Descriptions of travel destinations are often filled with such superlatives that reality cannot justify them. This is not the case with the Eastern High Sierra of California. For years I have read the lofty language about the soaring peaks, fall foliage, and pristine alpine lakes of God's country, thinking that there might be some exaggeration involved. Not so. My first visit there, in mid-October, instead convinced me that language is inadequate to describe this place. In fact, as I stood looking across North Lake toward the mountains that first morning, my immediate thought was that this was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen! It made me realize that we bandy about words like "awesome" too often because they were really made for times like these.
