In 1996, Walt Wheelock, founder of La Siesta Press, handed me a tattered olive green box with the letters "MES" handprinted in black ink on one side. Inside the box were the original manuscript and photographs for the book "Mines of the Eastern Sierra" written by Mary DeDecker. It was my first introduction to Mary. A week later, we were sitting together in her home in Independence looking through her family photo albums, photos of her daughters, she and Paul and their many trips to the Sierra.

Considered one of the top three women botanists in California, Mary DeDecker, who was completely self-taught, was recognized nationally for her expertise. She founded the Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and wrote "Flora of the Eastern Mojave" published by the California Native Plant Society. A deeply concerned environmentalist, she had recently studied the condition of native plants at Fort Irwin, per the proposed expansion saying, "they have devastated the countryside; they have torn up the plants." She opposed the BLM's management of the California Desert, so in a way, it was ironic when the BLM presented her with an enormous plaque for her work on native plants. Perhaps they were thankful, like we all were, for the education Mary gave them.

When Walt Wheelock asked L. Burr Belden who could write a book about the old mining camps of the eastern Sierra Nevada, Beldon said, without hesitation, "Mary DeDecker!" Her book Mines of the Eastern Sierra first published in hardcover in 1966 by La Siesta Press, was combined with Belden's Mines of Death Valley in the Spotted Dog Press 1998 reprint, entitled Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps and Ghost Towns.She also wrote "Bob Eichbaum's Toll Road" first published in 1970, by the Death Valley 149ers, and reprinted by Sagebrush Press in 1996, and "White Smith's Fabulous Salt Tram" published by the '49ers in 1993.

Unlike so many in the eastern Sierra who had the luxury of knowing Mary for years, I was a latecomer, barely squeezing into that tiny window of precious time passing. But during that space in time, towards the end of a life that spanned a century and ended at the beginning of a millenium, I learned that Mary DeDecker was a woman of integrity and intelligence who had, among her many accomplishments, created her own amazing life.

Born Free and Equal
Ansel Adams

Climbing Mt. Whitney
Peter Croft, Glen Dawson

Close Ups of the High Sierra
Norman Clyde

Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps and Ghost Towns
L. Burr Belden & Mary DeDecker

Desert Summits
Andy Zdon

Favorite Dog Hikes In and Around Las Vegas
Wynne Benti & Megan Lawlor

Favorite Dog Hikes In and Around Los Angeles
Wynne Benti

Grand Canyon Treks
Harvey Butchart

High and Wild: Essays and Photographs on Wilderness Adventure
Galen Rowell

Mojave Desert Trails
Florine Lawlor

Out From Las Vegas
Florine Lawlor

The Secret Sierra: The Alpine World Above the Trees
David Gilligan

Robert Clunie: Plein Air Painter
of the Sierra
Richard Coons