Thirty-one years ago, 18-year-old Daryn Dodge and three friends, all fresh out of high school, climbed Clouds Rest and Half Dome in Yosemite National Park—losing much of their food and a night's sleep to hungry bears in the process.

Little did he know what those two youthful ascents would lead to: On July 25 this year, Dodge, now 49 and a family man, became the 67th Sierra Club member to summit all 248 peaks on the Sierra Peaks Section list when he reached the summit of Cirque Peak, near Mt. Whitney. Below, Dodge nears the summit of Disappointment Peak in the eastern Sierra.

"I guess I'm sort of a goal-oriented person," says Dodge, an EPA toxicologist in Sacramento and a former competitive long-distance cyclist. Before that sport took a toll on his knees, he was regularly a top finisher in doublecentury (200-mile) races in Northern California, and he completed four Paris-Brest-Paris "brevets," covering 745 miles in 90 hours or less.

Dodge says he enjoyed short hikes with his dad when he was growing up in the Bay Area, but what really opened his eyes was a high school trip with the Yosemite Institute. "That was the beginning of everything," he says, "when I took a weeklong trip to Yosemite with other high school kids in 1977. After that I was hooked."

Dodge became a committed peak-bagger the following year with his ascents of Clouds Rest and Half Dome. "During the summers I'd try to get out every other weekend for 3-4 days, which was usually enough time to climb several peaks," he says. "I discovered the Sierra Peaks Section online in 1994, and it really fit in with what I wanted to do."

The Peaks Section was created in 1955 by the Sierra Club's Angeles Chapter, with the goal of focusing—some might say re-focusing—on mountaineering in the range that gave the organization its name. At first, even members of the group didn't think anyone would climb all 248 summits-until Sierra Club member Andy Smatko completed the list in 1964.

Any additions to the list must be approved by the Peak Section's membership. Dodge notes that many mountaineers who complete the list aren't members, but he says the group was very helpful in pursuit of his goal. "I acquired climbing skills as I progressed, and members taught me to use a rope so I could climb the more difficult peaks. It's also a great way to meet other climbers with similar interests. Traditionally you pick an easy peak for your last hike so friends can go with you—there were 22 of us on the hike up Cirque Peak."

Among the highlights for Dodge was the ascent of Devil's Crag #1 in Kings Canyon National Park. "It's considered the most difficult and dangerous peak on the list," he says. "Two Sierra Club members have died trying to climb it. It's a thousand-foot-long knife-edged ridge, and you have to make sure every rock and hand-hold is solid. If something pulls out, you fall 2,000 feet."

Dodge appreciates the fact that so many of the peaks on the list are protected in national parks. "National park protection really keeps the backcountry in pristine condition," he says. "It looks pretty much the way it did before Europeans showed up. I often find flakes of obsidian left by the Indians."

One of the best things about climbing the Sierra Peaks list, Dodge says, was simply getting to ramble through the Sierra. "It drove home to me how special these mountains are," he says, "and you don't have to be a peak-bagger to appreciate them. My advice to anyone is don't just drive through the mountains—get out of the car and camp. There are so many places where it's easy to spend the night out."

And what does Dodge see as his next goal? After a pause, his answer neither disappoints nor surprises: "I'm thinking maybe I'll climb all these peaks again."

Learn more about the Sierra Peaks Section and check out Sierra Club Trails.

Top three photos by Steve Eckert; last photo by Scott Sullivan.

This is a guest post from Winny Lin, a Kentucky Sierra Club volunteer

What do you do in a hot and sizzling summer?  Instead of being bored, it is a perfect time to grow some fresh produce, or plant some annuals and perennials. This is exactly what the girls at the Girls’ Inc. and women at the Oasis Spouse Abuse Center in Owensboro, Kentucky, did with the help from Pennyrile Group of Sierra Club.

First, volunteers Winny and Kenny Lin literally knocked on the doors of these two organizations and sold the idea. Second, Aloma Dew, local representative of the Sierra Club, gathered help from the club to find a master gardener to draw a plan, secure donations from members, and get support from the director of the club.

The Owensboro Lowe’s donated six bags of potting soil, three bags of humus, six huge clay pots and two small butterfly bushes.  Donations also helped secure some tomato plants and annuals at a discounted price from the store.  All of it was enough to start off our summer “Go Green” project!

On Monday, June 22, 2009, Girls’ Inc. randomly selected ten K-3 girls to participate in this “Go Green Club”.  As retired educators, both Kenny and I worked well with these rambunctious and chatty cute girls. Most of them are from disadvantaged homes and had never really touched dirt.

Sierra Club volunteer Kenny Lin teaches the girls about plants.

However, Kenny got them all engaged in mixing humus and potting soil and preparing the right kind of dirt for tomato plants and annuals in the pots. I also read “A Kid’s Guide to How Flowers Grow” to help the girls understand the concept. One of the girls summed it up well, “It was a lot of fun to mix the dirt and plant the flowers!”

In the next few weeks, different girls also joined us to plant dahlia, daylily, hosta, iris, Japanese iris, a raspberry bush, and sunflowers in their bare backyard.  Some of these flowers will come back next spring and surprise the girls with joy when they play and work in their multi-purpose room through the glass doors. Every session involved hands-on activities, and no girls had to sit idle.

The last session on July 22, a member from the local Audubon Society showed them a DVD of her backyard bird watching and the girls learned to identify some of the common birds in our region. Hopefully the bird feeder we installed in their backyard by the butterfly bush will attract some birds and the girls will notice them.

While the project at the Girls’ Inc. focused on flowers, plants, and birds, the project at Oasis took a different path.

Brescia University students set up a raised flower bed at the Oasis Spouse Abuse Center.

The facility has already had a well-established  courtyard with beautiful flowers and a gazebo.  Our master gardener, Sandy Phillips, advised us get a knockout rose to add to the butterfly bush and raspberry bush we already purchased.  She also suggested an herb garden.  One of their staff members, Vickie, heads their landscaping committee, got some of their residents involved in this project.  It was a great surprise to find out that she happens to have a degree in horticulture. That really helped!

She decided to get some huge barrels for the tomato plants and a raspberry bush, put all the herbs people donated by the kitchen area, and started another flowerbed for the knockout rose and other annuals the community donated.  The women love this courtyard and now it has more flowers for those who come out in the morning, evening, and any time they have a break. They all call it therapeutic.

Sierra Club volunteer Kenny Lin had a truck full of donated supplies for the Oasis project.

The final touch was when the local Brescia University got in touch with Aloma Dew to come up with a project for their freshmen community service.  On August 18, a group of 10 freshmen helped put a raised bed for Oasis to plant some fall vegetables such as cabbage and chard.  Ben Taylor, director of the Pennyrile Group of Sierra Club, gave a speech of the history and mission of the club. Even the local Daviess County extension agent, Annette Meyer Heisdorffer, PhD, came and gave directions as how to plant these veggies and thus really motivated the college students for their hard labor on a hot sunny summer day.

The flowerbed team from Brescia University.

We consider our summer projects a big "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" - with lots of help from the community and donations from Sierra Club members and the local Sierra Club. We will continue the work next summer!