Exploring Eastern Sierra Canyons: Bishop to Lone Pine
Sharon Giacomazzi is a dedicated Sierra Nevada hiker who happens to be an avid history buff and born storyteller. Sharon's love affair with the Sierra began early, as soon as she learned to walk. She grew up on a large ranch in the foothills below Kings Canyon National Park. When Sharon wasn't asleep or in school, she wandered the hills, wild and free, on foot or horseback. Mountain life got into her blood and stayed, even during years away at college and in the city earning a living as a teacher.The urban setting always made Sharon feel like an alien, a stranger trapped in a strange land. Finally in 1980, after 22 years of teaching, she decided to go home to the mountains where her spirit could be nurtured by the Sierra's natural rhythms and cycles.Sharon bought property close to Yosemite and reconnected with her sense of place and her spiritual home. After building her house, she created ways to eke out a modest living, then began walking, and she hasn't stopped.In the past 28 years, Sharon has trekked more than 8400 miles in the Sierra Nevada. She has been an outings leader for several environmental organizations and community colleges, as well as leader of her own history hikes, She has read and re-read scores of history books about the Sierra, finding that they tremendously enriched her hiking experiences. Treading a trail is certainly rewarding, but Sharon found it a bit one dimensional. Knowing each place's background and nuances takes a hiker to another level of intimacy that is very gratifying.Sharon started writing about the trails and tales of the Sierra Nevada in 1992. Like walking, once she got going she couldn't stop. Since then, her articles have appeared regularly in the Yosemite Highway Herald newspaper and Sierra Heritage and California Explorer magazines. Much to her amazement and delight, she encountered many people eager for something more than just a hiking guide to get them from point A to B. They wanted some 'meat with their potatoes,'; as one reader chose to put it. Following that suggestion, Sharon's first book,Trails & Tales of Yosemite & the Central Sierrawas published in 2001 and has been wildly successful.Sharon loves to hike and write about her adventures. Like John Muir, she too feels blessed when she can entice someone to get out there and mingle with the rest of the food chain, and 'taste the tonic of wilderness.'