My friend, whom I shall refer to as (the other) JB (she says that brings to mind images of someone chewing on a cigar!), expressed a desire to hike to a lake out of Mineral King. Because we would be driving up from the flatlands and hiking on the same day, I chose Monarch Lake for its well graded trail. That is a lake I rarely visit. It has no trees, and in my memory it isn’t as attractive as other lakes up there. So, it seemed like a good time to compare my mind’s image to reality. Wow! If this is ugly, a pretty lake would strike me blind! So here we were in this beautiful place with its fall colors coming on and I HAD NO CAMERA! Fortunately, JB had her point and shoot (forgot to ask how many megapixels!) and she was more than willing to share. I’m sure her generosity was not affected in the slightest by the slightly wild look in my eye and bulging vein in my forehead. I confess: I filled her memory card and drained her battery. She continued to be gracious about it all, because that is the kind of person JB is.  It was a wonderful time together, and an altogether terrific hike!