,, ... IT SPELLED MY NAME!!! It's true. Each letter was well-defined, no imagination necessary. In fact, I've often done a worse job with a pencil than the wind did.

So after fumbling around with my camera, I ended up with this snapshot. The mountain range is called the Kaweah Peaks Ridge, which are at 13,700' elevation. Above them are the distant clouds, above that is my name. To top it all off I accidentally got the entire constellation of the Scorpion, from the two stinger stars at left to the pinchers at right. I don't believe in astrology, but they say I am a Scorpio, ya know...

Well, I finally made it over the hill, and found my name in the sky, in color! Now, I'm not saying that the wind was calling out to me, but, it is quite a coincidence. My name and my constellation, both, not someone else's. Sure, you can pay an airplane to write your name, but you cannot bribe the wind!

Do you like to look at lots of pretty nature photographs?? Do you want to "get away from it all" for a while? Looking for a place to vacation? My website contains several hundred nature pictures which you may view for free. You could return each day at breaktime, pick an image, and dream about being there.  They are mostly pictures of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, and the surrounding countryside, like Arizona, Utah and Oregon. Here you will see wilderness pictures of big mountains, snow, lakes, rocks, trees, waterfalls, deserts, sunsets, canyons, rivers, critters, and wildflowers.

All the words and images on this website are  © Copyright 1987 - 2008 by John Sherman. Nothing may be downloaded or copied in whole or in part, by any means, for any reason whatsoever, except by the express written permission of the photographer, John Sherman. I hope you like my images, and want to see them again. You may come back to this site at any time to view images for free, as often as you like.

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