Jack's Creek
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 F/2.8L, f/5.6, 1/200, iso 100
The opportunity to do a new series has come my way, and since you readers seem to enjoy them, today will be the first installment of a five day series: The Legend of Jack English.
A couple of months ago I was having breakfast with a friend of mine, and he told me about this amazing old guy he had met, Jack English. Jack lives in the hills, by himself, far from society. He sounded fascinating and we hatched a plan to visit Jack, talk with him, and take some images.
His living there would not be possible without the creek shown above, his source of water. And when he was younger, many trout dinners I'm sure.
Click on the continue link for a couple more pictures and the continuing story.
Spirit of Place
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 F/2.8L, f/10, 1/160, iso 400
When we made the very short walk from Jack's Cabin to this spot, I had an interesting "feeling." With the view, and the path, I sort of had a flashback to my backpacking days 30+ years ago. When backpacking, you sometimes have this feeling of "belonging" to a place and that "this place" is why you have hiked for days. The kind of place you can only get to by that kind of effort.
I believe I felt that because what we are looking at in the distance is the trail, from the road, to Jack's property. It's two miles to a road. For Jack to get from "town" to "home," he drives a paved road, then five miles of dirt road, then hikes two miles. Nearly everything you'll see this week, he has carried in.
Somehow, there is a palpable sense of this history as you stand there, soaking it all in. And then there are the holes in these rocks. You recall my Carmel mission series of a month ago or so, right? This property is in the nearby Big Sur wilderness. What was one of the purposes of the chain of missions? That's right, convert the native Indians to Catholicism. It turns out this valley is where Indians hid to avoid being conscripted / harassed by the missionaries.
You know how back in school you read in books about Indians grinding corn with rocks? These are those rocks. You think about the decades it would take to make these holes. The generations that lived here in this special place. People occupying this land for all or a part of their lives. Like Jack.
Now I would like to say that I also hiked in, maybe brought Jack something special, and I got the full experience of hiking up this magnificent valley.
Arriving in Style
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70 F/2.8L, f/10, 1/160, iso 400
But you know me better than that, don't you? Turns out my friend is a pilot, so we helicoptered in. I like this image as it gives you a sense of how lovely the small valley is. I don't think the fact that we "arrived in style" takes anything away from the last few paragraphs. As our story unfolds this week, you'll learn that the helicopter plays an important role.
See you tomorrow!
