Backcountry Explorer

Embedded into the backcountry areas of Zion National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave Desert, Courtney Purcell's ramblings have also taken him all across the country and the world. From hiking, climbing and peakbagging in the Rockies, the Andes, the high volcanoes of Washington and Mexico, into the depths explored in spelunking, and the canyoneering of the Colorado Plateau, here you'll find trip reports, route beta and "stuff" relevant to the world of...

Sierra Negra (15,354 feet)

DB on the summit
With DB and Henry the Mountain Man, we arranged a ride through our Puebla hotel, a charming place I've stayed at on two different Mexico climbing trips. The driver, a likeable guy who spoke no English, took us all the way up the steep, sandy road to the locked gate. From there, we left him with some food, as he'd be waiting there for our return.

Hiking up the easy road, the views grew, our moods blossomed, and my love for the mountains was once again invigorated. What a terrific, albeit developed, mountain Sierra Negra is. Near the summit compound, which encircles a cluster of buildings, a bunch of antennae, and a massive telescope, we met Manuel, a security guard who gave us a personal tour of the facility.

We managed to get a few decent photos from the summit, but in typical early afternoon mountain fashion, clouds rolled in and soon we were immersed in a gray that did nothing to phase our enthusiasm for the place.

While walking the road back down was a less-than-inspiring endeavor, the surrounding area was beautiful. The forest was thick and green, the views from this tall mountain were sublime, and of course, giant Orizaba sits right next door. This, the dry side of Orizaba, has quite a different look from the glaciated side my partners and I had climbed only a couple years earlier.

...those moments when time stands still. The catalysts are as varied as the individuals who pursue this path: a meteor shower; a night sky so star-filled that it snatches your breath; another rise of the sun over distant mountains vast and untouchable; dodging a rock careening crazily down a gully; a desperate icy struggle through whiteout and ground blizzard down to the safety of camp after an unsuccessful summit attempt; standing atop a mountain with a friend, the whole world at your feet, a blinding sun blazing out of a flawless sky, taking the time to watch that sun dip below the horizon even though camp is still many miles and many thousands of feet distant; stumbling over boulders and through brush in the darkness; watching the starlight and the storm wrest for possession of the night sky, seated on a narrow ledge beside your rope-mate with only the clothes on your back for shelter, shivering the night away, knowing that, sometime in a distant place you cannot now touch, the world will once again grow bright, the sun will rise, and you will look out on the infant day with new eyes.

-Bruce Binder

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

-Edward Abbey