Camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

We sat on folding chairs around the crackling fire, sipping beer, while our cook prepared a dinner of surprising delicacy. Surprising, because in the heart of the John Muir Wilderness, 10,000 feet above sea level, this bespectacled man had conjured a tasty, three-course meal, capped by a freshly baked pineapple upside-down cake and kettle-brewed coffee filtered through a tube sock.