Out of the turmoil of the Sixties and the craziness of the Eighties the Lizards are back! Yes, those nuts of the woods have reformed their group (put the group back together... not gotten any better) and are back on the trail. For some of you who are unfamiliar with legends and myths of the woods, I will recount the history of the Lizards and mention just some of their hair raising deeds...
The Lizards were born in the late Sixties. A group of well intentioned Berkeley professors wishing to enlighten some of the student body gathered a small group of "never been in the woods" together and gave them only one instruction, "Bring whatever you think you will need for a week in the woods." A drive to Yosemite and one week later the group was being formally ejected from the Park by the rangers and told never to come back again... It seems the group had run out of food on the third day and had resorted to dressing up in homemade "lizard" outfits (bark, leaves, pieces of old canvas) and raiding campers in the lower valley. After reports of giant lizards running loose in the woods, the Rangers had caught the group and issued the now infamous Lizard greeting, "Get out and never come back."
The Lizards continued through to the Seventies and Eighties with adventures in the snow, lost in the desert, chased by bears, and generally disoriented trips to some of the most beautiful places on earth.... Well... the Lizards are back! The new reformed Lizards just finished their hike through Ten Lakes (Yosemite) and were not only well behaved, but were actually helpful to other hikers. The picture below speaks for itself:
The weather was perfect, the fishing was great (brook trout), the evening campfire was the icing on the cake! All agreed that God was good this was one of His special places.
The trip was a moderate 6.5 mile hike, climbing to a 9500' pass and down to the lakes. We saw plenty of deer, but no bears (still hang or protect your food). If you want to break up the hike in to a two day affair, there are several nice spots to camp near water, about four miles from the Tioga Road trail head.
Next time you are in the woods look for bright green T-shirts and bunch of happy hikers... were the Lizards and we're back!
