Eastern Sierra

The archive opens here: a GoPro strapped on for a three-day run into the Eastern Sierra with Dad. Horseshoe Meadow Road climbs out of the high desert and does not stop for twenty miles, switchbacking out of the sage and into granite country. The ride up is one long take, Dad ahead, engine noise and wind, the road going from sand to pine.

Day two drops down Horseshoe Meadow and swings by Whitney Portal, the trailhead under the tallest mountain in the lower 48. Day three runs out to Randsburg, the living ghost town on the Kern County line, where the dirt streets still look like 1896. Twenty-four files, sixteen gigabytes, and the habit of recording everything starts right here.

The first reels. The habit starts.