They both leaned over the table, the younger of the two looking at the lines on the map like he could understand them.  "You got questions about those son?" the older one asked.
"What are these?" he asked.
"These are topo maps.  The lines on them are elevation.  Look at this one here, it's got 9600 on it.  All along the line is 9600 feet.  On this map, each bolded line is 200 feet apart, the softer lines are 40 feet apart.  You can tell how steep or gradual a climb will be by looking at them."  The man looked over at his son and saw if he was following.  He wasn't.  
"Here, let me show you.  Down here, near Mono Lake you see?  The ground is nearly flat, slowly sloping down to the lake.  The lines are far apart.  Then, look at these lines in the canyon.  They're really steep and close together.  You can also tell where canyons are and ridges are.  The canyons will have the lines pointing in towards the crest while the ridges have the lines pointing out towards the lowlands."
"Oh, I see kind of." He didn't.
"It's ok, I'll teach you about it when we get there Jas.  It's easier to do that way."

The two were preparing to go backpacking to their lake, Gibbs Lake.  All the Gibbs features in the area weren't named for any close relative, but all the same shared their last name.  The two had already climbed to the top of Mt. Gibbs, but that was only a day trip.  This was going to be a three day trip into the wilderness.

"Ok, back to the garage to pack things up," his dad said.  They had everything they would need for three days laid out on the hood of their '69 MGB and the floor in front of it.  Camp stoves, food, backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, everything.  After one more check they had everything they loaded it into totes and into the Blazer they had borrowed for the drive to the trailhead.  They would need the 4x4's clearance to drive there or else increase the hike an extra 2 miles in and out.
They walked inside the house after packing everything in the SUV.  "Ready to go out now?" the child's mother said.
"Yes Beth, we have everything now.  Did you find the coupon?"
"I did John," she said and picked up the coupon to Fresh Choice and they were off.  The day before a hike he always liked to load his meals up with carbohydrates, and Fresh Choice had all you could eat pasta.  They climbed into their van and drove towards the restaurant.

After getting back from dinner, the two of them went to bed early, about 8.  They had to get up early tomorrow morning to drive to the trailhead and hike into the lake the next day.  At 4 in the morning his father's alarm went off and he started to make his coffee and his son's breakfast.  Between tending the coffee grinder and the kettle he woke up Jason.
"Time to wake up Jason."
"I don't want to go to school today, I'm tired," the boy replied.
"OK I'll go to Yosemite alone."  Then it occured to Jason and he got up and got dressed for the day.  His mom hugged them and said goodnight after being awoken from the couch and retired to the bedroom.  And then about 4:30 they were all ready to go.  Turning out of the driveway, Jason put the radio on 98.5, the classic rock station he always listened to, and they were on their way.
The drive was uneventful except for the first commercial break on the radio station, at which point his father changed the station to a local college radio station that was commercial free.  After that the boy had to put up with that music.
About 6 in the morning they stopped for a morning snack of donuts in Oakdale.  They would normally stop here on their trips to Yosemite, although usually a few hours after the current time.  The radio had long been switched off, with John not being able to find a commercial free radio station he liked in the central valley.  After they got going, Jason turned on the radio and made a compromise.  They wouldn't listen to commercials but when a commercial came on a station they'd push scan and then stop it at a song they liked and then continue on after commercials.  His father grudgingly agreed at least, so there was something to do during the next few hours.
Unfortunately for both of them, they had to avoid Dead Priest Road as the family called it.  Truely it was the OPG, Old Priest Grade, that was the midpoint of many Yosemite travelers.  But they had to take the long curvy bypass on the other side of the canyon that wasn't as steep with the Blazer.  At the top of the grade, they had gained over 1500 feet in 6 miles, not bad for any car.  Taking the OPG they would have covered the distance in less than half that distance.  But it was alright though, they would get half the experience when they traveled down it and smelled the sweet smell of burning brakes of cars below.
Traveling through the old towns of Big Oak Flat (that had been named after a big oak) and Groveland (that had been built near and in a big grove of trees) they headed up into more mountainous terrain, sticking near the top of a ridge though.  It was of no surprise to them when they came to the gate of Yosemite National Park it was unstaffed, so early in the morning they usually didn't keep watch.  After driving through the curvy road going back and forth over the ridge for a bit they came to their turn.  They made a left and stayed on the ridge between the Merced and Touolumne Rivers, on their way to the High Sierra.
They stopped at the usual areas to take their pictures, a view of the Clark Range south-east of the Valley, then a bit farther on to view the profile of Mount Hoffman.  After driving down into the Yosemite Creek drainage canyon, they drove up the other side to Olmstead Point at about 9:15.  Here they unloaded, walked out to the granite dome in the middle of the canyon and took some pictures of Tenaya Lake, with the smooth granite cliffs around it and the rough granite face of Mt. Conness behind it.  There was a beautiful sky behind it, dark and spotted with a few clouds.  They would probably turn some of those pictures into black and white photos when they got home they thought.  After that they ate a quick snack, but got back on the road since they still had a few hours to go.
They drove straight on through Toulumne Meadows, normally they would have stopped but there was quite a bit of glare for the pictures they would have taken so they drove on through.  They did stop about 15 minutes before the crest to take pictures of Mt. Dana and Mt. Gibbs with their reflections in the pond.  This was a very popular place but never seemed to have many people there.  After a few shots they drove on to the east side entrance station, where they flashed their Yosemite Park pass they had bought months earlier for the whole year and the ranger waved them through and they were on their way down Lee Vining Canyon.

Lee Vining Canyon, where the road drops ___ feet in ___ miles.  Most of this while clinging to the side of the canyon along talus slopes.  This road had been one of the final segments built of the Tioga Road, and was the final part to be updated.  And luckily for the pair and the car they were driving, it's a downhill grade.  On the way back it'll be quite a climb for their Blazer.  The first part is a nice almost flat drive by Tioga Lake and by the road to Saddlebag Lake, but after it plunged down the canyon, pausing to be level only a bit by Ellery Lake.  Then it was back to the talus slopes.  The pair stopped once where there was a pullout on the right side of the road, next to the brink.
"See that little side canyon coming down?  That's Gibbs Creek.  Then see it bend to the right around that ridge?  Behind the ridge is where we'll be going," John told his son.  The boy nodded, not getting it right away but knowing to agree.  But onward they drove and instead of turning right when they hit U.S. 395, they turned left towards the town of Lee Vining.  They had to stop at the Mono Lake Visitors Center to pick up a backcountry permit.
"OK, John Gibbs camping in the Ansel Adams Wilderness at Gibbs Lake--" where the man looked up and then smiled a bit.  "Any relation?"
"No, but it's still a great place," he replied.
"I'll say, lonely too, almost no one goes there.  You'll have a few people for company but you probably won't see them unless you're camped right next to them.  You guys fishing up there?" the ranger asked.
"No, no fishing gear.  We're probably just going to go ridge hopping, south or north depending on what we see."
"I'll tell you right now that the north ridge is difficult to get up.  Class 3.5 climbing so ropes aren't needed for pros but for non climbers I wouldn't recommend it.  The south ridge is just a rock hop up so that may be the way you should choose.  Great views of the canyon south of there also and if you get up high enough you can see the top of Mt. Dana and Kidney Lake above Gibbs Lake."
"Thanks, we'll look at that as our day trip."

So heading out of the visitors center they headed back through Lee Vining.  They were a big hungry so they decided to stop somewhere, and it was decided a BBQ place along 395.  They ate their meal outside along the road, watching the cars drive by.  They decided that this was a place they had to stop at again, good food as well as a nice view.  But now it was time to reach their trailhead.  They still had a little over 3 miles to hike into the Lake this afternoon.
They headed south along 395, passing the road to Tioga Pass and driving only a mile or so below.  Turning towards the Sierra Crest along a dirt road, they headed towards the masive wall of the Dana Plateau.  After a little climb they passed over the aqueduct that siphoned East Sierran water to Los Angeles.  The drive through Lower Horse Meadow was spectacular.  The Sierran Crest was dead ahead in view, and some rock outcroppings that loomed in the middle of the meadow made for a great foreground subject.  They took a few pictures before continuing on.  Here they came to an obsticle.  The road was quite steep out of the meadow, and they hoped their Blazer would make it, or else add on 2 extra miles to the 3 mile hike tonight and 2 extra miles on the way out.  They flipped it into four wheel drive and they gunned it.  Despite some tire spinning on some loose sand, they made it up just fine, and continued through the forest to Upper Horse Meadow.  This is where the road was gated off and they had to stop.
They piled out of the car and took out their gear.  Two backpacks had been packed the night before.  One contained their water, the camp stove, tent, a sleeping bag and a pad, and most of the food.  The other contained some food, a sleeping bag and a pad, and clothes.  The father strained a bit under the weight until he got used to it as Jason slipped on the lighter backpack.  These weren't like his school backpacks.  They had external metal frames that extended above his head and below his waist.  They also had a waist strap to keep them up.  His dad showed him how to fit it to him with the weight, keeping the weight on his hip with the waist strap, while only stabilizing the pack with the shoulder straps.  After making sure they had cleared all the odor items out of the car (if there was anything with an odor they ran the risk of a bear breaking into the car to get it, even if it was just a pack of gum), they headed up the trail.
At first the trail was steep, following an old road that hadn't been improved as much as their last road.  It wound to the left and then switchbacked to the right as they continued climbing in elevation.  then it slowly bent to the left around the ridge.  They were leaving the canyon that Upper Horse Meadow was in and entering the side canyon that contained their destination, Gibbs Lake.  They looked across Lee Vining Canyon at the road snaking it's way down the side in awe at the engineering job it must have been while they drank to rehydrate.  
"Drink before you're thirsty.  When you're thirsty you're already dehydrated when your hiking," Jason's father said to him.  He had been giving Jason little tips as they went but this was the first one Jason heard.  Other times he was too focused on the hike.  Here they were dissapointed as they decended in elevation a bit.  Any elevation lost would just have to be gained again later on the trail.  A little later they were on fairly flat ground for a bit, and finally turning left more ran into Gibbs Creek.
Here the road left them, either not built past here or too over grown with bushes to see where it went.  No matter, a use trail was good enough to follow that headed up a side overflow gully for the creek.  Here the trail became steeper.  There was really no where to go but up the canyon and this trail wasn't built for a wheelchair.  After a particularly tough but short climb they paused to have another drink and were greeted with a view of the back side of the Dana Plateau in front of them.  Mount Dana itself was too far behind the edge of the Plateau to see the summit, even if it was a few thousand feet higher.  They looked a bit to the left and guessed at where they thought Gibbs Lake was and hoped it was as close as it looked.
It turned out it wasn't as close as it looked, but was close enough to not make things difficult reaching there.  The trail met the creek again past some small cascades the two dubbed "Gibbs Cascade" (everything had to be named Gibbs) and continued uphill for a short distance.  Finally the lake opened up through the trees.  They dropped their packs where they were and since they were on the left side of the outlet creek they scouted the east shore for a campsite.  The book they had read said the east and north sides of the lake had the best camping.  Now they saw why.  The east and north sides were tree covered fairly flat areas.  The east side was a bit rocky as it was the main moraine that held Gibbs Creek in, but the north side was part of it as well, just not as rocky.  The south side though was almost a talus slope right to the water, and on the soutwest side it was.  The west side had a cliff for the "shore" so that ruled those two out.  The east side did prove a bit too rocky, but they picked out a prime spot there and then went to check out the north side.
For this they had to cross the river.  They went downstream a bit and found a place where it was shallow enough to just walk through the creek and then headed towards the shoreline.  Here they found a perfect spot to camp though.  A spot lined in with 3 rocks to block the wind, with two rocks facing it on the open side to block  in the campfire heat while they sit with their backs to the tent.  All they needed to do was get their packs and set up camp, which needed to be done soon as light would be going in an hour and a half probably.  They returned to the river only to find a makeshift bridge they had not seen and crossed it, glad to not have to go a ways downstream again.  They first set up the tent and threw their sleeping items inside.  By this time there was about 45 minutes of daylight left, and Jason went off to gather a bit of firewood while his dad prepared dinner on the stove.
When Jason had returned, the water was just about to boil, even though it would have boiled at their home by now.  The 9000 foot elevation difference explained that.  But it soon boiled and his dad poured it into the bag of High Sierra brand backpackers food.  This was food was prepared and then freeze dried, then all you had to do at the campsite was pour hot water into the bag and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.  In a bit they would be enjoying orange chicken.  In the mean time Jason's father got out the book of matches again and the firestarter their friend told them to try.
The firestarter consisted of candle wax and lint from the dryer poured into an egg carton to give it shape.  They popped out the first one and tested it on a rock.  It barely burned, it burned a long time but never for much of a flame.  So then ever the resourceful, Jason's dad just cut out a third of the half dozen egg carton (it was a cardboard one) and put that at the bottom of the fire and lit it.  The cardboard burned well, as did the lint, and the wax eventually melted away useless.  But it still worked well.  Jason had collected enough wood to last for the night until they went to bed (fairly early since after light went they had to do everything by candle of headlamp) and they fed the fire until the food was ready to feed themselves.
The meal was disgusting, expectedly, and Jason barely ate any of it.  But he devoured "dessert," two twinkies.  His dad experimented with their AM/FM/Shortwave Radio to find anything, and not finding anything on the shortwave portion he switched it to AM, and not finding anything there he finally settled on a Classic Rock station on FM.  Jason was pleased, at least for the time being.  There they sat and listened until the fire went down, when they walked down to the shore to look up through the clearing the lake makes at the stars.
The stars.  They were amazing.  If you've ever seen stars on a clear night from the country, you still haven't seen stars like this.  Millions of stars were in view, even with their view cut by the trees to the north and east and the ridge to their south.  This was vastly different from the view they had at home.  While theirs was one almost 180 degrees of the sky, they could only see in the hundreds of stars.  To them, the view was unbelievable.  They stared in awe for a bit until his dad started picking out constellations, and they sat through three or four shooting stars until they finally returned to the tent.  Amazingly they had spent over an hour looking at the sky, and by this time it was after 10.  To his dad, that meant it was time for the Art Bell Show.
First the national news though.  War, President is stupid, blah blah blah.  Now to local news.  This "local" news was from Western Colorado, but they were exposed enough to pick it up.  Unfortunately for them, the story went something like this:

"Two campers today in Colorado were attacked in their tent by a black bear looking for food.  One of the two died from the injuries he suffered, while his counterpart fled away fast enough for the bear not to have interest to chase and just enjoy the food he had found.  Officials say this is another example of man influencing animal behavior.  They also say that the behavior of men need to be changed, to use a bear canister for their food and put it away from their tent to not attract animals towards themselves."

The two looked at eachother, fairly freaked out by now, but his father put Jason at ease saying that they had nothing smelly in their tent and the food, which was in a bear canister, was well away from their campsite.  Then the Art Bell Show came on.  They only lasted through a half an hour of Open Lines, but in that time they learned about aliens, bigfoot, and how the president was not stupid as the previous news station had claimed, but just a conspiracy to be so.  So was the topics of this radio show.  Jason's father loved it, and eventually Jason would grow up to enjoy it as well.  After that the two of them fell asleep until tomorrow, when they would eat, pack up stuff in a day pack, and head up the ridge to see what they can find.