Day 944: Marmot Mountain Works

Tent

I received some bad news today. Marmot Mountain Works is closing its doors after thirty six years. I remember frequenting the store in Berkeley when I was in my mid twenties. I didn’t have the money back then to buy all of the fun gear that I would have liked, but I did buy things from them when I could. At the time I was a newbie to camping in the High Sierra, and these folks were always really helpful in teaching me what I clearly needed to know. In the end I managed to purchase a tent, sleeping bag, stove, water filtration system, and the list goes on and on. I still have some of those items to this day.

My buddy Mick

One of their tips for me was to buy a four season tent even though I had no intention of doing any winter camping. One year that saved my butt during a camping trip that I took in mid September with my old camping buddy Mick, my Chocolate Lab. We had spent the day playing around one of the lakes. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt if that gives you an idea of how warm it was at 7,800 ft. That night I could see the stars as I cooked on my little stove. It was beautiful out, and there was no sign of a single cloud in the sky.

Sometime during the night my dog started nudging me with his nose. When I woke up I could tell that it had turned cold, and cold enough that he was prepared to climb into my sleeping bag. I let him in. So now I had my own personal heater for the night. I went back to sleep while thinking that it was simply going to be a cold morning for us. When I woke up I noticed a very cold chill on my face, and yet I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag with Mick. I then noticed that the walls of our tent seemed to be sagging pretty dramatically. After a few minutes I realized that it had snowed during the night. When I dug out of the tent there was eighteen to twenty four inches of snow on the ground. That four season tent sure did come in handy and I thank the good folks at Marmot Mountain Works for that recommendation.

I hope that all of the good people there find new jobs quickly.